Give Me Patience

I know that I am biased, but I honestly think that I have two of the world’s greatest kids. They are kind, generous and loving – which is something I had to remind myself of often today! Any parent knows what I am talking about… we might love our kids with all of our hearts, but there are days when they just drive us CRAZY!! I decided to take my kids to the park after school today, since it was a sunny 2 degrees:) But when we got to the park there was a big mud puddle in the middle of it. I pointed this out to my kids and said – you can go play on the slides and swings, but don’t go in that puddle. So, of course, they immediately walk over to the puddle – and jump into it, repeatedly! That’s it, we’re going home, because boys who don’t listen to their mothers don’t get to play at the park – right? My 5yr old (Xander) and I start walking home, and my 3yr old (Ethan) decides that he isn’t coming and proceeds to sit on the sidewalk and cross his arms while muttering something about it not being fair. I keep walking, because I am not giving into this tantrum. And he keeps sitting, because he’s not giving in either. Finally I get to a place that I can hide out of sight, and only then does Ethan get up and start to walk home. But then he gets close enough that he can see where I am – and he sits back down!!! We then proceeded to have a face off for approx. 15mins, where he sat staring at me while I stood 200 yards away starring right back at him. Eventually he gave in and walked to meet me. Just in case I thought I had won that battle, when he was about 5 feet away from me he veered off the sidewalk and jumped in another big puddle while smiling up at me. Since he didn’t want to feel left out, Xander decided later that day that he should get in on the action. He did something he shouldn’t have done (I don’t remember what now) and when I corrected him he rolled his eyes and said ‘Blah, blah, blah’. The perfect ending to my day! Suffice it to say – these boys are lucky to be alive!