We named Bright after his great-great-grandfather, Bright Eyes Haggard. We did not, however, give him the middle name "Eyes." We considered it, but then decided against it. As it turns out, Bright Eugene Rupp has very bright eyes. They are the color of chocolate frosting and when he smiles, they almost seem to dance. His grandma says, "He smiles with his eyes."Lately, our little Bright Eyes has been struggling. He is jealous of his little brother. Zion's baby blues have been stealing the show. It breaks my heart. Last week he didn't take a single nap, and he started waking up in the middle of the night, afraid of animals coming into his room. He even tried to nurse. It has been a tough month for us, especially since he does not respond well to physical affection or words of affirmation. Those things just make him pull away. I haven't known how to reach him. Until...
Last week our teacher spoke about what a man needs from his wife. After respect, and "you-know-what", the greatest need a man has is for companionship. That means he wants his wife to sit next to him on the couch and watch a ball game with him, or come into the garage while he's working on his car, and not say a word. So...I got to thinking, maybe that's what my two-and-a-half-year-old man needs, too. So the next day, we stayed in our pjs all day and played. We stopped only for spaghetti-Os. We made pillow houses, jumped around like frogs, built towers, and formed dozens of matchbox car parking lots. And as the day unfolded, so did my son. It was beautiful.
Since that day, I've stopped showering him with unwanted kisses, and started pushing bulldozers by his side. And I think he is making a turn around.
