Choices

Sprout was in a mood tonight.  Whining, complaining, and falling to pieces over the littlest thing.  It could have been triggered by the emotionally charged day we had yesterday (more on that later), or it could have just been an overtired whiny kid.

Whatever it was, it was annoying and by the end of the night, I.was.done.

So, when he threw a huge crying fit over not being able to reach his toothbrush, there were a lot of things I wanted to do. None of them particularly nice.

Instead, I gave him a hug. I made a conscious decision (yes, after all this time, it’s still a choice that I make) to pick him up and let his boogery tears wipe all over my cheek and I squeezed him tight as he cried. Forget about brushing teeth for one night and instead, lets just hug.  Right into bed with kisses and more squeezes then tucked in tight with a soft goodnight. 

Sometimes it isn’t about disciplining…sometimes its just about catching the pieces.  Once in a while, we all need to fall apart.