When we despair about our performance as parents, there are little moments that illustrate to us, that maybe, we're not doing so bad.
Last night, Devlin woke up in the middle of the night, crying because his feet were cold. We think they're numb and he's feeling pins and needles. The doctors suggest it's growing pains. (Really? Cuz he ain't growing so much!) He woke up several times, and I am exhausted! But there he was, crying and whimpering. The commotion woke up Aisling. She crawled out of bed, toddled over to Devlin, and upon seeing how upset he was, she tried to give him a hug and comfort her older brother.
When we were at the in-law's last night for the Christmas celebration, I watched my son ask for a bowl to eat his fruit and then take the bowl and fork and put it in the kitchen sink when he was finished. He also decided to clean up all the toys in Grandma's basement before supper rather than wait until much later. Of course, his reasoning was that he was going to play with his new toys that he was getting for Christmas after supper. Still, it was refreshing to see Devlin, Ceilidh and Aisling clean up the toys with minimal prompting before marching upstairs to eat.
And just when we were wondering if we would ever be able to teach our children the spirit of giving, especially after last night's excesses, my son surprised me this morning. He woke up early to check out the toys he had received last night. We noticed he had gotten two of one particular action figure. I pointed that out to him. "Do you really need both?" I asked. He pondered that, and picking up one large action figure, he said, "Mommy, you can give this one to the kids who don't have any toys to play with." I was filled with pride at that moment, and there were tears in my eyes as I hugged him and thanked him for his sharing.
So, maybe, we're doing okay as parents.
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