Thursday, August 07, 2008

What About R?

My R tends to get the least press on the blog. In real life, he tends to be the child (at this stage) that demands most of my time and attention. He is my approval seeker and behaves as if he is my 1st lieutenant. He frequently says, "Mom, you forgot to..." which I admit flies all over my prideful, 'capable' self! He is also the family policeman, reminding his siblings of the rules (and reporting their violations) every chance he gets. Almost daily he will run into the room and shout through tears, "Mom-mee! K/P is not sharing. Tell them God tells us to share!!!!"

He is the biggest chatterbox of the bunch. His dialogue, however, is very adult. We tease that he is a 40 year old stuck in a 4 year old body...so while K & P are entertaining us with their takes on life, R tends to stick to the facts--which is worth noting, but not necessarily as entertaining as the random things the other two come up with.

Each of my children challenge me in different ways. R is like looking in a mirror. His personality is most like mine was at this age: opinionated, verbal, able to decide and articulate exactly what he wants, assertive, demanding and expressive. As a result, I fear that I may be a bit harder on him at times because I know first-hand the hard lessons he will learn at the hands of his peers if he doesn't tone his style down with a little more grace and gentleness. The 'me' I see in him pushes my buttons one moment and sympathetically endears him to me another. I have to frequently remind myself that it has taken 30 additional years for me...and I still have plenty of rough edges.

The flipside of this precious man is that when he is soft, he absolutely melts my heart. He is capable of being exceedingly well-mannered and thoughtful. His giggles are straight from heaven...and his dimples and eyelashes are a sight to behold.

R thrives on one-on-one time, especially in the early morning and as he is wrapping up his day. In a gesture of precious affection last week, he brought his second favorite lovey, caterpillar sunny, to me as a gift (a VERY big deal). He double checks each night to make sure I am taking it to my bed.

He is very well rounded, responsible, mechanically inclined, athletic and great with numbers. If we were a traditionally born family, he would certainly have been the firstborn. I have no doubt the Lord is molding him into an amazing, influential leader...and teaching me A LOT about patience in the process.

2 comments:

Melissa said...

Just a random comment that doesn't have anything to do with your post . . . Just wanted to thank you for your blog. You are such an inspiration to me. I love the ways you incorporate Christ into everyday things for your kids. My oldest is around the same age as your triplets, so your stories really hit home!

Aubrey said...

Your description of R reminds me greatly of my Thomas. There are a few months between the two, but if you added supremely emotional on the list of R's personality traits, you would just about have my Thomas. He is our firstborn, by the way. =)