About an hour ago I went upstairs to tend to the baby. He was supposed to be napping and had been crying for awhile so I went to check in on him. I won't tell you how long he'd been crying because some of you would think"I can't believe she let him cry that long" while others of you would think "I can't believe she didn't let him cry longer". So I headed up the stairs to try to calm the baby while telling Eli to play with his toys downstairs until I came back down. A few minutes later I heard his little feet coming up the stairs. My thoughts immediately went to the fact that he wasn't playing downstairs like I told him to. Micah was screaming and I was trying to calm him and around the corner came Eli with two big baby toys in his hand ready to throw them into Micah's bed. I started with a annoyed, "No, Eli" and then I took a second. I then realized that he was trying to help his mom and his brother by bringing him toys to help him not to cry. Whew. That was a close one. I almost took his helpful and kind spirit and threw it back at him with anger.
I don't always take that second.
Sometimes I break his spirit.
Sometimes he needs it broken.
This time, I'm glad I didn't. I said, "Thank you for helping your brother. Let's put those beside his bed and when he wakes up, he can play with them." Eli smiled, put them down and went back downstairs to play.
Just thought maybe someone else could use some encouragement to take a second.
And if you forgot to take a second, what a great time to ask for forgiveness. I certainly have had to do that too.
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