Halloween Who's Who?

So here are our 3 little Tiggers. Can you guess which one is which? I'll post the answers in a few days.

In Bed

Sleeping in a 12 by 12 by 12 box that is his "nest." Very sweet.

And not yet asleep, but laying quietly in his bed watching me take a picture of his brother

Pushing Buttons

The answer to this question may be obvious, but I'll ask anyway.  Do your kids ever push your buttons?

Oy.  How is it that they seem to know how to do it and sometimes, without even meaning to, they can send you through the roof in a nansecond.

Ben has this new habit of saying "I know, I know!" when we ask him a second time to do something, but continues to do something else.  It just makes me want to scream "If you know you're supposed to be clearing your place from dinner, why are you walking into the living room!"

And Kyle now says, "Daddy, I was on the top of the couch pwaying with mama's decowations too.  I'm sawy."  And very contritely I might add.  But does that mean he won't do it again?  Not necessarily.

It's enough to drive me batty!  But as I thought about it this morning, I wonder how much we push God's buttons.  "Yes God, I know you want me to share my faith," as we let another opportunity slip past.   "I'm sorry God that I entertained those impure thoughts today," knowing full well that it will happen again.  

I'm sure it probably drives God batty too, but I'm eternally grateful that He is so much more capable of handling it than I am.  The grace and discipline of my Heavenly Father is incredible.  He may be saddened by my choices, but he forgives completely.  And if we're walking with Him, He's faithful to teach us a better way.  

Lord, I pray that you would give me some small measure of your grace and wisdom in dealing with my boys and I thank you for your grace that covers me and the ways that you've been working in my life.

So how do you push God's buttons?  And are you open to his discipline to stop?

Pragmatic 3 year-old

When did my 3 year old become pragmatic? It's really fun to start seeing him make these little reasoned statement. This morning, Ben was wanting me to take him with me to church this morning. It just wasn't feasible this morning and Ben was very disappointed. Kyle was watching from his perch on Mama's lap he was very reassuring to Ben: "It's ok, you can ride with Mama, and me and Owen."

Flock of Dogs

There's a new show on Discovery Channel called Iditarod: Toughest race on Earth that I've started watching with Ben. It's pretty fascinating and Ben is very interested in the dog sleds and how they work.

At dinner that night, I asked Ben if he wanted to tell Mama about the show.

Ben got really serious and told Mama that the race was very hard. They had to practice lots! First they had to practice staying up all night. And then they have to practice staying up all night outside!

Mindy and I stifled our chuckles and asked him more about the show.

"One of the ladies fell off her sled and her flock of dogs kept going... but she caught up with them."

I love listening to him explain things! He was very astute about what was happening on the show though for the most part. It's so much fun to start to have more adult conversations with him. I can't exactly explain it, but there's just this new quality to our conversations that are not little kid conversations any more.