My Max, a budding toddler, is giving me something to think about or work through each and everyday. His brain is unreal. And I know I'm biased, but come spend a couple hours will him and you'll be scratching your head too. He's perceptive and funny- he's creative and stubborn- his memory is UN-REAL- and he's just plain smart (and a smarty pants). And he's kind of rotten- which can be blamed on me for 2 reasons:
1) He is just like me- like all my daily struggles are his- you know, strong-willed, control freak, know-it-all, mouthy, etc.... Lucky for me (and everyone around me) the Holy Spirit lives inside of me and continues to reign me in daily... ok hourly... ok minute-ly. But seeing as though the little Max-man hasn't quite figured out salvation and asking Jesus into his heart, I am his Holy Spirit, and let's just say I'm not super awesome at that because he's so darn cute, which bring me to my next point...
2) I just love him too much and I let him get away with stuff-- in ONE 24 hour span my mom and my husband pointed this out to me (again, for like the millionth time)- my mom called me a marshmallow when it comes to the child and Chad accused me of being "soft". Hello, name calling-- I'm a word's person folks-- why they didn't choose words like "grace-filled" and "patient" is because I'm way passed those things. At least once a day I can be caught laughing when I should be spanking. But have you seen his eyes?
Ok, anyway, I'm soft- it is what it is. And no one expected it of me-- I used to be known as the bulldog by all the students in my youth group. (And even one of them told me that I'd lost it.) But motherhood does all sorts of crazy (wonderful) things to you-- and for me, that included making me soft. And I'll say it a million times: It's easy to be a great mom to a 2 year old until you actually have one! I'm telling you, I was mom of the year, every year (in my head) until I had kids. And since then, humility has been slapping me upside the head, instead :)
I did receive a pep-talk this morning from my Kellee (I think I need to do a post just on her so that every time I mention her name- which is every time there is any sort of milestone in my life- I can just link to her) and I do need to re-visit "What the Bible Says about Child Training" and this week, I did start carrying THE wooden spoon in my purse-- and now it is time to step it up and actually implement all those things.... but until then (because I can't implement right now-he's sleeping) I thought I'd share one more funny thing this child did, that may or may not have warranted discipline:
Yesterday morning I asked Max if he had to potty before I hopped in the shower. (He did not.) Then I came back 10 minutes later to find him sitting in a puddle of pee and milk. On my couch. He was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and had peed (and continued to sit there?!) and had also laid his milk cup on it's side and let is all drip out.
Note #1: Max's new thing is to pee on himself instead of using the potty because "I can't want to potty" and so after much prodding from my husband, I have finally decided to spank him for blatant accidents like that because the child MORE than gets the whole potty drill and just chooses to pee elsewhere because he's a stubborn ole poot!
Note #2: Since Max could hold his own bottle/ cup, Chad has been adamant about setting it upright on a sturdy piece of furniture after drinking mainly because he doesn't want anything spilled on his side of the bed- but this transferred to the rest of the house as well, because who wants spoiled sticky milk anywhere? Not us.
So I sent the wet Max up to the bathroom while I got out the stain remover spray, followed by the upholstery cleaning spray and cleaned the couch and scrubbed. I left the spray and the rag on the couch in case it needed a second cleaning and headed upstairs to spank Max (BLAH!!), wipe him down, and get him in new dry clothes. About that time, Jack woke up, ready to eat. So with a fresh and clean Max, I grabbed the baby and nursed him before heading back to the living room.
When I came back, Max was BEAMING- he was PROUD- and I'm pretty sure he knew it could go either way- there was a 50% chance that I too would be proud of him and there was a 50% chance that he would be in trouble. He looked at me with those bright baby blues, awaiting a decision.
"I cleaned my car, Mommy, it's all clean!"
So, he knows he's not supposed to touch any type of cleaner and he did douse my entire couch in cleaner and when I picked up the car later, he had sprayed so much cleaner in the car that it ran down my leg, but in that moment, I was just so in love with his brain, that I too was proud. And it really made me laugh!
But if you come to my house anytime soon, don't sit on that end of the couch-- it's still soaked.
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She is a friend of a friend and I've been following her funny stories for a while- but what she had to say today got me-- what would you have to say in an interview?
Hooray for humor!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren! Thanks for commenting on my blog because now I can follow yours. Katie raves about yours all the time. It will be so refreshing to read another mother's crazy-day stories. Have a good one!!!