Patience

I promise our little baby boy will be born by the end of the week. I know I’ve been saying that for a month now, but trust me – you’re not the only one that is losing patience. Our birth mom has been in the hospital since last Wednesday and her doctors are just trying to balance her health and well-being with the baby’s lung development. Today she got an amnio and his lungs were phenomenal. Much better than they expected, so they’re going to start the induction process at midnight with a pill in her uterus. Then they’ll start the drip tomorrow morning. If she’s a “normal” first delivery, she might have the baby Wednesday morning. Her caseworker is leaving out of town on Friday afternoon. We are almost desperate to have him be there for the placement. It’s critical for her AND us. So, could you please keep this situation in your prayers? It would be best if the delivery could happen easily and quickly for many reasons – but especially so we can have placement Friday morning. If we could have our wish, we’d hope that he’d be born tomorrow (Tuesday).

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I do a co-op preschool with Buddy and three of his friends. It’s really fun, the kids love it, and the curriculum is perfect for these little boys. Last month we learned all about nursery rhymes and Mother Goose and the boys LOVED it. We didn’t want to buy the curriculum for the whole month of December because of Christmas and the baby and everything. So, for the next few weeks we’re just going to teach what we want and let the kids play the rest of the time. So today I taught the kids about Christmas. We read a bunch of books and since we’re all the same religion, I didn’t have to be pc. It was fun to teach them the real story of Christmas. We have a Little People nativity set that is just adorable and I was using that to tell the story. I got to the three wise men part and showed them the little figures and asked them who they were. The kids guessed kings, knights, princes. I said no and gave them the hint: “Three…” Immediately three of the four boys got excited and shouted in unison: “Three Blind Mice!!!!!!!!!”

It would have been hilarious if one boy said that, but the fact that three of them thought of it all at the same time… priceless.

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Saturday G and Buddy were driving around town doing some errands. Our windshield wipers have been acting up and one had gotten a little loose (sp?) and was making a strange sound. But at first G didn’t know what the sound was coming from, so he was asking Buddy if he could tell what it was. Buddy insisted it was just the radio, but G said it wasn’t. They argued over the sound for a bit until Buddy said, “Dad-You’re freaking out!” (Knowing G, he probably was!)

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Buddy had his nose cauterized a few weeks ago because he’s been getting frequent nosebleeds for about a year. He was really brave and it seems to have worked! He hasn’t had a problem since. Anyway, when he was getting checked over by the ENT before the procedure, Buddy was curious about his tools and instruments. A few weeks ago Buddy got to test out his uncle Luke’s stethoscope, so when the doctor pulled his out, Buddy asked why he had one (Luke isn’t a doctor, he’s in nursing school). The doctor of course explained that if Buddy goes to medical school, he can have one too. Nine out of ten kids would be thrilled by that response, but not Buddy. He has a trademark look he gives people when he’s giving something a lot of thought, when he’s confused or not convinced – we call it his ‘owl eyes.’ He gave the doctor the owl eyes, and said, “Well, did YOU go to medical school?”

The doctor laughed a little and the more I thought about that later, I just couldn’t help but wonder how if that doctor had ever been asked for his credentials by a three year-old.

And then it happened again. We were at Buddy’s 4-year check-up this time and the nurse brought out the stethoscope to check his bl.ood pressure. Before she could begin, Buddy confronted her: “What are you doing? Are you a doctor?”

Like before, she laughed and again the poor nurse had to explain to a 4 year-old that she WAS qualified, even if she wasn’t a board certified physician.

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And one more story because I’m on a role. Buddy is pretty typical to our family in that he has NO patience. He finishes his meals and then insists I dismiss him from the table right that second. Today I was typing an email and he had food all over creation, so I told him “just a second.” In about 30 seconds, he repeated about 100 times that he was done, done, done, done, done, done, done! I finally got up and told him that he needed to learn some patience. Without missing a beat, he said, “Well, maybe I’ll learn some patience when I’ve five.”

If he’s anything like the rest of us, I doubt it. Please pray for a baby tomorrow.