Playing trucks

There has been a change in my house since we came home after 16 days away in China with another 2 and 1/2 year old child. I know, shocking. It hasn't been that I've gained some weight (thanks for the great meals by the way!) or that I don't leave my house at least once every day (boy do I miss that) or that I'm drinking more diet mountain dew than ever (I'm not going to post my daily consumption-but I'm drinking my fifth can of the day at the moment). It isn't that the boys are sharing a room, there is more laundry, our grocery bill is higher (yup, Simon is still an eater) and getting ready to go anywhere takes so much time. There are many more, but I digress.

The change I'm talking about is the way that my kids play together. Pre-Simon, Garrison and Noel pretty much playing independently of each other. Garrison did his thing, Noel hers. She would pester him at times, but she generally was interested in very different toys than Garrison. He ignored her most of the time except when she was in his way. The times they are a'changin'.

I can't exactly explain why things are different, but they are. First, Garrison is interested in cars and trucks, something which he hasn't really been excited about before. He has done the occasional vroom vroom, but give the boy a ball and he is happy. Simon loves cars. Since we have been home, so has Garrison, and to an extent Noel--I'll get to that in a minute. It has been really cool for Garrison and Noel to get excited about something new through Simon. Garrison saw Simon's love of cars, and running around with them, and pushing them, and crashing them--that he now loves cars. This can be good especially when they are both racing around the house laughing together, but they also both have a favorite truck which happens to be the same one. This has created numerous conflicts between the boys. Noel loves cars, not any one in particular, but any one that is in the hands of one of her brothers. She loves to find a neglected car and entice her brothers that they might want it--and when they do, she gleefully runs away with the said vehicle. She loves to try to take a car away from them, she loves to get in the way and get "hurt". She tries to do all these things while we aren't watching, but she lets us know if her brothers have abused her in any way, even though she is little miss instigator. Simon seems to feel as if any car he has played with during the past hour is still his, even if he is done. He protests very loudly when someone takes "his" toy. Garrison is the fastest, strongest, and most coordinated and can come very close (sometimes too close) to hitting something or someone with his vehicle. When they all play together: oh, the smile on this mama's face. More often than not, I'm a ref. I call penalties and time-outs. It is a new hat that I'm wearing.

I've also thought: I'm glad that I'm beyond that, I know how to share, how to treat family and friends with kindness. . . .then God knocks on my heart and asks me to really look at myself. I enjoy being exposed to new things: recipes, television shows, stores, products, thoughts, people. It can really open me up to avenues I hadn't really explored. I also fall into the same traps as my kids: I can take credit for stuff that isn't mine. I can think that just because I began something, no one else has a right to use it. Sometimes I think that I can use something better than someone else, so I try to show off in front of them. . . just to see how they'll react. I can do these things when no one is looking, then put up a fuss when someone wrongs me. Now--I don't do these things all the time, but God is showing me that I have. . . and can do them.

My devotions this morning centered around the ten commandments and how they serve as a boundary stone for my life. Sometimes, I try to move the stones, to get away with more, to do it more my way. . . . and this can be passed on to my kids. Lord, protect my kids by changing me when I need it. Continue to open my eyes and thanks for using my kids to teach me.