I Forgive You!

Raising a child is challenging, is it not?! Luckily, most things come naturally to disciplining children, however if you're anything like me, you second guess yourself quite a bit of the time!

I think that is perfectly normal, what is normal after all?!

As our 4 year old son gets more like a little boy and less like a toddler, I am reminded of how gracious our God is! I am also reminded at just the right moment that we are doing a pretty good job at parenting, he may not agree as he gets older but what teenager agrees with exactly everything their parents say?! 

Del is doing so much better at staying dry!  I wish I could say at night, like I originally wrote a few weeks ago however he still wears a pull up to bed most nights.  Right now we're just at the point of praying that one day (soon) he will choose to stay dry and be ready for underwear again! He loves to wear just underwear around the house now too, cracks me up!  I'm sure it's perfectly normal, but it's so confusing to us that he did better when he was 2 then now when he's 4.  We think it just needs to make the decision for himself, he is pretty independent.  So, that's what we're trying right now!

He brushes his own teeth, don't worry dentist friends we double check his brushing!

He LOVES school, preschool!

We signed him up for swimming lessons this winter and he did great, well didn't clear the pool at least! :)  He's had, in the past, some issues with panicking and swallowing too much water and then clearing the pool...if you know what I mean?!

He is also very imaginative and loves to play make believe with anything. He is always pretending an object is something else, he even changes his voice too! Too cute!

He is still a fabulous big brother, but is not enjoying having to share now that Abe is all about whatever he is doing! But he is getting better!

Funny story: the other day, Del was naughty at the park and did not listen to me when I said it was time to leave and to tell his new friend goodbye. I asked...warned, then counted - twice! Which, if I have to count, I give the firm "Mom" look that if you do not obey then you are getting a spanking - yes we spank! Apparently, the "Mom" look wasn't enough because he chose to not listen. I then gave him another warning by not saying a word but making sure he saw me and I held up 1 finger, then 2 and 3, that's usually when he knows he'll be getting a spanking.
When we got home, I talked to him about why he was getting a spanking and made sure he understood, spanked and then let him calm down. Okay, the funny part - he says to me "I forgive you!" I said "You forgive me, I did nothing wrong." He said "You're right, I forgive myself!" 

Side note about spanking - We also pray with him after he is not crying anymore, which usually starts him to cry harder because he also prays and asks God for forgiveness. So, we talk to him, spank, talk to him again and we both pray. It's been working wonderfully! Also, we do not talk about what he did wrong again. Once it's been handled, we move on.  We prefer timeouts for discipline or we take away the toy or whatever it may be that caused the situation.

Honestly, overall Del is a wonderful boy!  His smile just melts my heart!  I love the way he thinks (sometimes), how he asks certain questions just so, and cares for everybody else!  I love those qualities about him!  We are SO thankful he is our oldest son!!!

We love you Del!!!
XOXO
Mom & Dad