I Love a Stinky Kid

I love all my children. Truly.
I would jump in front of the proverbial bus for all four of them. But lately, there’s a certain tiny girl who I’d like to put on the bus instead. Judge me if you must.

Completely opposite from any of our other children, this 20-pound firecracker has a fuse shorter than her legs. If daddy takes twin brother out of his crib before her in the morning, you better batten down the hatches because she’s gonna scream and baby cuss and wake the whole house. It’s comical and annoying all at the same time.

Spankings don’t phase her. She puts herself in timeout. What is that?! And when I give positive praise to her other siblings, I swear she mutters “amateur” under her breath. Even after the punishment is over, she continues to scream, walking around the house hoping to grab eye contact with anyone who will notice her mayhem and foolishness.

Lately, I’ve been trying a new tactic. I hold her close, grab her face in my hands and smile. Then I calmly tell her, “I’m going to love the stink right out of you.”

She looks at me puzzled as can be.
I say it again, this time with a laugh. “I AM going to love the stink right out of you.”

So far, my new approach is working. When I pull her close and speak love over her, it’s like I’ve hit the reset button on her attitude. Mind you, this doesn’t always work. Sometimes I say it and she yells “Noooooo” in the meanest & highest pitch possible, while kicking and wrestling out of my hug.

I have to wonder how many times God has said this to me. I don’t think God keeps a tally, but if He did, heaven probably lost track of how many times He’s had to pull me close and reset my janky attitude.

Because I have a lot of stink. Anger, impatience, pride.

Just to name a few.

“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15 NIV)

I am so grateful for the abounding love of the Lord. He loves me enough to speak His love through circumstances, conversations, or gentle nudges. All in effort to change my sour heart.

My feisty peanut recently turned two. Pray for me friends, because two rhymes with terrible and it could be a long year.

But I’m going to keep loving the stink out of my little girl.
I’m so glad God is doing the same for me.

Wingin’ It

A large portion of my parenting life so far has been spent getting things ready. I get meals and bags and sippy cups ready. I tie shoes, brush hair and wrestle small people to change diapers until everyone is ready.

There was one thing I did not get ready for…losing a pet.

Don’t go feeling too sad now. It was a fish. One small fish, to whom I had zero attachment because well, it’s a fish. You can’t exactly cuddle a fish.

The plan was the hubs would go to the pet store after the kiddos were in bed. We could do the ol’ switcharoo before they noticed the dead Beta floating in our fish bowl. Except our four-year-old daughter notices everything.

We went with “honesty is the best policy” and gave it to her straight: Nemo was dying. Her head fell and she started sobbing.

You guys. I had to turn my head so she wouldn’t see me laughing. (Please don’t judge me.) I had not anticipated that kind of reaction and suddenly found the whole situation comical. (If one of my children doesn’t end up in therapy, it will be a miracle.)

The tears shooting out of her eyes went right into my husband’s heart. He instantly went into “We can fix this” mode, assuring her we would get a new fish right away. And by “we”, he meant, “me”. I didn’t want to, but her pitiful face broke me down and I folded like a cheap suit.

Three dollars and forty-nine cents later, we headed home with a new Beta. I felt good. The fish drama was over.

Only not really. At bedtime she bombarded me with questions.
“How will Nemo get to heaven? He’s not a flier.”

I was not ready for all these questions. I struggled to find the balance between telling her the truth and protecting her sensitive heart. So, I did what I thought was best. I told her Daddy put him down the drain (cough, cough: toilet). I threw honesty out the window and told her he had to because those were the fish rules. Just like in “Finding Nemo”, all drains lead to the ocean, aka fish heaven. This seemed to pacify her and she drifted off to sleep.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this were the end of the story?
Well, it isn’t.

Ya’ll, that fish died too. (You just can’t make this stuff up.)

Am I the only one who thinks parenting is so, so great, but equally so, so hard? (And I’m not talking about fish anymore.) Anxiety tries to rise up in my heart when I think about the tough questions my children will ask as they get older. I start to feel overwhelmed because I don’t feel ready.

I’d love to offer you parenting advice. But honestly, I’m just wingin’ it. I pretend to know what I’m doing until I actually do.

The good thing is, I’m not doing this alone. I have a God who offers wisdom when I ask.

I also have a 14-day guarantee on my newest Beta.

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Letters to Heaven

Dear PawPaw,
I’m four now. Since my birthday is right before Christmas, I’m really racking up on presents. Especially baby dolls. I have babies who pee and poo! Mommy said she just looooves taking care of more messy babies in the house.
I dancing and helping, but my favorite thing is singing. I heard the song “Mary, Did you Know?” and told mommy I wanted to learn all the words. Do you see Mary in heaven? Her last name is Didyouknow, and she wears a blanket on her head, so she should be easy to find.
Mommy and I look at my photo albums a lot. She likes showing me pictures of us together. She told me I must be pretty special because I got to meet you before you went to live with Jesus.

Love you,
Neala

PawPaw,
Mommy says the older I get, the more I act like you.When a lot of people are in the house, I usually go in the other room to play alone. She told me you used to walk out the room and go to bed when there was company!

I spend most of my time playing with big trucks, tools and dinosaurs. I won’t eat or sleep unless T-Rex and Long Neck are next to me. I ask for a screwdriver at least four times a day, but they always give me the plastic toy ones. I don’t think anyone realizes I’m a big boy now. I’m two and a half you know…
Mommy said if you were here you would have already taken me out to the garage and given me a real screw driver.

It sure will be fun when I meet you in Heaven one day. I plan on getting into lots of trouble with you.

Hugs and roars,
Lincoln

PawPaw,

I’m the smallest, but don’t be fooled. I’m tougher than nails and can push both my brothers down. I demand to be held by anyone who comes over and refuse to take a nap longer than one hour. Who has time for sleep when there’s a crib to climb out of?

Mommy said I would have been your favorite because you were a softy with girls. Plus I look different than the other kiddos. I don’t have dark hair or eyes, and my skin is white like Elmer’s glue. JoJo thinks I look like you!

Despite my young age, I’ve already sat in the time-out chair for a considerable amount of time. Mommy said if you weren’t in heaven you would rescue me from time-out, so I really wish you were still around.

Hugs and kissies,
Emmy

Puh-puh-puh-Paw Paw,
I started speech therapy this month and I’m working on my “puh” sounds. Mommy keeps showing me your picture so I’ll say “PawPaw.” Therapy is going great. I’m finally learning how to use my voice. It just took awhile because there are so many jabber-jaws in this house.
Mommy and daddy say I am a very pleasant child. I get whiney when I’m hungry or tired, but it’s hard for anyone to stay upset with me because I’m ridiculously handsome.
Emmy may be the “active” twin, but I’m more sneaky. I love to rip toilet paper into pieces and pull ALL the wipes out of the box. I steal food off Emmy’s tray and laugh when she screams. I’m so quiet, you don’t know I’m being naughty until it’s too late.
My favorite thing to do is take naps. Mommy said you loved Jesus, old cars and naps. So I’m pretty sure if you were here, we would take a lot of naps together.

Merry Christmas PawPaw,
Jack

Letters to Little Feet. Stories for my children… And you.

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Author Archives: linguita79

I Love a Stinky Kid

Wingin’ It

Letters to Heaven