Sprinting

Over the past couple of months, this boy has been giving me more than a run for my money: I've been full-on sprinting.  From constantly smothering his little sister to constantly disobeying, he's wearing me down and wearing me out. I'll spare you most of the details, but here's a snippet of a time-out in which he actually stayed on his time out chair.

It's not that he doesn't love his little sister--he loves her way too much.  He calls her his "little chicken nugget," his "little chicken dinner," and his "mashed potato," and he tells her in baby talk (by putting an "n" as the initial consonant in all words) that "nou nare ny nweetest naby" even though "nour num nis nthe ntinkiest." But he's constantly rubbing his nose and mouth on her, grabbing her face with his not-so-clean hands, poking her, head butting her (usually on accident just from extreme proximity), and laying on top of her. Plus, he's also curious about what her eyelashes feel like and how her arms move and what's inside her belly button, and you get the picture. 

I've been trying to combat the disobedience by reading him books when I feed the baby and having one-on-one alphabet time as we try to learn some of the letters. (This week was "J" for jack-o-lantern, jelly beans, and jellyfish.)

Thankfully, I received a boost in conference this weekend with Sis. Wixom's message about how to treat the children in our lives and especially with Elder Scott's promise that if I seek to make my home and my life Christ-centered that I will be granted additional power--the Lord's power--beyond my own capabilities. I'm holding him to it . . .