A Spring of Joy

I put Asher down for his nap and told him he was not to get out of bed. On the other side of his headboard is his wagon with all his stuffed animals in it. A while later I heard the wagon clanking, so I went back to check on him. The rascal had emptied the animals onto his bed and moved his pillow, Elmos, and blanket into the wagon and was lying down in the wagon. I said to him, “Asher John, what did Mommy tell you about getting out of bed?” He responded with, “But I didn’t get out of bed. My feet didn’t step on the floor.”

For some reason, Asher was obsessed with his Uncle Mike for about a week this month. Here are a few of his obsessions:
“Mommy, Uncle Mike is at his house eating a bagel just like me.”
“Cat food is not for Uncle Mike to eat.”
“Bye-bye, Mommy! I’m going to Uncle Mike’s house to watch football.”
“Uncle Mike is at work, and he likes to eat M&M’s.”

Asher spent a week talking about how excited he was to go to the beach. I asked him one day what he was going to do when he got there. He said, “I’m going to jump in the ocean and play in the water. Then I’m going to dig a big hole in the sand and put Micah in it.”

I was folding laundry one afternoon, and Asher was handing me pieces of clothing to fold. When he found his pajamas, he said, “Yay! My jammies are clean! Now I can get oatmeal on them and make Mommy wash them again!” I guess Asher doesn’t think I do enough work.

Brian was outside with Asher playing with his little car. Brian had to drive him to the swingset where Asher could get gas. The scenario follows: Asher climbed out of his car, got gas, went into the station, got coffee to drink while he drove to Uncle Mike’s house. He got back in the car, they drove to Uncle Mike’s house, where Asher promplty got out, slammed the door and said, “What in the world?”

We had gone to our friends’ Jacquie & Justin’s house for supper. While Jacquie was dishing the food onto our plates, Asher held out his hands and said, “I am ready to pray.” Justin responded with, “Oh, really? Who do we pray to?” Asher just spat right back, “Heavenly Father”

It was close to suppertime and Asher and I were playing back in his room. Brian had come home from work and we didn’t hear the front door open, but when Asher heard his keys jangling, he looked up, opened his mouth real wide and said, “My father’s home!”

We had been to our church’s talent show & chili supper, and I had been talking with someone. Once we got in the car, I was telling Brian some stuff and I started to cry. Asher told me the whole way home, “It’s okay, honey.”

This morning after breakfast, Asher climbed down from his booster seat and said, “Bye-bye! Gonna go do something. I need keys to the car.”

Asher got some jelly beans from his aunt over Easter and he’s been eating one or two after each meal. After he ate one, he asked me, “Where did jelly bean go?” I told him it had gone down in his belly. He lifted his shirt and said, “I don’t see it.” Then he said, “It went way, way far down?”

Micah got up from his nap and was all smiles as usual. I put him in his bouncy seat, and Asher came over, sat down beside him, stroked his head and said, “He’s a nice baby.”

Asher loves to hug Micah (although he still doesn’t have the meaning of gentle down). He’ll come up to him and say, “I have something to you.” Then he’ll give him a great big hug.

I often will sit with Micah while he’s cooing and gurgling and say, “What? What are you saying? Talk to me. Talk to your mom.” So, when Micah got up from his nap one day, Asher went over to him and said, “Talk to me, Micah.” Micah just looked at him and smiled, so Asher asked me, “Why is he not talking?”

Brian had put $5 on the counter, and I asked him, “What is this five bucks for?” He told me, and then Asher came out into the kitchen and said to me, “I’d like five bucks, please.”

The other day, my mom was here for a visit. When she left, Asher ran to the sliding glass door to wave and yell, “Bye-Bye, Grandma!” But the clincher was when he watched her drive away and yelled. “Nice to meet you! Y’all come back now!”

Asher had just gotten up for his nap and I was getting him his juice to drink. When I handed it to him, he started drinking right away, so I asked him, “What do you say?” He kept drinking, so I said, “Asher, say thank you, please.” He looked up at me with those big brown eyes, pulled his juice out of his mouth and said, “Thank you, please.”

One day, while I was nursing Micah, I needed a burp cloth, so I called to Asher who was playing in his room. I called and said, “Hey, Asher!?” He quickly called back, “What, honey?”

This one is more in the inflection, so I won’t be able to do it justice, but Asher has now taken to saying, “I forgot!” He bobs his head, looks at me and says it with such passion that you just have to laugh.

Before bed each night, we say our goodnight prayers with Asher, and I asked him who he wanted to pray for that night. Usually it’s one of his friends or his grandparents, but this night he said, “Oh! Pray for wrench! Hammer! Screwdriver!” So we prayed and thanked God for giving Asher such fun toys (and I was thankful for such a fun boy!).

One day Asher was sitting eating his breakfast, and he kept looking at me and saying, “All things. God made all things.” I told him that He did, and then told him how God made everything he saw around him–the birdies at the feeder, the trees, the clouds in the sky. After each thing I mentioned, Asher would get more and more excited, opening his mouth and covering it with his hands. He suddenly got real quiet, thought for a moment, then tilted his head, looked at me and said, “Mommy, Asher meet God?” Now, what do you say to that? Such a dear boy.

One afternoon, Asher took his guitar and pick and trotted off to Micah’s room. I found him standing next to his crib, looking in on his sleeping brother. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, “Sing to Micah.” Then he promptly started strumming his guitar and singing, “Micah James, I love you.”

It was a Thursday morning, and Brian was having a hard time getting out of bed. Asher wanted him to get his breakfast ready and Mommy just wouldn’t do. So he climbed up onto Brian, pointed to his bathrobe and pleaded, “Daddy, put robot on!”

Ok. So I was dancing the samba w/ Asher, and I was snapping my fingers w/ him. He tried to snap his, then said, “Asher’s fingers broken.”

I was busy working around the house, and Asher was chattering away. I had tuned him out until he finally came, tugged on my sleeve, and said, “Mommy, please answer Asher.”

Asher’s first prayer! He repeated things I was saying while we said grace before his lunch, “Bless food. Be with Daddy. Fun home.”

We went for a walk one Sunday, and as we started down a steep hill, Asher kept yelling back from his spot in the stroller, “You guys. You be careful going down hill.”

I saw a bunny outside in the yard, and picked Asher up to show it to him. He watched the bunny for a while, then tilted his head, looked at me and asked, “I go outside and chase him?”

One morning Asher was walking around in circles through our living room and kitchen. Mr. Safety (Brian) was sitting on the counter typing on his laptop, and Asher randomly walked by, looked up and said, “You be careful, Daddy!” It was repeated the next night when Brian and I were going out and he was staying with a babysitter. As we were walking out the door, Asher, yelled, “Bye-bye, Daddy! You be careful!”

This was the phrase Asher adopted whenever he wanted Brian or I to hold him. He would spread out his arms as wide as he could and say, “Mommy (or Daddy), Ashes hold you.”

One Sunday, we went out to lunch, and while we were sitting at our table, Asher saw our friends, Justin & Jacquie Prather come in. He promptly yelled at the top of his lungs, “Prather! Come here! See Ashes John Davis!”

This one emerged one day when Asher found one of Micah’s hats in his car seat. Promptly putting the hat on Micah’s head at a skewed and crazy angle, Asher took one look and said, “Oh Micah, you look beautiful!”

Mom and I took the boys shopping one Tuesday, and while we were in WalMart, Asher sat in the back of the cart. We were waiting to come out in the aisle, and Asher hung over the end of the cart, looked both ways, found an older couple walking down the aisle, and yelled to them, “Watch out, people!”

The other day, Asher came running out to the living room with his soccer ball. He stood at the front door and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Come in, Josh! Come in, Ben! Come in, Danny! Play soccer with Ashes!”

Friday night after square dancing at our church, we were driving home, and Asher was pointing at us from the back seat, counting us. This is how it sounded, “One Daddy. Two Mommies! One Mommy! Two Daddies!” Occasionally, he would say, One Daddy! Two Daddies!”, but the best was when he said, “One Daddy, two Mommies. Micah, three!”

Saturday we went shopping and finally bought Asher his potty, so we could start the training process. After his bath, he told Brian he wanted to sit on his potty, so Brian brought him in and sat him down. Once he was seated, he said, “Stinky.” Brian asked him, “Do you have to go stinky?” Asher said, “Uh huh.” He sat there for a few more seconds, then when nothing happened, he said, “Not working!”

While I was getting ready for church on Sunday, Asher came in and totally unprompted said, “Look nice, Mommy.” What a boy!

One day while teaching Asher his catechism, I asked him, “Who made you?” He smiled and said, “God.” The next question was, “What else did God make?” (The catechism answer is God made all things.) Asher rolled his eyes in excitement, grinned and yelled, “God made Grandma!”

“No stinky, Mommy. Just wet.” During a diaper change, this comment made its appearance. And he was right!

I had just put Asher down for a nap, and when I gave him his hug, he gave me a big squeeze and said, “Love you ever, Mommy.” I had just finished reading and singing Love You Forever to him.

We were looking at pictures on our screen saver, and I told Brian how I liked one of the pictures. Copying me, Asher said, “I like picture.” But when the next one came up, we about fell over when he said, “I like that picture, too.”

Brian and Asher were playing on the floor, and Brian rolled over onto his stomach. Asher kept lifting Brian’s sweater looking for his belly button but would find only his back. He seriously thought Brian’s belly had disappeared and kept saying, “Oh no! Uh oh! Daddy, belly all gone.”