You can't always change the situation...

Photo taken this summer in La Grande

...but you can always change your attitude!

Growing up, and still today, this was one of my dad's favorite lines. He used to say it to me all the time! I cringe as I think back and remember the daggers that would shoot out of my eyes when I'd hear it. Because, really, who wants to hear that?!

I love my family very much, but they were driving me bonkers last night. Ryan waited until we were two feet from his bed before telling me that he was hungry. Emma decided that she was thirsty. I had one on each side of me and this is what bounced back and forth in my brain (don't forget to add the whine when you read this...) "I'm hungry!!" I'm thirsty!!" "I'm hungry!!" "I'm thirsty!!" Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! That's what I wanted to say. The frustration must have been evident because, once they were in bed, I heard Emma call from her room, "Mommy, are you upset with Ryan?" "Yes, Emma, I'm frustrated with him" "Mommy, that's not a nice word, and it shouldn't be said in our house!" Thanks, dear three-year-old daughter.

So, they went to bed (without a snack and just a tiny sip of water) and seemed to survive quite nicely until morning. Meanwhile, I went downstairs and finished cleaning the kitchen, folded and put away the laundry, washed another load, matched Bob's shirts for the next day, etc. I muttered inside my head as I worked...I have a great knack for that, which just makes my mood just that much more lovely. Oh, what a way to end a day.

Tonight, after the kids were freshly bathed and smelling wonderfully (especially Ryan; he used 1/2 a bottle of shampoo!), we sat together in the rocking chair to read. Emma picked out two books and Ryan grabbed book 12 of "The Secret of Droon" series. We read Emma's first...one about what to do when a monster yells at you and another about a princess that lives in a pigsty. Once those were done, Emma snuggled a bit closer and we started on chapter 5 of Droon. By the end of chapter 5, I heard the tell-tale sound that means Emma is asleep...the slurp as her thumb starts to slip out of her mouth and she tries to get it back in. Ryan and I decided to keep reading....and reading...and reading...by the time we reached chapter 9, we decided that we might as well finish the book.

Sitting there, all snuggled in with the smell of clean, one child asleep and the other enthralled with the power of a story, I was so content. Forgotten were the times that day that they had frustrated me, the times that I had to tell them more than once to do something...remembered were the times they each turned to me and told me they loved me, the spontaneous hugs, the feel of that tiny hand in mine as we walked to pick up Ryan, the way that they both still fit in my lap (although one side gets a bit more squished than the other). As we put Emma in bed and Ryan asked for a snack (yep, right before bed again), the situation was the same. But, the attitude was different. Life's too short for a child's last thoughts before sleep to be of a "frustrated"mommy. They need to be of peace and love.