Tantrum Twos

Anyone else out there whose kid regularly throws a full-blown tantrum?

What do you do? Try to talk to them, ignore it? Discipline or not discipline? Let them flail, or try to hold them down so they don't hurt themselves (or you)? Stay with them, or leave the room?

Some nights we get Jonathan into bed and it takes me foever to recover. I was one of those kids who practically cringed at a certain tones of voice or frustrated glance. So watching my son turn into something that resembles JackJack at the end of "The Incredibles" really baffles me. And regardless of the route I choose during the tantrum, when it's over, I almost always feel like I picked the wrong one. And by the time he's done, I no longer remember what started it in the first place.

Sigh...raising kids is not for the faint of heart.

One of those days

Do you ever have one of those nights that leaves you praying that your children will come to faith in spite of you...

...followed by a morning where you think pretty seriously about skipping the mug and drinking straight from the coffee pot?

Sweet Things

We have officially entered the "Training Twos" with Jonathan. There have been several very hard days and weeks recently. Thankfully, God has been reminding me, and pointing out very sweet things about being Mommy to Jonathan, and I thought I'd share. Maybe if I write them down, I'll be more likely to remember them during the next training moment.

We've started bringing Jonathan into the worship service on Sunday mornings. Almost every week I get teary-eyed while singing, as I think about the fact that I'm singing the truths of God and of Scripture into my son's ears.


Jonathan reaching out to hold my hand when he's falling asleep or when I'm riding next to him in the car.

He loves babies.
His big smile and "Mommy home!" when I come home from work.

Singing to him in his bed at night. I have sweet memories of my mom singing to me at night, and it's weird/amazing to think that he'll someday have those memories of me.


Cuddling with him. By the time we got Jonathan he had pretty much outgrown the cuddle stage. The only time he wants to cuddle is right after he wakes up, if he's still really tired. This morning he slept really late and then spent an hour curled up in my lap in the recliner, half-awake, half-asleep. It was so sweet. And God allowed me to just enjoy it, instead of spending the whole time thinking of other things I needed to get done.


Teaching him a bedtime Bible verse.

The way he tilts his head to one side and holds up one finger on each hand when he's asking for cookies for dessert. Too cute!

I could probably go on, but Brian just reminded me not to stay up too late, so I better take his advice and get ready for bed.