Love in the Time of Preschool

Blane is very popular with the ladies. Long time readers of my blog (I know there are SO many!) know that "Laurenmasters" was once the queen of Blane's heart. She has since been deposed by a petite blonde firecracker named Audrey.

Audrey is the third daughter of some good friends of ours, Steve and Michelle. She's feisty and fearless, which serves her well. When Michelle was pregnant with Audrey, she found through testing that Audrey had Turner's syndrome, a chromosomal disorder similar in nature to the way Down's syndrome comes about. It does not result in retardation, but causes growth issues and other problems. Doctors told Michelle to abort Audrey, but she refused. Steve and Michelle never regretted their decision. God must have known Audrey needed to be tough to face her difficulties, and so far, she's a beautiful testament to life lived with gusto.

And Blane loves her. The two are inseparable in class and at Life Group. Blane will do whatever she wants him to just to play with her. In fact, Michelle told me that last August, when shopping for Blane's birthday present, Audrey wanted to buy him a baby doll. Michelle steered her towards the cars, but Audrey was puzzled, because that was the ONLY thing she ever played with him. Must be true love if he'll give up cars for a girl.

Anyway, Blane wanted to get her a Valentine today. We were at Walmart and Blane ran over to the Valentine aisle and found a little heart box of chocolate for Audrey. It was a buck, so I thought, "Why not?" Five years old, and he's already buying presents for girls.

What really cracked me up was that later, he found a pack of heart stickers. "Mom," he said with all seriousness, "Can I buy this for my other girlfriend, Lauren Masters?"

Oh boy...