It's tough to be

It's tough to be four......

Gabe is having a rough time. It's either being four, having a new sibling, being bored, or, most probably, a combo of all three. He has been having potty accidents, of both varieties. He's been drawing on floors and walls. He has ripped books and magazines, and broken Nikolas' lego creations. He cries and cries when he gets into trouble, but has no sense of remorse. He should by this age, I think. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong.

He has decided that he wants nothing to do with his brother, a fact that really hurts Nikolas. Yesterday, I asked Gabe to let Nikolas help him get dressed. It was a kicking, screaming, yelling fest, that ended with Gabriel kicking Nikolas is his broken finger. That, I feel confident, was deliberate. So, he was punished. And then confined to his room until he decided to stop howling. It took a while, but he came downstairs and apologized. We were all deaf by then.

The other day he didn't want to leave the pediatrician office with less than four stickers. So, I took two of the stickers from him - after giving him an opportunity to pick two, and having him refuse me - and started to walk out of the office. He started to scream "I'm not going anywhere with you, watermelon head!" (An almost direct quote from Master of Disguise) and "I'm not your son anymore! I'm not your little boy!" He never stopped walking behind me to the car, just kept yelling. Pretty funny stuff.

It helps to keep a sense of humor with this stuff. I find so much more of it funny than I used to, four kids ago. I wonder if God finds most of what we get upset about humorous? I'd like to think not - I'd hate to be laughed at, like I was laughing at Gabe. I wasn't laughing to be malicious, though. Just finding the humor in the situation. It's easier to see the humor in others' lives. Tougher to see in my own. God has much work to do with me, methinks!