Yesterday...

...was a "no" day. Do you ever have "no" days? Where you are just inclined to say no to every dad-gum question your kids ask you, all day? For whatever reason?

"No, you may not have more chocolate in your milk"

"No, you cannot have a snack because we ate breakfast 20 minutes ago and maybe you will learn to eat your breakfast instead of complaining that it got soggy and throw it away"

"We are not playing in the water right now"

"We are not going anywhere today. We are staying home because I need to get some things done."

"No, I don't want you to get all the games out because the pieces get scattered all over the house and it takes forever to pick up"

"You don't get to wear underwear any more today because you already peed 3 times in your other ones"

"no"

"No"

"NO"

"NOOOO"

"N-O SPELLS 'NO'"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO SAY YES BECAUSE I'M JUST ANNOYED AT ALL YOUR QUESTIONS TODAY AND IT NEVER, EVER STOPS AND I'M GOING INSANE WITH ALL YOUR ENDLESS QUESTIONING ABOUT THE PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN. CAN YOU PLEASE NOT ASK ME FOR ANYTHING FOR 5 MINUTES! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

MAN, was I on a "no" streak yesterday.

And not surprisingly, we were all grumpy pretty much all day long.

And it was a long, miserable day.

And I accidentally let my mouth speak before my mind could catch up again and took away the midday movie privilege on account of bad behavior (which is not much more than self-punishment) which means I got no break. But I was too stubborn to just let them watch a movie and give myself a break.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS THESE DAYS? (and I wasn't PMS'ing. I know that's what you were thinking, you didn't have to say it...)

On to the good news...

children. are. patient.

WHAT? Yes, patient. Can they wait 13 seconds for their wants to be met? No, not patiently. But they are patient with me. Did they ever call me on being a total jerk yesterday? Nope. And guess what, they didn't hold a grudge against me today. Today was like yesterday never happened.

This is the good news. That today I got to start over again. And take advantage of this beautiful time of life where I get to start over and do better today and they won't hold it against me. Because I know that won't last forever.

So this morning, I earnestly prayed to do better at this, my struggle of "no".

And it was a COMPLETELY different day.

It was PLEASANT!

And we were happy.

So whatever screw-up happened with your kids today, get over it and fix it tomorrow. Make sure and love them more tomorrow. Try to figure out how to get out of your slumps (or whatever it is that you struggle with) when they happen. Pray for help. It will work! And they will be patient as you learn.

THANK GOODNESS.