We’ve been playing in the sink a lot lately! You can see evidence in the recent photos I’ve posted. Ethan is doing a little better. Maybe I should say that I’m doing a little better. I’m not letting him call the shots, but I’m saying “no” a lot less often. As an at-home mom, I need to remember that part of my job is to do some fun things with my children. If they want to play in the sink, why not let them? Somedays they have to wait until all the dishes are done, other days, I just clear a spot for them. The dishes will get done later. The truth is that I’m not too busy to play with them. I just get bored doing the things that they want to do. I don’t really want to build a fort or many of the other things Ethan and Audrey want to do. I am finding that it’s less likely that Ethan will completely melt-down when I say “no” to something, if we’ve had some positive interaction earlier in the day and he has been able to do some things that he enjoys. As a mom, my job isn’t just to teach my children that they need to obey those in authority and leave me alone so I can clean the house. It’s also about spending time getting to know them, developing a strong relationship with them, and enjoying them.
Sometimes I’m afraid that by posting about Ethan’s bad behavior, those of you reading will start to treat Ethan like a “naughty” boy. I don’t even know how to explain that, but I’ll try. Ethan may have a strong will and he may do some very naughty things, but that’s not the whole story of Ethan. He’s so smart. Every mother thinks that about her first-born. He might be a little smart though. He can define gravity for you, have conversations with his daddy about how vision works with the eyes and the brain, figure out math and language games on the computer all by himself, and he thinks it’s interesting to watch YouTube videos on cake decorating. Ethan can also be very sensitive. He takes care of Isaac when he’s crying and I’m not in the room to give him a toy and one time, when Audrey was sad, he offered his blanket to her to make her feel better. There are a million other things I love about him too.
