Preston's IMperfections make him Perfect

Well first I have to start off by saying sorry I have been MIA fellow bloggers, but Marrah gave birth and that took precedence over everything the past few days. I am pleased to announce the arrival of Finn Austin Balan on April 4, 2008 at 12:46 a.m. weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 1/2 inches and cute as a button! Marrah was a trooper laboring for about 20 hours-the last hour and 15 minutes with NO epidural (bless her heart). She looks great and happy (and thrilled pregnancy is over) and I am super happy to be a "psuedo" aunt and cannot wait to hold my nephew and not stare at him through glass windows! I am also waiting for pictures to decorate my office in the same fashion Marrah has adorned her classroom with Preston's mug! I love you Marrah and Lee and baby Finn.

Now I must respond to Tonya's blog. I am not yet keen on the whole hyperlinking thing, but her blog about her beautiful son Knoah is in the links section. She started off by stating that some people would look at Knoah and think he is imperfect. Personally those people should be shot because I have never met Knoah but totally think he is awesome. Knoah has given Tonya a run for her money and strengthened her into being our LP resident mom. Knoah has persevered through it all showing the world what a strong little man he is. She asked us to write about our "imperfect" child. So here goes.

I must say being Catholic, we believe that the last perfect person was hung on a cross, so I have to say my view of perfect is "perfect for me." "Perfect for me" still leaves room for imperfections, but those imperfections make him perfect. (WTF? you say? There is the English major in me. I mean really I had to dissect poems about rocks and look for a double meaning when really the poem was probably about a friggin rock). What I mean is, the imperfections in Preston are what makes him so perfect. (Yeah still not making sense, huh)? Here are some imperfections:

1)Preston has "listening ears" at school, which are happily left at the front door on our way out...every single night.

2) Preston's perception of "no" is "I don't hear Mommy. Not listening. Not listening. Still going to jump on my bed."

Photo example:

I am trying to take a picture of Preston because I don't have many pictures of him (cough cough) and he is very focused on the M&M dish. For a kid who is supposed to have shorter arms, they certainly reach the things he is not supposed to have. I told him at least fifteen times let's not grab the dish. As you can see the listening ears (gone since we are home from school) are not on and the word "no" has again escaped all regions of his brain. See that defiant look?

3) Preston still thinks the corner is fun.

4) When Preston gets pissy instead of asking for help it is sensible to just throw whatever object is pissing him off (Crocs, a truck a box he cannot open)

Those are just some examples. There is nothing perfect about the "Terrible Twos." Nothing. And although I told my parents I am not making it to three, these idiosyncrasies do make up Preston at two so I have to just roll with them and know that those times are outweighed by my angel baby!

I love him so damn much it hurts. When he smiles he melts my heart. When he dances to "Proud Mary" I want to cry he so cute. He is so smart. I know I am biased. But he recognizes symbols and labels. For example, my mother drives a Mercedes. He is familiar with the symbol and every time he sees a black Mercedes on the road he thinks it is Ba. I drive a Chevy Equinox. He recognizes black Chevy trucks and thinks they are Mommy's. Well this morning he is in the kitchen with a Matchbox car and staring at my parents and stating over and over "Ba's. Ba's" This went on for about a minute until I realized his little chubby finger is pointing to the symbol on the Matchbox car! Would you believe the symbol is a Mercedes symbol? It's so tiny and the same color as the metal yet he recognized it! (Who also knew Matchbox was so hip)? Hew was so darn proud of himself he was bursting. When he watches Jakers! in the morning and the sheep do something silly he belly laughs. When he calls me and it is "Mommy! Mommmmeeee!" I just want to stop time and keep him in that moment forever.

So I thank you Tonya. Thank you for taking the time out to have all of us moms realize why our kids are so perfect in our eyes, even with their imperfections. As my sister would say, if he did not have those shorter legs I wouldn't love him as much! The thing is she truly means that! :-)