After last week, all I wanted today was something different. I thank God that it was exactly that. It was a challenge for me at 5:30 AM to be positive about Brady waking up, but I thought about what a blessing it was that he even had the breath in his lungs to wake up and cry. I have read enough of Linsey's blog ("Keeping Up With the Joneses") lately to quickly appreciate having to wake up while it is still dark outside to make sweet little Brady a bottle. It doesn't happen often anyway. The beauty of that feeding was it helped him to sleep until 9:00 this morning. I was able to wake up on my own and begin my day with peace, quiet, coffee, and a short devotion before anyone needed me for anything. That made all the difference in the world.
I never can figure out if it's my mood that makes Seth grumpy or if it's his mood that makes me grumpy. Either way, I woke up happy and so did he this morning. I pushed chores to the side today and took the boys to the library and the park to play. Sure, that sounds like a pretty sweet day, but as I have learned through having my kids, days like this are beautiful in theory, and they are sweet to look back on, but they are ugly in the making. That trip to the library consisted of me having to pay a $7.oo fee for last month's overdue books. It also meant prodding and poking and urging Seth to choose a book that he might like to take home. We were joined at the library by Seth's friend, Ellie, which was a delight to both of them, but it put an absolute end to the hope that he would choose a book to read today. When he heard that we would leave for the park after he chose two books, he grabbed the two closest books and said he was ready. Shaun (yes, he was able to join us) "helped" him choose two others, and we quickly ended our educational trip to the library. From there, we headed to Wendy's to order our "picnic" lunch. This too looks beautiful from a distance, but not from inside the car where Seth's selfish three-year-old nature could not understand why I wouldn't drive to a Sonic and also pick up a cherry slush. Our time at the park was fun. We ate our Wendy's picnic lunch, and Seth even went down the slide a few times before he informed me that he had to poop. So, we abruptly gathered our things, buckled Brady back into his car seat, and rushed to Shane and Leslie's house so Seth could comfortably go to the bathroom. And all this time, Shaun is needing to be dropped back off at his car that we left at the library. He was taken hostage by the chaos of a peaceful day. We left that potty break with Seth crying because he wanted to go back to the park. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. His body betrayed him by waiting until he was at the park to signal an emergency landing. By the time we arrived home, he was over it. I realize that may not sound like a great day to anyone else, but it was a victory for me. I never raised my voice, Brady never cried the entire time, I was able to steal Shaun away from his work, and Seth learned to adapt. Today, we felt and breathed the breeze and the sun, and I am thankful that none of the chores on my list were accomplished.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Indeed, it was a great day - hijacking and all. I capped it off by cutting the grass after work, with Seth mimicking every path with his own bubble-pumping lawn mower. I had to smile as I swatted a bug away from my forehead, just to see him do the same from the corner of my eye. Little things like that make it worth it to cut the grass when I don't really feel like it. Just for the record, the 2 books that Seth was going to choose at the library were a book for girls and a book called, "It's hard being 5".
ReplyDeleteLove that boy.