It's not working!

Ok breaking my rule (to not just post cute kid stories all the time) and posting a quick thought from Dutch this morning:

First of all, apparently we were wrong when we started feeling like the terrible two battle was coming to a close. I feel like we were in a movie, in some great battlescene, and in the midst of the fiery battle we began to see the enemy retreating…Hooray! They’re giving up! Hooray, the terrible twos are giving up! Dutch’s will is finally yielding! The stubborn horse is being broken! They’re giving up!  And as we sat around high-fiving each other, just as we unstrap our helmets and lay down our swords, we hear a terrible rumble, we look up to see dust on the horizon, and we realize—they weren’t retreating, they were just quietly regrouping in order to come at us one last time, for the final kill. It is then we realize–we’re toast.  They’ve joined forces with all the other armies and we’re dead.

Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but just this week apparently Dutch has joined forces with all the powers of strong-willed two year olds across the globe.  The main issue is naptime and bedtime. Now Dutch has been in a normal twin bed since before he was two, so he’s been trained to stay in his room either sleeping or quietly playing until we come get him. This was one thing we had down pat.  Not an issue.  Naptime and bedtime were a breeze.  And now, all of a sudden, the crazy boy will not stay in his room!  And just in case you’re thinking that we’re being slack on providing consequences for this action, we’re not.  Every single time he gets a negative consequence. And yet it’s like the crazy boy has disconnect in that little brain and he still does it — over and over and over and over and over. I think we’ve been through it 100 times in the past five days, no joke.

So this morning we’re getting ready to eat breakfast and Dutch comes and gets his oatmeal and is carrying it to the table, and he announces that he wants his bib (I know, odd–sometimes he can’t live without wearing his bib). So I hand it to Jeff and ask him to put it on Dutch and Dutch pipes up, “I do that! I do that!”  “You want to put your bib on, Dutch?”  “Yeah.”  Ok, I look at Jeff and roll my eyes. A child who’s not yet able to eat without spilling on himself is asking to tie on his own bib? So I hand it to Dutch and after fumbling with it he cries, “It’s not working! It’s not working!”  I love it. Of course it’s not working, Dutch.  Because you can’t do it by yourself.  You are two years old.  So Jeff patiently reaches down and helps him.  And then I realized I am exactly like my son.

Yesterday I had called my mom to ask if she had any advice about the bedtime/naptime thing.  She affirmed what we were already doing and said the season would pass.  Then she said, “Are you praying with Dutch about it?”  I sat there, dumbfounded.  Of course we pray with him at night, but no, we hadn’t together prayed and asked God to help Dutch learn to be obedient and learn to go to sleep without getting up.

I had demanded that I put on the bib all by myself and then cried out in frustration, “It’s not working! It’s not working!”  Instead of asking God to help me, to help Dutch, to help us.  I know this is really elementary, but I guess I’m a really elementary person.  I need to be reminded, over and over, to ask God for help. And now I need to ask God, together with my son, for help as we together navigate the water of toddler years.  Thanks, Dutch, for showing me more of myself and more of my need.  Now please go to bed.