We must tell you that in light of that last post, the only thing great for us about being without Jude on the occasional Tuesday night is the sleeping. In fact, we sleep so hard on those nights that we have to set three alarms because we both sleep through the first two. Oh, and there's no need to make the bed; we can just slip out and flip the covers up since neither of us really move in the night. If you think that's sarcasm, think again...it's completely true!
However, hard sleeping aside, we sure do miss that little man when he's gone. After all, who wouldn't miss this?
Before you start to wonder why we would do this to the poor kid, let me tell you that he actually did this all on his own. One morning when his papa was shaving, he heard Jude giggling behind him. Matthew turned around, howled with laughter, and ran for the camera! This is the fun we live with.
What nights? Well, I say that because nights are for sleeping and we just don't do that. Some people roll their eyes at us as thought we naive new parents don't have a clue. While there are many things about which we indeed do not have a clue, what they don't realize is that our sleepless nights are not normal. Jude doesn't wake us up a few times and we all go to sleep and wake up a little bleary-eyed in the morning. On the contrary, Jude does some things in the night that are very disturbing and keep us awake often from 11pm until morning. So, for almost five months, we can only think of two or three nights in which we've slept for more than three or four hours.
Those couple of nights we were able to sleep were because Jude stayed overnight with Grandpa and Grandma Bowen. They have an enormous bathtub and deer in the yard every night, and Jude loves both - and Bah-pa and A-ma, of course! No, that's not a typing error - he calls her A-ma, and sometimes Maaa-ma.
We recently received an email note with a link to the following blog post: http://zuidemas.blogspot.com/2008/10/it-is-not-ok.html, posted by a case worker we know, about boys. Because the overwhelming majority of people adopting want girls, there are many cases in which boys are considered to have a "special need" just because they are boys. The post is worth reading, and after you do, here is my response:
"My thoughts: 'here-here' as they say after a good toast at a celebratory event. Boys...precious boys. You know, girls are cute and precious and cuddly and soft and lovely and ruffly. But, as it turns out, I am not a girl mama. I, by God's grace and provision, am a boy mama, and I'm so glad to be. Harder to raise? Well, I wouldn't know...you see, I don't know much about kids. I only know about 'kid' - my kid. He's all boy right to his core. He's a rough-and-tumble, shout-out-loud, running, tossing, throwing, wrestling boy to the very core.
What some people forget - the people who want softness and light and ruffles - is that boys also sing to you through the day, cuddle when they're sleepy, grin with mischief when they wrestle with their mamas (knowing they can't wrestle the same way they do with their papas), and kiss you awake in the morning if you're not getting up fast enough. Seems to me that I, a boy mama, have been given the best of both worlds. What more could I ask?"
For the first time since Jude's been home, I took the day away to do some shopping with my sister and mom. On January 12th, we went to Birch Run searching for deals. Jude stayed with Grandpa Garrett during the day and his papa in the evening. He surprised Matthew when they were getting ready for dinner and Matt said, "Hmmm...where did I put your cup, son?" Jude promptly took off down the hallway and reappeared with his water cup.
Funny...people ask us if Jude understands English. You bet he does - very well. We speak English and a little French at home, and he understands both. His papa had no idea he knew what "Where's the cup?" meant.
