My cup of tea

The sniffles began with J. I soon began sneezing, and not long later, L's sleeves had long wet streaks where he'd wiped his nose on them. And so here I am, nursing colds and babies.

Little J. Such a sweetheart. He seems to be in a better mood than he was the first day or two of his cold. Quick to smile and giggle and give slobbery kisses. Suddenly grabbing at toys and water glasses. Gnawing relentlessly on any fingers that are within reach - most often his own, but sometimes mine or L's. Thanks to Daddy being around on the weekend to play Legos with L, J and I have had several long nursing naps - 2 or more hours of just lounging and resting; J so content to be near me.

Sweet L. He is darling. He has so much energy. And these long days inside are hard on him. His heart is so pure. Tonight, during Family Home Evening, we listened to a song called "Scripture Power" and tried to learn all the words to it. He was rolling the exercise ball around, bouncing on it, and running all around it. I thought there was no way he was absorbing anything from our efforts at memorizing this song. But lo and behold, he knew the song at the end of the few minutes we spent and he answered a few questions as we talked about the meaning of the song. We talked about the power that comes from reading the Word of God every day, and when I asked if he'd rather read before bedtime with Daddy or in the morning with Mommy, he shouted, "Both!"

He doesn't really like to pray, but when we do convince him to take a turn, he always thanks Heavenly Father for "all the things, even the houses" and "all the people, except for the bad guys." The other night, he and I were laying in his bed, and he was not the least bit tired. Somehow we got to talking about spiritual things, and after a while, he snuggled up close and whispered in my ear, "Does Heavenly Father love the bad guys?" I had to chuckle. It's all about the police and the bad guys around here! I gave him my answer that Heavenly Father even loves bad guys because they're His children too, and it makes Him sad when they choose to do bad things. L fell silent, and after a moment I asked, "Do you have any other questions?" He answered, "Sure I do!" And then he proceeded to ask me what would happen if there were 149 ice cream cones on a cowboy riding backwards on an elephant. Actually, I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was something that random and out there. And I know that it involved a large number of ice cream cones. I love that boy.

Tonight, I snuggled him to sleep, and then slipped out once he was out to come relax and drink my lemon and honey tea, to soothe my throat. As soon as I sat down with it, I heard him calling for me. He asked where I had gone, and I told him about my tea. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he said, "You forgot my peppermint tea, Mommy! I needed some peppermint tea earlier, and you forgot!" I told him I could go make him some, and he protested, "But I already brushed my teeth!" I told him we'd figure that out, and said I'd be right back with the tea. Just as I suspected, he was asleep when I returned.

I bent down and gave him a kiss on his soft, cool cheek and I was overcome with love for him. Does he know that I feel that way about him? I'm sure he doesn't realize the extent of it. But I hope that he at least has some idea - even in those moments when I can't drop everything to play Legos for the millionth time today!