Teddy

Raising kids is hard. Some kids are easier than others. Right from the beginning, I have been able to tell which kid will be hard and which kid will be easy. Some kids have surprised me. Teddy is not one of them. He was 5 weeks old when Henry was diagnosed with Leukemia. He spent the first 6-7 months of his life in the hospital with Henry and I or at the Clinic with Henry and I. He was good as gold, rarely crying. Then he spent the next year of his life at home, rarely leaving our home because if Teddy or John got sick then Henry would get sick. There were times Henry simply could not get sick. Now, at three years old, Teddy is constantly asking to go somewhere, anywhere. I can’t blame him. He enjoys every outing, even if it’s a car ride to go pick up an older sibling in the dark. And he thinks out loud, which can be very funny or very embarrassing. Picture this…Daddy is watching everyone ride their bikes on our road. We live 13 miles from the nearest town, so it’s a one lane country road. Teddy and John are running up and down the road chasing those on bicycles. All of a sudden Teddy stops, looks up at Daddy and says, “I just realized something! The trees are green.” He was two years old. Daddy laughed when he told me and couldn’t figure out where he came up with that phrase. Now it was my turn to laugh. Teddy is his Daddy’s clone. He got it from his Daddy, who starts his conversations sometimes with the exact same phrase and doesn’t even realize it. And this....Yesterday, Teddy came in the house looking for me. I could hear him calling my name. Finally, he found me in my room. He said, “Mommy, my undies are wet.” I asked, “Why are they wet, Teddy?” He replied that he peed in them. I asked why he did that and his responded by saying, “I was outside and my wittle legs couldn’t run that fast inside.” I smiled, trying so hard not to laugh, told him it was okay and to change his undies. He gladly obeyed. Ok, one more....Teddy is talking so well for being a late talker and is now learning adjectives. It doesn’t help he has 2 older brothers 5 years old and under who like to teach him words they hear their older siblings say. Daddy was visiting us at our homeschooling cooperative, which meets in the basement of a church. As a priest was leaving, Teddy ran up to him, smiling, and yelled, “Bye, fat man.” The priest looked up and asked if Teddy just called him a fat man. One of the moms nearby told him no and sort of chuckled as the priest quickly when out the door. Daniel standing nearby heard the whole exchange. Yep, our son, Teddy, called the priest a fat man. Thankfully, we have more funny outbursts than embarrassing ones!