Love, According to Avery

It's a boy!!!

Oh, I should probably mention our new addition is a kitten--Avery's kitten, Max Steele.  It turns out the kitten Avery fell in love with is a pretty sick little guy, but we know he was meant for us.  I doubt anyone else would've taken him as sick as he was, and I hate thinking of him being sick in a cage (remember, I'm the one who will take the elderly cat/dog/child with 3 legs, diabetes, a thyroid condition, blind in one eye, deaf in both ears, with cancer, before I will adopt a healthy kitten/puppy/child...  Everyone deserves a chance to have a family and be loved).  As BFF Sharon said, he needs us, and our family has a way of making the misfits fit.

Max has been ours for a little over 36 hours.  He's been quarantined in the bathroom for all of that, and will have to stay in there until he improves.  It breaks my heart, but one sick kitty is a lot easier (and cheaper) to care for than three sick kitties.

I've watched Avery carefully and what I've seen has amazed me, making my mommy heart burst.  Whoever says kids don't know anything about love is, well, an idiot.
     *I feel as though there should be a disclaimer here about teenagers and 'love,' but that's another post, right?

On the way home with Max (his crate safely buckled into the seat next to Avery), Avery talked to him about his new home, his new family, and how much he's going to like it here: "You're gonna wuv your new home Max Steele.  I'm going to wuv you and hold you and pway with you."  He shopped carefully for Max's supplies, and proudly--gently--carried Max in his crate out to the car, and into the house.

Avery has watched entire movies on the bathroom floor just so he can spend time with Max.  He's taken his toys, games and books in there.  Avery sits in there, talking, petting and brushing (and feeding Max treats...  lots and lots of treats).  He made a get well card for his cat, which we taped to the side of the washer where Max can see it.  Avery goes in every few minutes just to say hi and check up on his kitty.  He's been going in without me reminding him, and I hear him in there telling Max how much he loves him.  I found 60 photos of Max on my phone, each one obscured by a little finger.  We did let Max sleep with Avery the past two nights, and when we went in to check on them later, we found them curled up tight, Max purring happily.  We did put Max back in the bathroom before we went to bed so he could eat and potty, and this morning Avery went straight there to say good morning to Max.

Avery told me yesterday, "I bwoke my heart to give Max my wuv and make him better.  And he bwoke his heart to give me his wuv!"  How is that my four year old understands what it takes to love another living creature, but most of us adults can't grasp that concept?  I really think we get dumber with age...

Some of this I talked with Avery about before bringing Max home, and I've continued to remind Avery  over the past two days. But, most of this--it's all Avery.

I really don't like taking credit for my kids.  And I'm not saying that as a martyr in a misguided effort to be humble.  It's all them and God, truly.  How they are turning out is not a reflection of my lack of parenting skills.   Most of the time, I'm not even leading by good example (you do not want to see me in traffic or after a bad day in the kitchen....).  My prayer for Noah and Avery is that they grow up to be good, Christian, mature gentleman in spite of my failures as their mom.  I want them to be full of compassion, love, acceptance of others, and understanding, not just for other humans, but all life.  I want them to value all creatures, and see each life as a gift.  I'm proud of how they're turning out.  They are great kids simply because I won the luck of the draw on this--they're great kids because they're great kids.

And for that, I'm grateful.