Grumpy Momma

I've been having trouble with Aniston, her attitude and my patience! Lately she has digressed in age about a year.... She throws fits, stomps her feet, crosses her arms and sticks her bottom lip out.... Gooood grief! This is the part of parenting that makes me LOSE MY MIND! I can handle the bodily fluids, fever, the hard questions, blah blah blah... But the part where I have to refrain from laying down on the floor and crying because I can't get her to act right... I have issues. I've gone thru stages in my parenting. I've tried reasoning with her, I've tried timeouts, I've tried spanking, I've tried taking things away, I've tried ignoring her... Sometimes one thing will work, but never twice in a row. What is the point of this you ask.... To tell you a story that I'm going to want to remember in the years to come.

Aniston and I stopped by United to grab a few things before I went to work. We didn't need a basket... We could carry the stuff. This was the first obstacle, 10 feet in the door. I said no to the basket with a car. I told her to "watch it! Don't get yourself in trouble" in response to her displeasure. It worked, that time. At the salad bar.. Another disagreement. Then, no cookies. Then, no candy at the checkout. Then, no redbox as we were leaving. Every "no" was met with an attitude or "ugh" from her! So, as we were leaving she told me "that's not fair" when I wouldn't let her hold the sack. I was just about go grab her arm and threaten her most favorite Justin Beiber toy or the biggest spanking ever and an older "Pappaw" stopped us as we walked out the door of United. He bent down to Aniston and said, "Young lady, that is no way to act to your Momma. I am sure just like any other momma, she would do anything in the world for you. You need to be sweet to your Momma, ok?"

Aniston looked up at him with eyes the size of golf balls, and said "yes sir".

This Pappaw winked at me and said, "have a nice day", and went on about his grocery shopping. We continued to the car, hand in hand, in silence. After we were on our way home, I asked Aniston, "so what do you think about what just happened?" And, in her biggest big girl voice, and fighting back tears, she said, "well momma, see, I think you are being grumpy today, and I need to pray for you to not be grumpy, and pray for me to not be mean to you."

Here I thought I was supposed to be the one teaching her something!!

As we finished our drive home I realized that maybe I'm not doing such a bad job after all if she knows to pray when times get tough!




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