Friday, February 5, 2016

Gratitude Friday...

Anyone else watching, "Madoff" on ABC?  Or, I guess, "watched?"  

I cannot stop.  

Human beings are just flippin' amazing.  Both in the good and in the bad.  We are just unbelievable.

Anyway...

It's been kinda a crazy couple of weeks.  I can sum it up with this story from last night...

Aubrey Kate:  Momma, guess what we made today at school?

Me:  What, baby girl?

AK:  George Washington!

Me:  What?!?!  That's awesome!  Who was George Washington?

AK:  Momma!  You know who he is!

Me:  I do?  Well, do you?

AK:  You know I know!

Me:  Okay, tell me who he is then.

AK:  Momma, don't you believe in me?

Me:  (Wait.  What just happened?)

Me:  Aubrey Kate, this has nothing to do with me believing in you.  Tell me who George Washington is, if you know.

AK:  Momma, I always believe in you.  Why can't you just believe in me?

Me:  Aubrey Kate, I'm gonna walk away right now.  I'll be cleaning the kitchen when you are ready to tell me who George Washington is.  Or, if you don't know, then you may ask me.

AK:  MOMMA, JUST BELIEVE IN ME!

It's almost like I could close my eyes and see her standing there, 15 years old, pimples, a little too much smelly body lotion, lanky and awkward, pleading with me to trust her with something she has not earned the right to be trusted with.  

Let's not even bother getting into her incorrect use of the phrase "believe in me."

She finally told me he was "a president" and then we had a to have discussion about SOME THINGS.

Like...

1)  You are FIVE years old.

2)  I am very not.

3)  You have years of childhood ahead of you.  During which it is MY JOB to question your knowledge and the facts you are learning at school.  DEAL.  WITH.  IT.

4)  This incident had absolutely ZERO to do with me trusting you or believing in you.  And EVERYTHING to do with your refusal to answer a light-hearted question.  You, sweet girl, are responsible for turning this into a frustration for yourself.  Not me.

And there you go.  

To quote my dad, "Nothing's ever easy."

Somehow, a simple, light-hearted question about her school work turned into her crying and feeling like I didn't trust her.  I would say she didn't feel that but was just dodging admitting she didn't know the answer to the question.  But it appears she did know the answer and simply had a strong-willed moment and dug her heals in.  

There was a lying incident last week.  That resulted in some natural consequences and some scripture memorization.  And her desire to give everything away.  She's taking all the change in her piggy bank to church for "the kids in Peru."  On Sunday, she loaded up five or six little toys to distribute to her friends at church.  And yesterday, she wanted to give away some of her dolls to a friend she'd played with on the playground.  

So we're discussing appropriateness.  Without stifling her natural love of gift-giving.

Although, I'm totally letting her take all her change to church.  Go with God, girl.

It's been a lot.  Almost all of the sudden.  

Surprisingly, Rhys has been relatively normal.  He's giving me these beautiful glimpses into life past this "threenager" stage.  Then he hits his sister because she's ignoring him.  Or screams because his transformer doesn't fit into the cupholder on his car seat.

And I say, "Oh look.  The Threenager lives."

But I am LOVING the easy-going, fun-loving, snugly little man he is in those glimpses.  

His issues I am accustomed to.  My daughter has been acting much less strong-willed the past six months.  I'd sort of pushed those memories of her fighting me over every.little.thing to the back of my mind.  

And yet, Oh look.  The strong-willed lives.

Bless my own heart.

So what I am grateful for right now?

1)  Scripture.  God breathed.  Life giving.  Written on our walls, and our hearts and slowly, being written on the hearts of the strong-willed little people around here.  

2)  Made beds.  Nothing like climbing into a neatly made bed after a day of battle.  

3)  Coco Pebbles.  My "the kids are in bed and I survived" nightly snack.  Zero health qualities.  1,000% comfort food.

Sweet mercy.  I am tired.  

Forgive me for being absent.  Hopefully, life calms back down soon.  Like tomorrow.  

1 comment:

  1. Almost like walking into a mind field. You could step on an explosion.
    Love You!

    ReplyDelete