Asher

This kid.  He is just one of my favorite people in the entire world.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I am to have him in my life.  I will admit, the first few months of his life I weren't sure we were going to make it, and there are days when we just don't get along, but I just love him to pieces!  

He is one of the most loving, caring people you will meet.  I was so worried before I had the girls how Asher would react, but it has helped him grow so much!  He loves those babies and they sure do love him.  He loves to help me take care of them and almost always does what I ask, whether it is getting them a toy so they'll be happy, putting the bottle back in their mouth, or throwing away diapers.  Often he'll do things for them unasked.  He loves to talk to them and has the cutest baby voice when he's doing that!  And it's not just my girls.  All babies love Asher!  He rides home with his friend Monty from Preschool and Monty's mom tells me that Asher always gets her baby laughing while they're driving home.  He also loves being around kids just younger than him.  While at my mom's house this last trip, he played almost constantly with London, who is a year younger.  He also played with Isaac and Hunter (1.5 years younger) and kept saying things like "Ok kids, do you want me to get you some yogurt now?" And at the doctors office, he asked a little girl playing with the toys in the waiting room if she wanted his help figuring out a toy.  

I love how kind he is, but it also makes me a little worried about him.  He is so sensitive and expects people to be as nice as him.  And when other kids aren't very nice, it just takes the wind right out of his sail.  The other day I was driving him to school. I take him and Monty to school, and Monty's mom picks them up.  Asher was so excited before school because he had an All About Me poster he was going to show the class and he just loves school in general.  Monty was...not in that great of a mood.  When it came time for Asher to come home, I waiting for him to burst through the door with a big grin on his face like normal.  But instead he slowly opened the door, stepping inside and dropped his backpack.  When I looked back at him I could tell he was trying to hold back tears.  I called him over to me and set him on my lap to try to comfort him and find out what happened.  Unfortunately, Monty has some anger problems and since he is around Asher a lot, Asher tends to get the brunt of it.  I guess on the way home they were fighting over a toy and Monty hit Asher right in the face.  It just deflated Asher for the rest of the day.  I tried so hard to cheer him up, but nothing really worked.  It breaks my heart to see that to my happy little boy!  I know he will probably need to learn to toughen up, but I don't ever want to see him become hardened.  

David and I engage in some harmless teasing him every once in awhile by pretending to eat his candy or drink his chocolate milk, and he takes it so hard!  He is learning, and has begun teasing us.  I will tell him that I love him and he'll then turn to David and say "I love you Daddy!"  And when I want him to do something and he tells me no, I'll get mad at him and he'll say "Mama, I was just teasing!"  He really hates any conflict and if David and I get mad at him about something, he gets way more upset that we are mad at him then any punishment we give out.

I feel like this post is a little disjointed, but it's just a bunch of things I've been thinking for awhile that I feel like I need to document.  I have so much respect for my son.  He really hasn't had an easy life, with all our moving and job uncertainty and not having as much money to spend on him as we would like, but he seems to have moved past all that hard stuff and now just focuses on the good.  I love that he gets so excited to show me the things they worked on at school.  I love that he loves everyone and wants them to be happy.  And even though it can make things harder once in awhile, I love how sensitive he is.  How big his heart is.  I just love my little Asher.