My Noble Son

Wyatt fell asleep with his head on my lap today during Sacrament Meeting. I sat and stroked his hair, and it was very tender. He didn't wake up when Sacrament Meeting was over, though - which meant I would have to wake him up and he'd be really precarious for Primary for the next two hours. I woke him up as gently as I could, and he didn't cry or go all grumpy-face, but he did cling to me as he worked through is confusion. So during the second hour of sharing and singing time, Wyatt sat in my lap while I sat with my primary class. i kept offering to let him go sit with his class, and he'd snuggle into me further and say, "not yet'.

I was really enjoying his cuddles.

But then, my problem child (I hate calling him that. It's not his fault! There's obviously something going on with him that causes him to behave the way he does. By 'problem child', I mean 'the child that tends to cause problems', not 'the child I have a problem with') began to act out. He will be the sweetest, most well behaved boy one second and fly completely out of control the next. So it happened that while I was sitting with my class with Wyatt on my lap, this boy was sitting next to me. He turned backward in his chair and started bucking it back and forth like a horse, laughing maniacally. I couldn't get him to stop with my best persuasion skills, so I resorted to holding down the corner of his chair so it wouldn't fold up and collapse on him. So this boy sees my hand on his chair, and begins punching and hitting it and laughing.

My Wyatt sees this, he looks this kid in the eye, grabs the hand that keeps smashing mine, pries it off of me. Then - still looking hard at this kid - he takes my hand in his, and pulls it in to his chest protectively.

I. just. melted.

My son was protecting me! I hugged him tight, and barely even noticed the boy next to me biting my shoulder. My sweet and noble Wyatt was there to defend me!

My whole family is falling asleep - it's only 7:30! - so I better sign off and put some kids to bed and a husband on the couch for a nap.