This testimony is about Shepard.
For nearly the entire month of June and the first week of July, Shepard decided that Mommy was no longer awesome. I basically attributed this behavior to some sort of "terrible twos" phase. On vacation, it got even worse, as the grandparents became the center of his universe and both Mommy and Daddy were getting the cold shoulder. He would even scream "NOOOOOO!" when I'd try to pick him up after nap. By the time we got home, Daddy was awesome again, but I was absolute chopped liver. He would often scream if I just entered the room where he was. He would push me away with both hands. He would try to flip food out of my hands as I put it on his tray. About the only thing he would let me do without a huge struggle was give his bath and put him to bed. Jerod even had to talk to him several times about being mean to Mommy. I kept trying to stay upbeat and push through the phase, but it is really difficult to have ANYONE full-on reject you. Especially this little person that you would lie down and die for if needed. Sometimes I just cried.
Then magically, about a week and a half ago, on a Friday, I came home from work, and instead of running away from me, Shepard hugged my legs. I sat on the hearth to watch him play and he came up and crawled in my lap. Then he sat down next to me like a little buddy. I just stared at Jerod as if to ask if he had picked up the correct child from day care. ??? The affection continued. No more screaming NO! DADDY! when I came to get him first thing in the morning. He was holding my hand, climbing in my lap and giving my spontaneous hugs. Hugs had NEVER happened unless I was picking him up at school. The turnaround was actually shocking.
Last week, I took Shepard with me to small group for a little while since Jerod was out of town. My friend Emily asked how Shepard was doing. She mentioned they had prayed for him and our relationship. Jerod had asked for prayer regarding how Shepard was interacting with me. I was able to give her such a good report about how wonderful our last week had been. Now, when I go into his room in the morning, he says, "It's MOMMY!" and starts telling me all about all kinds of things.
His shift literally happened the day after my group prayed for us. We went from a month of heart-breaking rejection to "Mommy is awesome!!" again. And thankfully, not to the exclusion of Daddy. His little heart seems rightly turned toward both of us again.
I have no idea what happened spiritually, and can't begin to explain that.
