Poop

Okay, so it was a week ago today that I thought to myself, "Self, since Jordan hasn't taken a nap in about two weeks, I am going to make it my mission to absolutely wear him out."

I had the whole day planned out. We played outside for an hour after breakfast, came inside and learned about our character trait of the week (which was Be Honest), went on a walk that led to some fun in the park, ate lunch, played a little more outside, watched a Praise Baby DVD while looking at books and then laid down for rest time.

Now, normally, Jordan doesn't go to sleep. However, my mostly obedient son always stays on his bed and reads books or plays with puzzles for about an hour and a half.

Unfortunately, that day, I was put in my place. You see...Jordan wasn't the only one participating in all the activities I planned. I was an extremely active participant, as well. So, by 1:30, I was exhausted! I told Jordan that it was rest time. Ella was sleeping, Mommy was going to lie down and he needed to sleep as well. He said okay, and all was well...until an hour later.

At 2:30, I was awakened to an awfully pungent smell. The smell of poop. Oh, how I loathe that smell, especially coming from my 3 year old son. Jordan is half potty trained. He tee-tees in the potty like a champ. However, the idea of pooping in the potty sends him into an absolute tizzy. So, at rest time, we put a diaper on him just in case.

As I was trying my best to awaken from a terribly deep sleep, I decided to call Jordan's name just to make sure I was really smelling that awful smell. Because who knows? Maybe I was just dreaming it. (Yeah, right!)

He answered after I called his name, and I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Well, I had to poopie, so I came to your room and I put my diaper in the trash can, but I still had poop on my bottom. So, I'm just getting it off with my hand and wiping it in the carpet."

"WHAT?!" It was all I could say.

The blessing of it all is that I have been allowing God to work on my heart. You see, I have a tendency to yell when I'm upset. However, I have made the decision that I do not want my children growing up with a mommy who yells. So, instead of resorting to my normal behavior, I made the decision to breathe, count to ten and then calmly say, "Jordan, I need you to go sit on your potty so that Mommy can clean you and the carpet up." There was no yelling from my mouth, no crying from Jordan and I hope that because of that decision I was able to make one small step towards letting God control my emotions instead of me.

I am doing my best to live up to what the following verse says. Of course, I slip up, but praise God for his mercy and forgiveness.

"Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life." James 1:19-21 (The Message)

For His glory,
wk