Snow in Bryan, TX

Nothing stunning to report today. No major revelations like the last entry. Just some funny stories about my children.

It amazes me that my 9 month old son obeys better than my 3 year old daughter. Tripp discovered a sneaky way to get out of the "den pen" (we can block off our entire den for him to play in) this week. Once I caught on I sat in there with him and everytime he headed to the escape route I gave him a stern "Tripper, no no." Miraculously he stopped and looked at me and went on to play with something else. HELLO?!?! What happens between 9 months and 3 years that makes a child go from quiet obedience to full fledged sass when you set a limit for them? I don't understand.

Speaking of my sassy sweetie....Paris got to play in some snow this week! That's right, there was snow in Bryan, Tx. Now before you get on the weather channel's website and try to find proof of that, let me tell you where it was. College Station has a new ice skating rink called Artic Wolf. We went on a tour with MOMS Club® yesterday. They had us all traverse the entire length of the rink. That's right, moms, kids, strollers...the whole lot of us slip slided across the ice. Fortunately no one fell down, well except Paris, but that's to be expected. She is my daughter you know. :-) Anyway, after playing on the ice they took us through the "machine room" and then out to the back parking lot where they had a moderate sized pile of "snow" for our children to play in. Paris of course imediately climbed to the very top of the pile and then slid down getting her pants and panties SOAKING wet. We let Tripp touch some of the snow and he didn't much like it so we just wheeled him out of the way and let the big kids play. It was nice to have some time to visit with grownups, so I was just chatterboxing away when I hear my sweet little boy scream that scream that all mothers hate. You know, the one that means I am horribly hurt or frightened and it's your fault for not stopping it. Apparently sneaky snake Paris had walked (right past me) over to her brother and shoved a handful of snow right in his face. I'm sure she was just trying to share the fun she was having. Unfortunately for Tripp she hasn't yet developed the skill of knowing the screaming bloody murder means "I don't like that, please stop" in Tripp speak so she just kept shoving snow at him. I sent her for a quick timeout on the curb thinking this would just be a minor hiccup in the fun of the day. Saddly enough, that was not the case. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow, and just say that after some grass throwing and fit throwing we made a hasty exit (much to the relief of my fellow MOMS I'm sure) and went home straight to naptime. Moral of the story....there's a reason God doesn't have it snow in Bryan very often.

Now, just to give you one more chuckle at my silly little goose, I'd like to share with you the words of her favorite nursery song in her own special languange:

Twankle Twankle little star
Hymen wonder what you are
Up Up Puv the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky (yes, this line is accurate, I taught her about diamonds early)
Twankle Twankly little star
Hymen wonder what you are
in Bryaaanne, Tixis!

What will she do when we move across town and live in College Station?

A Bite of Life

You know, we're taught all our lives at church to be childlike in our faith. I've always thought that sounded nice, but it wasn't until I had children that I began to understand what that really meant. Paris gave me a prime example of that this week.

For those of you familiar with my parents' dogs, Paris had a bit of a run-in with Willie. Willie is known to Paris is a "growly dog," but up until this week we all believed that they had an understanding about limits. He might growl, but wouldn't really do anything more than that. Turns out that's not the case. He left a nice little bite mark in her hand this week.

In the aftermath as Paris was curled up in my lap watching Heffalump and Willie was in his pen being punished, we all started wondering what to do next. We all love Willie, but he had committed a serious transgression. He hurt my child. As I tell Paris when she disobeys, THAT IS NOT OK! He can no longer be trusted with my children. We all went to bed pondering Willie's fate and how we would handle this. As it turns out, Paris would teach us all a lesson.

The next day Paris began asking when Willie could come out and play with the other dogs. Apparently she felt he needed some time with his friends. She assured us that he would play nice and that he would never, ever bite her again. We talked a lot about why he was being punished, but she was sure that it was time for him to come out. He did and she was so happy to see him out playing that she ran and sqeualed with delight.

Wow, what an example of forgiveness! I learned so much. First, I can't even begin to fathom what our Heavenly Father felt watching His people torture and crucify his Son. I've yet to figure out how to reconcile the conflicting feelings of love and anger I experience when Paris hurts Tripp (or Willie hurst Paris). God knows what that is like to the Nth degree! And then to so gracefully to forgive all that was done and all we continue to do? Trusting so clearly that we will play nice and never ever bite like that again? (Well, I guess he knows that some of us are slow learners and we will make some of the same mistakes over and over, but what amazing patience He has to just keep loving us and forgiving us anyway.) WOW what an amazing God.

So, we now have some new rules to follow when it comes to Willie and the kids. I don't know that my human heart will ever trust the little dog again (and maybe it shouldn't), but I find myself feeling so grateful that my daughter has already given her heart back to one of "her favorite pets." I too am grateful that my Father's love never stops no many how many times I bite His hand. Thanks Paris, for helping me see more clearly.

The Little Princess 

The Little Prince