Luke cries at good-byes. He jumps up and down at hellos. He gives big hugs to his friends when he's having a good time playing with them. Luke asks to call Derek on the phone several times a day, asks to call Grammy and Grandpa every day, and very often asks to call aunties or cousins, and if you ask him why he wants to call them he'll say, "Because I just love them!" Someone recently commented that he wears his heart on his sleeve, and I think they hit the nail on the head. Very little, or perhaps none, of what he feels is a secret. Remember when he was 18 months old and he told that man on the airplane to stop picking his nose? Yeah. Like that.
When Luke is very grumpy we sometimes ask him to go to his room until he's ready to have a good attitude. Recently he has started returning the suggestion that he go to his room with a big false smile, saying, "Look, I'm happy." And when I insist he goes to his room his false smile turns into a weird upside down grimace and he shouts, "Ugh! No! I'm not grumpy!"
The message we're trying to send him is not that we want him to hide how he's feeling, but that as a contributing member of the family it is unacceptable to take your anger out on other people. I love that he says what he's feeling, and my hope is that someday he'll learn to filter it appropriately for different situations.
Dear Luke, words have the power to hurt and to heal, to create and to destroy. You have great strength in words and I hope you use your skill for good; for healing, for creating, for dreaming, for loving, for playing, for reconciling, for justice, for hope.
Luke is amazing. I think it's better to wear your heart on your sleeve and have to tone it down than to have to pry those emotions out. That's how come there are so many messed up people. He's leading a revolution of truly liberated people!
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