Goodbye, Halcyon Days of 3!

Alas, wise friend who predicted the demise of happy 3-year-old-ness, I am sad to say you were right. Tuesday was an absolute line in the sand between A and her parents. The gauntlet has been thrown down and we have accepted the duel, as God's agents to train her in the ways of His kingdom.

Morning was peaceful enough until I dared to rock by the boat by suggesting we listen to a different VeggieTales album in the car while running errands. I'm not talking about surfing from NPR to heavy metal; let's just hear Bob and Larry sing a little something different than the tunes they've been crooning for the last THREE MONTHS. I should have known better. At one point during this episode, A yelled from the backseat in my general direction, "You, you just get out there and do your job!" I don't know where she pulled that from, but I had to stop and deliver an attitude adjustment twice in less than two miles.

Once inside at our first stop, she quietly mumbled to herself while sitting in the buggy, "I will not look at her. I will not look at her. I will not look at her." Seriously. Through the whole store. Fortunately, we were only there for a quick trip.

Later at supper, I was filling Daddy in on the events of the day both good and bad. That's when A informed him, "You need a new wife." To be fair, she also told me that I need a new husband. We had a nice conversation about how God brought us together and wants us to be a team for always. I summed it up with, "We're all stuck with each other." She ended with a curt prayer, "God, could you please send them to the lion's den?"

During clean-up time after supper, she locked horns with Daddy. I had predicted her un-doing only moments before when I chose to change C's stinky diaper instead of helping A with clean up. I soooo knew what was coming and couldn't deal. Give me a stinky diaper over a stinky attitude any day! We require eye contact when discussing discipline, so the whole looking at us thing is kind of important and she knows it. That's why it was a battle he had to fight when she told him, "I can't look at you because that will break my rules."

We're reading Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart and I'm really clinging to the truth that we are God's agents of authority. We aren't pushing our own agenda, comfort or convenience. It's not about her outward behavior; it's about her heart and how she responds to our King.

Lord, please give us the strength and power to be a consistent example of your loving discipline. We trust that if we obey You in what You have called us to do, then just like in every other aspect of life, You will be faithful to do the hard stuff--bending her heart toward Yours.