Forget a showdown at the OK Corral, I’m witnessing a showdown at the Hill House!
Of the four occupants of our house (the Hill House) two of them are having melt downs. Why? You ask? It’s all Daddy’s fault! I’m so excited that I’m not the cause of my children’s frustration right now!
Mia and Maggie have just discovered a joyous new activity. It’s called throwing plates of food on each other. Not my favorite, but it’s REALLY not Daddy’s favorite. Mia is on the naughty bench and Maggie has been removed from her seat at the table, which causes her to scream at the denial of sustenance as though she’s actually starving. And though she’s tiny as all get out, she eats like a horse, so I’m pretty sure she’s not going to miss the plate of chicken nuggets and rice that is currently being mopped up by a disgruntled Man wearing an OWU Soccer t-shirt.
And Maggie. Whoa, that girl is developing personality! She’s sweet, gregarious, and incredibly stubborn.
She also possesses a foot fetish. At least that’s the best I can imagine because she’s been snorting my toes. And, I’m not going to lie, my toes smell more like vinegar than roses after a time in my Croc slippers. But Maggie, she repeatedly walks up to my feet, sticks a toe practically up her nose and sucks in a good whiff. Then she grins like crazy and runs away. Could foot funk be a strange, heretofore unknown hallucinogenic? Who knows?!
We have really been enjoying the girls lately, along with wanting to pinch their heads off. Izzy and I have been stunned, looking at each other and wondering how we can be enjoying them so much and then not a minute later do something that offends their sensibilities and have our ears assaulted by the twin shrieks of banshees who hold our genetic code. It’s baffling.
Oh! They’re also starting to work in tandem accomplish their own devious schemes!
Mia was refusing to finish eating her banana a few mornings ago. Maggie had already consumed 2 bananas and was watching with avid interest as Mia took one bite and told us that she was full, puffed out her stomach, and asked, “couldn’t we see she was full, Mia’s tummy is big!”
Her line of reasoning wasn’t as successful as she had hoped, but for some reason it did distract us enough not to notice that Maggie had snuck her little hand onto Mia’s plate while we were talking and stolen a banana piece. It was in her mouth before we could even blink – she’s fast!
At the end of the day, Mia ate one bite of banana and Maggie had three bananas. All because Maggie was feeling sorry for Mia. Yikes.
This email is a break from preparing for a class session tomorrow where we will talk about Relationships. I was looking through the Five Love Languages for some material about how to interact with other people on a basic, human level and found this section I underlined years ago:
“The best thing we can do with the failures of the past is to let them be history. Yes, it happened. Certainly it hurt. And it may still hurt, but… we cannot erase the past, but we can accept it as history. We can choose to live today free from the failures of yesterday. Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is a commitment.”
I think this stuck out to me because it was also this week that Mia said, “Mommy, you’re mean. You were mean to me.” I hadn’t thought I was being mean at the time in question, but she obviously did. And it really hurt my heart that she would think that about me.
However, as I read that quote I realize that I need to come to piece the fact that I will do things that require forgiveness from my children. From my spouse, from my family, from my friends… I’m certain that I will eventually request forgiveness from everyone I with whom I am in relationship.
I can ask for forgiveness and hope that it will be extended to me… but it will be better practiced in my own home if I can learn how to make forgiveness a COMMITMENT, not a privilege, in my own life. When I choose to live a life that incorporated forgiveness rather than grudges I have a better chance of raising children who are themselves able to forgive.
Just a thought… and that’s the end of my study break. Lots of love to you!
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