Brrrr! Is it so cold lately. I use to have the rule that we had to get out of the house every single day. Then this awful cold weather hit, and I am doing good to check the mail. I hate cold weather, so we have been keeping busy inside.
We have been double lucky lately. MePa visited last weekend, and on Wednesday, my mom came to visit! She just left, and we are all very sad. Woody stands at the door with his lip out when his grandparents leave. He will muster up the saddest "bye bye" you have ever heard. Of course they always bring him fun goodies. He got a tent from MePa and Nana brought him a new ABC book and a jumbo coloring book. He was super excited...until he realized he had no crayons. I was nice and let him borrow my watercolour pencils.
(We also stay in PJs way too late into the day.)
While Mom (or Nana) was here, she stayed with Gippy so that I could take Woody to have his hearing and vision tested, as well as to begin the transition for speech (we will not longer be in the Babies Can't Wait when he turns three.)
(How lucky am I that the grandparents don't go running and screaming?!)
I will save my opinions on the process (some good! some need improvement...major improvement), but Woody is improving with his expressive speech. We also confirmed that he has no vision or hearing impairments! Wahoo!
And speaking of Woody, he loves to climb over the back side of the couch and flip onto it. I have told him over and over to stop. One day I caught him mid-act.
"Woody, get down."
Normally, he is a pretty good listener. He stared deep into my eyes as if he was processing what I said.
"Woody, Momma said, 'Get Down.' You could get hurt."
He didn't move a muscle. He stared expressionless at me.
"Woodfin James, if you don't get down you will have to go to time-out for not listening."
Usually, the combination of his full name and the mention of time-out will cause enough fear that he will do what I have told him. I didn't break eye contact as I watched him slowly slide back down to the floor.
"Thank you," I said as I turned to go into the kitchen, priding myself of my disciplinary skills.
"Weeeeeeeeee!!!" The joyful laughter of a child.
I couldn't believe it. My two year old was already trying to deceive me. Waiting until he thought my watchful eye was gone to do exactly what I told him not to do. He knew that if he did it, he would go to time-out (which he did and cried), but he did it anyway. When his 2.5 minutes in time-out were up, I began to talk to him.
"Woody, Momma told you not to climb on the couch. I made this rule because you could fall and get hurt. That would make you and Momma very sad. But you did not listen to me. You thought Momma was not looking and did what she told you not to do. That is why you had to sit in time-out. But I want you to know that I will always love you and want you be careful and safe."
What a stubborn child. And he gets it from his momma. There are things that I know are against God's will for my life, but I do them anyway, as if I think that maybe He is not watching me. Sin sometimes seems fun, much like flipping over a couch, but it hurts me. It separates me from my Heavenly Father, who sees all and knows the secrets of my heart. Just as Woody cried when I told him that I was upset with his actions, I cry out to the Lord to forgive me for falling short, for doing things that I know are wrong! Not only does He forgive me, but He separates it as far as the east is from the west. (That means he doesn't write a blog post about my sin. Sorry Woody.) Sometimes, when I think of my sinful ways, I wonder how God can continue to forgive me and love me unconditionally. But in some miraculous, indescribable way, He loves me even more than I love the precious children He has loaned to me.
If that isn't great news for this Friday, then I don't know what is! Happy Weekend!
