a week of grace

Lest you think when Reese turned four he became perfect, I thought we'd end February with a bang.  Or maybe I should say Reese has ended with a bang.

And this week?  This long, long week in the shortest month of the year has been an exercise in grace for this overworked Mama.

Let's start with saying that Reese wet the bed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night.  Despite the fact that we got up with him at eleven all three nights for an extra potty time.  Reese's bed wetting issues aren't something I frequently blog about, but let's note that they are a very real and stressful part of our life.  After noting the timing and pattern of his episodes, we've determined that the bed wetting always starts after we've either been out of town as a family or Lofton and I have been gone for night {which happens once in a blue moon, but did happen a few weekends ago}.  It would appear that deviating from Reese's routine AT ALL causes the proverbial ball to start rolling.  It takes a few weeks to get back into a groove.  A few weeks and a lot of mama/daddy-o setting their alarm to take him to the bathroom.

So working with limited sleep, I pick Reese up from school on Monday and am greeted with my hug.  I ask him how his day went as I pack his bag.  "Umm good," is his response as he darted his eyes over toward his teacher.  I ask him if there's something he needs to tell me.  "Nope," is his reply as he again darts his eyes toward Michelle.  Finally, I tell him it's time to fess up.  Yep, time out for hitting someone in the eye with a toy he has thrown.  We go through the whole embarrassing display of me telling him in full view of his class that I'm sad he made a bad choice that hurt someone.  He does the walk of shame over to the child to apologize then promptly bursts into tears and cries, "Does this mean I can't have fruit snacks when we get home."  Yes, yes it does, because your mama is a teacher and she absolutely expects for you not to be that kid. You know what this stinker asks me in the car?  Do I at least get crackers and water?  Like we are going to tie him to the bed and never feed him again.

Fast forward to yesterday when he gets in timeout again for being a bad listener during circle time.  We go through all the motions again but this time I take away not only fruit snacks but his one afternoon cartoon.  I'm mean y'all.  And it's time to get serious about doing the right thing at school.  I know the dark path kids who don't listen travel down :) Lofton threatened to take away Chik Fil A Friday, but just between us Daddy isn't that tough.

We spent this afternoon at the doctor for the felon's allergy induced cough.  It's just another addition to Reese's bag of tricks that rob me of an uninterrupted night of sleep.  We are starting back the Nasonex tonight which should be loads of fun.

And all of these things are the reason I know that God intended motherhood to be an extended study of grace.  Grace for my words, grace for my heart, and grace for this curly headed blond boy.