My friend Trey called me on Gabriel’s 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago and wished me a happy birthday–for my entrance into motherhood. Such a wise guy. 🙂 It’s been a wonderful two years, but motherhood definitely keeps me on my toes.
Gabriel is my darling love (and I tell him multiple times a day, usually accompanied by tickling and a bear hug), BUT he’s such a handful lately.
I had the best chat today with my friend Katie at My life as a domestic diva. Before our conversation was abruptly ended by my 3-month-old deciding she was so-hungry-she-might-die-if-she-didn’t-eat-RIGHT-THAT-SECOND, we had one of those fellow-mother-in-the-same-boat conversations. We talked about love, marriage, family, money–and discipline. All the fun stuff. But in an uplifting way.
We probably talked the longest about discipline, and what is working and what is not working with our toddlers.
Like so many phone calls of my life these days, I didn’t have time to really finish the conversation today. But that’s OK. It’s not like we were 10 minutes away from figuring out the secret to disciplining two-year-olds r anything. Not even close. But I think we both walked away with an uplifted heart. So thanks for that my friend. 🙂
I’ve been struggling the most with patience lately, with being more lovingly persistent, more kindly stubborn, than an irrational, emotional little guy who is very good at persistence and stubborness. And whose whining (and running away, and hitting me, and throwing things, and dumping his milk cup on the couch) so easily triggers my nerves every day right now.
I’ve also been struggling with knowing which battles to choose, and where to set my standards. One one side there is the real-or-imagined pressure of “He’s only two!”. On the other side there is the thought that my two-year-old is now old enough (and has demonstrated so before now) to be expected to do or not do certain things he is directed by an adult in reasonable, discerned, appropriate situations.
So, yes, wisdom is quite a multiple-times-per-day prayer request for me. 🙂
I really believe that God will always give me enough grace for where I am in any moment–or any season–of my life. So when I trudge to daily mass, knowing that I’ll stand in the back of the atrium the entire time and probably not hear a word of anything and will forget again to say “and with your spirit,” I pray that God would either give me a cheerful, well-behaved toddler, or He would give me just enough grace to handle Gabriel when my son is acting less angelic than his heavenly namesake.
(Just so you know, I also pray that He’ll help me work on not writing so many run-on sentences. My old English teachers would be horrified if they read my blog, I think. I’m surprised that my sweet grammar-loving friend Katie at Let my soul flower in thy sight hasn’t dropped any hints yet. She’s too nice for that though.:)
Amidst my struggles with parenting and marriage and whatever else I’m agonizing over at the moment, I am still trying very much to keep things in perspective; as they say, let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill. Not that I’m always successful. 🙂 If disciplining my generally-sweet-and-docile toddler is the biggest challenge in my life right now, then I need to stop and remember that (a) I’m super blessed in so, so, so many ways to even have that precious problem, and (b) If I’m truly agonizing over that, I’m not keeping my life, my faith, and the scope of eternity in proper perspective.
Easier said than done. Except when I get wake-up calls like the year-end letter from an organization we support, Change Lives Now. What good work, what needed work, what there-is-a-human-being-who-would-not-be-alive-right-now-without-their-help kind of work. Please check them out. 🙂
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