June 9, 2006

Hello Everyone,
Why is it that small children have a compulsion to smear around anything that spills? Have you noticed that? Before the age of about 4, and even sometimes after that, if a little kid spills juice on the table, he or she MUST smear it around to make as big a mess as possible. Or if something spills or drops on the ground, the child must step on it!!
I had this experience a few times today with Mosey. He was eating a popsicle (I'm NOT buying any more, he just makes way too much of a mess), and every time a drip spilled on the table, he HAD to smear it around. And then when he was just about done with it, the last chunk fell of the stick and onto the floor, and he stepped on it before I could get him to stop. Oh well...
It wasn't a stellar potty day for him either, but it wasn't really his fault. I don't think he yet recognizes when he has to go until he REALLY HAS TO GO RIGHT THIS SECOND. So he had one accident at Butterfly World (I meant to take him to the bathroom right when we got there but I forgot), and then later on at home, he came up to me saying, "Pee, pee!" in a sort of desperate way, with pee already dripping down his leg. I rushed him to the bathroom, and I think he did manage to hold most of it in. I need to set some sort of alarm or something to I remember to take him on a regular basis.
Today we went to the Allred's pool in the morning, and then home to eat lunch, and then went to Butterfly World. Got home around 4:30, and that was our day. I'm working on another drawing for someone else who wants it for Father's Day, so I really need to have most of it done over the weekend. I've been working on that pretty much since I got home, with breaks for making and eating dinner and getting the kids in bed. I hope I can find time to get it done this weekend. The boys have 2 birthday parties, though, so it will be busy.
Brigham and Joseph and I had an interesting conversation on the way home from Butterfly World. A couple of weeks ago we read about the War in Heaven from our Scripture Stories book, and we talked about Satan and what his plan was, and how he wants us to choose the wrong now. I told them that whenever they got thoughts of doing bad things, that was probably Satan tempting them. Well, I guess this has been worrying Brigham because today on the way home he said to me, "Sometimes I think about doing bad things, but I don't think it is Satan telling me to." I told him that it's probably not Satan if it is just a passing thought, but if you start thinking a lot about doing bad things and you really want to do bad things, then it probably is Satan. He then said, "Well everyone makes mistakes, right?" So then I had to explain about the difference between making a mistake and consciously choosing wrong. Then Joseph asked if Jesus ever tempts you. Wow what a question! I told him that Jesus only helps us to do GOOD things, he would never tempt us to choose wrong. I told them that Satan even tried to tempt Jesus, but Jesus didn't listen to him. Brigham repeated what I had told them a few weeks ago, "If Satan is trying to tempt me I will just tell him to GO AWAY!" And Joseph said, "Also you should try to think about something good."
Anyway, it was an interesting theological discussion to have with a couple of 4 year olds. I'm a little uncertain because at 4 years old they are clearly not yet fully responsible for their actions. They haven't mastered impulse control (heck, even I haven't), and certainly aren't mature enough to be fully aware of the difference between right and wrong in any given situation. So I don't want them to necessarily think that if they do something bad at 4 or 5 or 6 years old even, that they are following Satan and are turning into bad guys. But I do want them to work towards knowing right from wrong and to practice making good choices, and have it be important to them to be good. Anyway, I think I'll have to talk with them about this more because I dont' want them to get overactive guilt complexes at such a young age!!
That's it for tonight. Have a good Friday everyone.