pushing buttons

There are days when I think bedtime doesn't come quick enough. Usually this is the case when my patience has been brought to its breaking point by one or more of my kids. Yesterday was one of those days...

I was planning on an earlier bedtime anyway, to make up for late bedtime on Monday night. We went to the Utah State Fair and didn't get home until 9:30, so yesterday everyone woke up a little grumpier than normal. This is never a good way to start the day. To make matters worse, my 7 y.o. made it his days mission to push ALL of my buttons.

This post would be way too long if I listed everything, so we will fast forward to my breaking point. If it wasn't enough that he came home with a note from his teacher about how he misbehaved in class, and fought me tooth and nail through homework, he can't remember where he left his only pair of good shoes. Then came the bugging everyone at the dinner table. And then my breaking point. After dinner he was asked to go get into the bathtub. Amazingly he did it without complaining, or getting distracted along the way. I went in to remind him to wash his hair, which he regularly forgets to do. I reminded him to make sure he only used a little on his hair. Somehow this translated to "pour the entire bottle of shampoo into the water, along with half a bottle of conditioner, both of which had barely been used. Next, add in half a bottle of shower gel, and then agitate well to create bubbles. Of course, don't forget to forget to wash your hair...."

When I went in to tell him to get out, and discovered this, I blew my top. I pulled him out of the tub, swatted his behind, and sent him straight to bed.

After 20 minutes we sat down for family prayer. He came up the stairs with tears streaming down his face and told me sorry, and that he would pay for the stuff he wasted, to which I responded, " you bet your hiney you are paying for it, and you are grounded too." He gave me a hug and a kiss, and all was forgotten....