Just stuff...

So, this has been a pretty tough few months around here. Ben is working inpatient services and he is just plain busy. He's also just plain exhausted. He works long hours and then has to take some calls at night. With most people who have busy schedules, they can at least look forward to the weekend but poor Ben doesn't even have that. The good news is that this will all be over in about a week! We can't wait!! Long hours for Ben means long hours for me as well. I have never felt more sympathy for single mothers! I don't know how they do it. It seems like every time I am about to reach my limit, though, Caleb will say or do something that reminds me why I couldn't be without my children! Case in point, today, when I was honestly at my witt's end, Caleb says out of the blue, "Mommy, I love you!" He then, of course, proceeded to tell me that I was grouchy. Ouch. At least he loves me in spite of that. :)

On a completely different note, Caleb is just growing up so much! Lately he has wanted to go to the bathroom all by himself. All I can say is thank goodness for hardwood floors! He is just barely tall enough to reach over the rim of the toilet. His newest thing, thanks to his dad I might add, is that he wants to "aim" it. It is fine that Ben has encouraged him to "aim", but he didn't really focus on the definition of the word. Caleb thinks it means to put his finger on his little tallywacker and spin it in circles. I don't know where he learned this, but there is only one other potty trained tallywacker in the house.... that's all I'm sayin'. (Now that I think about it, maybe this is from his "name-writing in the snow lessons." Either way, I'm not gonna deal with it. I'll just keep wiping up the floor until Ben helps him perfect this.)

On another nother note... I have the most amazing husband. He does the most thoughtful things and even when he is completely exhausted he will take time for Caleb, Thane, and I. Yeah, definitely the greatest guy ever!

Bad Mickey

I have told this story to my sister, and she got a kick out of it. I guess I was too close to the situation to see it as really funny until after the fact. So, since Heather enjoyed it and how I handled things, I guess I will share...

I had a friend over the other day and she brought her two year old son. He was really shy so we were trying to give him toys to get him to start playing. Caleb, however, didn't feel like our toy selections were acceptable. In fact, he didn't think ANY toy choice was good. Every time we would give the child a toy, Caleb would grab it from him and say that he "was about to play with that." Of course I didn't allow him to get away with this. In fact, every time he took something I would make him give it back, have him sit in time out to think, then apologize afterwards.
I believe we repeated this cycle about four times, and I was completely frustrated and embarrassed with his behavior.
After timeout number four, Caleb dissappeared into his room, then re-emerged with a stuffed Mickey doll. This happened to coincide with us handing the little boy Caleb's play staple gun. I saw the look in Caleb's eyes, and felt the frustration build. Before I could stop him, he had used Mickey's arms to grab the gun. I said the usual, "Caleb, give that back to him now", to which he replies, "I didn't do it, Mickey did it." Clever.
"Fine," I huffed back, "Mickey, you have until the count of three to give it back."
He didn't even flinch as I concluded my count. Now that was a first! Caleb is always quick to act once the counting starts. I felt my blood boil as I firmly stated "Caleb, go to time out, NOW!"
"But mom," he replies, "I didn't do it, Mickey did it."
Now, I am a firm believer in consistency, and as much as this whole time out thing was seemingly not working, I was determined to stick with it. If you know Caleb at all, however, you know that he has an extremely vivid imagination...and he might have even really believed that Mickey was at fault. I felt the other mom's eyes on me. What was I to do?

I'll tell you what I did. I let Caleb put Mickey in time out. I then told him that he needed to sit with Mickey and talk to him about his behavior and why it wasn't nice to take things from other children. Caleb completely agreed that Mickey needed a talkin' to.
He put Mickey on the couch, kneeled down by him and said "now Mickey, I know you are frustrated, but it is not nice to take things from other children. You have to share." He then whispered a few things to him. I'm not sure what, but probably some words of sympathy or encouragement. After two minutes I let Mickey out of time out. He didn't do it again.

So, there are many times as a mom that you just wonder how you are doing. There is no boss to offer yearly reviews, no days recorded for quality assurance, or even anyone over three to offer constructive criticism because no one is there all day to witnesses your interactions. While it's true that it's wonderful not to deal with the negative aspects of such things, sometimes you just need a pat on the back, or someone to tell you that you aren't a complete imbecile. So, thanks, Heather, for complimenting me on my parenting "skillz". Just like a good review from the boss, it is very encouraging....especially when you hit time out number 20 for the day.

Prayer

We had finished reading our bedtime stories, had our snack, and were laying down to go to bed when Caleb gasped. "Mom, we forgot to pray". Now, of course we would have prayed within the next minute if given the chance, but there was no need to correct him. "Okay Caleb", I replied, "would you like me to pray?" "No, mom," he answered, "I'll do it. Can I bow?" I didn't really know what he meant by this, but decided I would like to find out. "Of course you can Caleb." With that, he walked to the middle of his bedroom, closed his eyes, folded his hands, and bowed with his face to the ground. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I saw him unknowingly humble himself in such a manner before his creator. "Dear Lord," he started, "thank you for this day. Please help daddy as he takes care of patients at the hospital because he can't do it on his own. Please help me to be kind to my cousins and help me to share. In Jesus name I pray all of these things. Amen." Quite the complex prayer for such a little boy. Ben was at the hospital on call this particular evening, but I told him the next day about Caleb's prayer and prayer posture. I wondered if Ben had taught him to "bow". He hadn't, but when I looked in Caleb's children's bible I saw that he had learned it from a picture of King David bowing before God. As he finished his little talk with God, I felt so incredibly proud of him. He is learning some important behaviors at a young age: to be humble, to rely on God to guide us daily in what we do, and to desire to be constantly growing in order to show Christ's love to others.
What a precious thing to be able to see the truly blind and innocent faith of a child.