More from the mouth of Preston...
Wednesday, August 11While Gracie was in surgery, Preston told Nana he wanted to send mama a text. Using Nana's phone, he texted all kinds of gibberish with furiously fast thumbs. When Nana asked him to read it, he said, "Dear Jesus, my mommy."
Late that night, he asked to send another text that was so many characters it was multiple messages. Translated, it read, "Dear Jesus, I love you. From me, Jonah and Ella. (Jonah and Ella are twins and his good friends from school.)
Before Nana left for Georgia...Preston went potty. Then Nana said she was going to go. He told her to go standing up like him. She explained that she can't go like that because she isn't a boy. He insisted, "Yes you can, Nana. I will show you how..." He has since also offered to help me do the same!
Monday, August 16John and Preston walked in the front door and the mail had been dropped through the door mail slot and was lying all over the floor in the entryway. Preston picked up the mail and yelled, "Daddy I got mail. To Preston, I love you, from Jesus!"
August 23, 2010Two days after Gracie was discharged, we set up the pools for the kids in the backyard and all four of us played... splashing, soaking and just hanging out. Gracie, Preston and I were in the bigger pool and John was getting ready to take a picture. Preston said, "We are a family again."
Sigh. August 26, 2010Preston and I were doing chores in the backyard. He saw a dandelion, picked it, blew it all over the place and went on his merry way. A moment later, I spotted another one (yes, we have a lot of weeds within our grass...) and pointed it out to him. He picked it and said, "I wish Gracie will feel better," and then blew it all over the place.
Be still my heart.September 18, 2010I could hear Preston laughing in the family room where he was playing and Gracie was watching her favorite signing episode of "Blue's Clues." I peeked over the counter to find him half sitting-half straddling her.
I said, "Preston, what are you doing?"
"I'm tooting on Gracie!" he giddily exclaimed.
"Preston, that's yucky... and you might hurt her."
To which he replied, "She likes it, Mama and I'm being careful."
And so the brotherly bodily function torture begins...
September 26, 2010I took Preston to a birthday party... Gracie did not come with us. Preston was having a blast while I looked on, all the while feeling like I was missing a limb without my girl there to look after. Anyway, Preston slid down the giant slide, jumped down, and as he started to go back up the stairs, he suddenly turned around to me and said, "Wait, I have to go check Gracie." I had to remind him that she wasn't with us. (This was a good thing... as much as she loves bounce houses, she would have been trampled at this party as there wasn't a "calm" inch of bouncing space in the place!)
The day before we were at another birthday party at a different bounce house place and he periodically ran back to us to see that she, too, was having fun. "Checking her" means a variety of things for him... is she happy, does she need help, does she need to be cleaned up from coughing, does she have her diaper on, does she need a toy. I love that he loves her that much. I love that it is second nature to him to want to "check her." I love that he knows his sister is special and needs extra help
and that he doesn't see her as anything other than his sister.
Last week, Gracie started requesting to sit in her red chair after school - - an indication that she's feeling stronger and wanting to pull herself up to stand, which, up until last week, she hadn't really done much of this since being discharged from the hospital.
A favorite "wind-down" after school is watching a "Signing Time" DVD or her favorite signing episodes of "Blue's Clues."
