As if having sons with unruly hair isn't challenging enough, we have Eli. Jude is a champ and will sit there and take it. Eli... not so much. I may not have needed pain medication when giving birth to him, but it would have been nice if the hospital gave me some epidural to take home for future occasions like his haircuts. Oh my goodness is the boy difficult. After a half hour of non-stop wailing, hair sticking to his body from the tears and mucus streaming from his face, and repeated cries of "Mommy, hold my hand! Mommy, hold my haaaaaaand!", we were done. You'd think this was his first encounter with a pair of clippers, but he should know by now that it doesn't hurt since Kwang gives him a haircut EVERY. TWO. MONTHS. Whatever, I've given up trying to understand.
That's the thing about Eli. When I think I have him somewhat figured out, he'll do something that surprises me. He started preschool three weeks ago and I would never have guessed he would like it. Just one year ago, he had severe stranger anxiety for anyone that wasn't me. But it hasn't even been a month and now he'll actually want to go to school and no longer cry when we drop him off. Even though I had nothing to do with it, I couldn't be prouder of him or more relieved! This speaks to the wonderful preschool teachers and program God has provided, but also to Eli's enigmatic nature that keeps us on our toes.
My babies are growing up much too quickly for my liking. Not even two and a half years old, Eli already knows the Lord's Prayer. Well, almost. He kind of makes it up on his own at the end but he speaks so confidently, you almost think it's correct. Amusing.
And call it denial but somehow without my knowing, my baby Jude has outgrown the toddler stage without my permission. Last week, Kwang decided to keep a spider he saw out on our porch as a pet to show the boys how it eats other insects. He'd catch different bugs and feed the pet spider. And while I find it a bit cruel, he calls it the circle of life. Other than a mosquito or ant, I can never get myself to kill a bug. I'll either take it outside, live with it, or put a cup over it until Kwang comes home. I don't know why it's interesting to watch anything eat another living thing, but Jude loves it. Unfortunately, Kwang's spider fell prey to another spider. Jude asked why the spider died and Kwang said it wasn't strong enough because it didn't drink enough milk or eat enough vegetables. Jude gave him this look as if he couldn't believe Kwang thought he'd believe that and responded, "Nooooo. Spiders don't drink milk or eat vegetables." And then he got in his car, drove away to college and now he doesn't call us anymore.
Because Jude and Eli are so different from each other, I'm curious to see which attributes of each God has given Audrey. But one attribute he's given all our kids is an adorable silly face. This is probably my favorite expression of Audrey's:
