Lesson 44: For Four--Fore!

Here is a special one for Sam's fourth birthday on March 27th.  And how diabolically perfect is it that I happen to be at blog post 44?  So, for four I am screaming, "Fore!"  The on line dictionary worded the perfect definition for "fore."  Don't think in terms of golf though, think Sam-- "Fore!" is shouted as a warning during a golf game when it appears possible that a golf ball may hit other players or spectators.  Perfect.  Kids at Milestones Early Learning Center, take cover.  Here come Sam's fourth year--FORE!  He's been known to throw a few chairs every now and again.

Sam has been the comic relief of this blog, and I thank him for that.  When I took writing classes in college from my favorite professor, Roger Solberg, he used to tell me it is all about balance.  You have to have laughter where there is pain.  That is why Shakespeare used comic relief, and why the LOST writers included Hurley.  After I've written too many serious and thought provoking blog posts, I always insert one about Sam for the good of the order.  They always seem to bring the most responses from people.

I've told you stories of the potty training, the stubborn streak, and the famous one liners.  But I haven't given enough cyber space to what a wonder my boy is, and how thankful I am to have him.  Even with the girls, as happy as I was with the two of them, I always felt like there was someone missing.  I was not actively seeking another child by any stretch of the imagination.  So it was a blessing when I found out I was expecting him.  Especially so as I had just recovered from a miscarriage and was feeling that emptiness one feels after having one.

Sam's birth day was one for the record books.  I fought long and hard to get that baby out on my own.  I was bound and determined to do it with no drugs this time.  I was toughing it out.  I even tried bouncing on that birthing ball, something my friend told me sped up her labor lickety

split.  All it really did for me is bring on harder labor pain while sitting on an unsteady, rubber sphere.  I haven't been able to look at a yoga ball the same way ever since.  

My sister Karen could not wait for this last hurrah.  At 36, it was clearly going to be my last baby, so she wanted to be with me to relive the process one more time.  I heard her and smelled her before I even saw her.  I was laboring in the bed when I heard the tell tale clickety click of her high heels and jangling Silpada bracelets coming up the hall.  She  

was already chattering away to the nurses.  Upon entry of the room I smelled her perfume and something else.......  In a sing-songy voice she exclaimed, "I brought Starbucks!"  She had a four pack carrier and gave one to Louie, two to the nurses, and kept one for herself.  She pulled up a chair, grabbed my hand, and started her coaching.

The early morning turned to late morning, then to early afternoon.  As the later afternoon was creeping upon us, Eloise was giving out, but baby LaFuria #3 was content as ever to push the other way.  An omen? Perhaps.  The pain was intense and the room started to gray around the edges.  Voices started to sound far away and I was getting tunnel vision.  I remember praying to Jesus out loud.  Karen must have overheard me, because the next thing I could see was her face inches away from my own.  It sounded like she was talking in a bucket.  She said to me, "Do you SEE Jesus?"  I think she was the one who really got the show on the road.  Remember this--when you are too weak to advocate for yourself on your own, have your sibling do it for you.  They have a way of making things happen.  Within minutes I was down for an emergency C-section and my bouncing baby boy was born on March 27th at precisely 3:27 pm.

They say that everyone needs a Bible verse to adopt as their own.  I'd tell you mine, but I can't, because it is my password for everything.  Some people are lucky and have a cool name like John.  If your birthday was August 28th, then you could adopt John 8: 28 to be your verse.  I thought, "Cool, Sam will have a Bible verse from the Book of Samuel.  Neat."  Later that week when I looked it up there was no verse 27 in the third chapter of Samuel.  But I was in luck!   There are two books.  I checked out the second book, and as with most things with Sam, I wished I hadn't.  Here is the verse:  2 Samuel 3: 27--Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway, as though to speak with him privately.  And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.  NICE!!!!!!!!

In the above photos you'll see Sam during some of his finer moments.  He loves football and didn't seem to care that the Steelers lost the Super Bowl.  He only wanted Jack and his friend Adam to try to tackle him.  Much to his father's pleasure, Sam loves to fish and happens to be a left handed bowler.  You can take Sam anywhere, from a playground to a party to the church preschool, and he me makes friends.  He is friendly and open with people, which was in stark contrast to his older sisters.  For years people made fun of me as each was stuck to a leg much like a barnacle would be on a boat's bottom.  And mine at the time was about the size of a barge--that's what having kids does to a person. 

You will also see that Sam does not like to dress up in formal attire.  He prefers jerseys to neckties and that is fine by me.  You will also see him crying over a pull up.  If you look closely, Eloise played another dirty little trick on her son.  I told him he is getting too old for pull-ups and he needs to get up at night to go pee and not pee the bed.  He of course, was not too keen on this.  So I did what any good mother would do.  Bought him his pull ups again, but told them that the only kinds they had for four year olds were pink, had Dora on the front, and the backs were covered with hearts and flowers.  I know, mommy issues.  It explains a lot.  But my response to you all is "FORE!" because that was a 200 yard drive for me. 

4 cheers for four!

Eloise