Isaac and the Terrible, Awful, No Good, Very Bad Morning

But first, the news....

Claire rolled over today! This time, she rolled from back to front, which is the harder roll. She was pretty pleased with herself, and did it several times in a row. Claire has been trying for awhile, but couldn't get past her shoulder.

And Isaac learned how to climb out of his crib yesterday.

Should I be scared? I don't know yet. Frankly, I'm surprised that he didn't do it earlier. Seems like most boys are climbing out of their cribs before they're two, so I should be grateful he lasted this long. Hopefully he won't make a thing out of it.

my son the Jedi

Jedi puzzles

And now, our story... I thought yesterday was going to be a nice, relaxed day. Everything seemed fine, until Caleb came over to play around 9:45. Usually they play very well together--Isaac shares with Caleb better than with many kids. But yesterday, Isaac decided to be the Control Freak. It went something like this:

"No, Caleb!" (jerks trains away. Caleb shuffles away to do something else)

"No, Caleb!" (rips the chainsaw out of Caleb's hands. Caleb goes to play with the farmhouse music. This is a tried and true winner...they love to dance together.)

"No, Caleb, it's my music!" (usually I applaud original sentences, not ones like this!)

I decided a change of pace was in order, and we went with Caleb and Alicia to get some gardening stuff...I'm planting my herbs in pots closer to the house this year, and needed pots, soil, etc. Do you know those big carts that lumber stores have to carry plywood sheets and big items around on? Isaac and Caleb wanted to ride around on that. I was suspicious, but hopeful that Isaac would handle his freedom well.

Not so much. After the first five idyllic minutes, chaos descended on our local Menard's. Isaac got off the cart, ran away, got lost in the Garden Center, refused to be buckled in the cart (which had no buckle, much to my dismay), screamed when the pallet loaders left his sight, refused to stand still while I picked out broccoli plants, and generally sent my blood pressure through the roof.

And Claire? She napped. Bless her little heart.

I was pretty angry by the time we got to the car. I dumped him into his carseat, and spent a good long time in the chilly rain loading everything into the trunk, and reluctantly got into the car. I apologized to Isaac for my anger toward him, and we took a successful trip to the co-op.

Home was chaos again, though, and when I called Vance to see if he could calm Isaac down, he thought I was watching a few extra kids, the screaming was so loud. Everything was "NO!", and everything made him cry. Never was naptime such a sweet event in the Whitaker household. But it came. And things calmed down.

Today has been 100 million times better...we all slept in til 8am, played outside in the sunny weather, planted seeds in the greenhouse (oh joy!), and had a lovely family Saturday. Things are looking up in this little house. But I'm realizing, too, that those terrible, awful, no good, very bad moments are productive. Isaac is slowly learning self-control and obedience, and I am slowly learning patience, perservering love, and the value of consistent discipline. Yesterday made me wish I could call Mom and thank her for sticking with me during the times that I was like Isaac (and worse, from her stories). And days like yesterday make me grateful that God is more perservering in his love toward me than any parent possibly could be.