I'm a rules girl. I know that about myself. It kept me out of a lot of trouble growing up, and I think it helped me land a great husband. I'm not prim and proper, but I do walk the straight and narrow. This attitude carries over to my childrearing too. I want certain things just so, and I don't always leave a lot of room for compromise. However, as my children get older I work hard to ask myself the question, "Can you say, "yes"?" I don't want to naturally go to a NO answer.
This morning Henry's favorite shirt was dirty. We need a size 2T or 3T from TJ Maxx if you happen to run across a crimson, short-sleeved, t-shirt with three cream-colored and navy, old school looking sketches of baseball players across the front...a thrower, catcher, and batter. It has navy blue trim at the neck and arms, and I need another one! I gave him the bad news, and he immediately opened a drawer reserved for cold weather clothes, removed a sweater that I recently found on clearance (score!), and said, "I'll wear this one." I launched into my explanation about hot weather...no sweaters...sweaters are for when it is chilly outside, yada yada yada. He wouldn't hear of it. He tried to dress himself. I tried to pry the sweater out of his meaty, "Daddy Robbie strong" grip. I decided that this was an opportunity for Henry to learn about how Mommy is right. The natural consequence of wearing a sweater on a hot summer morning is that he'd get hot. We were getting ready for our walk with the neighbors. I let him wear it. I packed a polo shirt. He never complained. He was happy as a lark. And you know what? It wasn't the end of the world. Maybe I need to say, "yes," more often.
I should have reached this conclusion before my trip to Target. Robbie asked me to take Henry and Vivian to the office this week to see the ladies. We parked, and Henry wanted to take a lime green paddle inside with him. We'd been playing toss and catch with a phantom ball in the car, and I figured the toy would keep him happy. We had a nice visit with Daddy and the ladies, and everything was fine. At Target I told him he had to leave the toy in the car. Back to my rules...we don't take toys into stores. Henry got sad, then he cried, then he screamed, then he completely fell apart and started kicking and running in the air as I lifted him into the cart. We created a scene for several minutes as he yelled again and again, "I WANT MY PADDLE BACK." The only good part was that he was screaming in a sad, rather than spoiled bratty sort of way. I always attempt to look at the glass as half full, even if it is full of..., well, you know. Sometimes I get scolded by Robbie for the frank way that I blog, so I'll let you fill my glass with something yucky, and you can get the drift. To make the Target run even more exciting I could not find my wallet at the checkout counter. I had $25 cash, and I had to subtract items one by one to decrease my $41 balance to something I could afford. Henry was a quiet doll boy during that ordeal. Then once we got home I discovered that my milk, for which I declined a sack, had leaked all over the carpet in the cargo area of the van. Can you imagine how that milk could sour the carpet in this heat? I had to unload the van, feed Henry, nurse the baby, change diapers, put them down for naps, then clean the car. Henry wanted that darn paddle in his crib with him. He already has a teddy bear, Elmo, airplane quilt, blue blankey, plastic doll house horse, and himself in there. I said, "No." I let him keep the ball, but I didn't want to let him have the paddle for fear he'd pull off one of the little suction cups, try to eat it, and choke during naptime. I'm a rules girl, and a worrier. That's only a good combination when you are an adolescent experiencing peer pressure and want to do the right thing for fear of the consequences at stake. Maybe my girls will be like me. Let's hope. Anyway, the children are napping, and now I plan to tackle the monstrosity that is my girls' closet. The fun awaits!!
Oh, I found my wallet in the stroller in the back of the van. I put it there for library card purposes yesterday. Thank goodness it was misplaced, not lost!
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