Top Ten

Troy and I were trying to think of the top ten funniest things that made Bitty cry yesterday. It turns out that only a few of them were actually funny - mostly they were just frustrating, irritating and inducers to pulling all your hair out. Don't you ever have one of those days when a child of yours just weeps for the whole day? For example, Bitty and her daddy were having a lovely time at the park when they found a ladybug, which Bitty got to hold for awhile, until it flew away. Ladybugs will do that. Bitty burst into tears and cried all the way home, declaring that she never wanted to go to the park again. She cried about everything from me choosing the wrong dress for her to picking up the wrong cup to...pretty much everything. Lots of tears. I imagine she got a little dehydrated.

The day did have its perks, however. Stomper was in the annual primary program at church. This was an event of some stress for me, partly because I know how shy he gets and sometimes just can't handle attention. This happened last year, when he spent the entire program with his head buried in his arms and trying to crawl under his chair. I had little hope for any participation from him this year as he refused to say his part during any of the practices. And then he horrified me on Saturday afternoon when he informed me he had decided to change his part from: "The prophet asks me to be kind to everyone," to: "The prophet asks me to poop my pants." I should have laughed or something except that I could just imagine him, in a fit of giggles and silliness, actually saying it. So I calmly said, "Stomper, you wouldn't really say that, would you? It isn't very respectful." Then he cried and delcared he never wanted to go to primary again. (My kids have been doing this lately. They declare, multiple times each day, that they are never going to ________ ever again whenever something doesn't go their way. Not sure how to handle that one. Spankings? Yes. Definitely spankings.) But on Sunday morning I just told him that all I wanted was for him to do his best. That did the trick and he was very cute as he sang the songs and said his part, without a single mention of pooping his pants.

Then today, Troy and I stood in the kitchen watching our two children, both of them, playing TOGETHER in the back yard in the cutest happiest little game. Troy said to me that I have messed up his thinking. He now thinks in blog titles, and this one would be called, "Who are you two and what have you done with my children?"