My boy

It has been quite a week with my boy.  

Monday, when he got home from school, he was awful to me--talking back, refusing to do anything asked of him, just being rude.  I yelled at him.  Too often the only way I can get him to stop and listen  to me is to be louder and scarier than he is being. I hate that.  

I had to take the girls to rehearsal before Jeremy got home to take Caeden to wrestling, so he was home by himself for a little bit.  When I had dropped the girls off, I tried a FaceTime call to the computer at home to see if he would answer.  He did.  And right away he apologized for how he had acted earlier.  And so did I.  And we had a good talk about being respectful, and listening, and getting rid of self-pity and having a servant's heart.  And he understood how awful he had been.

And then we made silly faces at each other and I took screenshots.

Wednesday evening, Caeden was upset because a flyer was passed out at school about football sign-ups coming soon.  He knows we won't allow him to play (for reasons I won't write about here, but are not his fault at all).  He has asked to play the last couple years, and was pretty bummed that we won't let him.  We had a long talk with Daddy this evening about why we don't let him play, how to let that teasing roll off him, and what's really important in life.  It's so much bigger than football or 4th grade or kids teasing him, and I think he's starting to get that sometimes.  

We were able to talk tonight about how being a Christian should look different than "the norm" in our society, and how if he continues to be kind even when others are not, eventually he will become known for who he really is.  Sylvia was able to share with him how that played out for her just today.  These days of growing up are so hard emotionally and spiritually, but when we can have these tough talks and pray together as a family it feels good to end up with God's peace that passes understanding holding us up.

Thursday our afternoon/evening schedule was a bit different than usual.  Sylvia didn't have a cello lesson.  The guys didn't have wrestling practice.  So, we had a few minutes to take Caeden's guitar to get new strings.  While we waited for it, I took him to get a haircut--wayyyyy overdue.  He looks so much better, and is happy about it too!

Tonight, the guys did have wrestling practice.  I dropped Caed off and tried to get a picture of his funny pants.  All his sweatpants were in the dryer, and he grabbed a pair of size 8 jeans (He is growing out of 9's right now.) to put over his shorts to get to practice.  He could barely get them up past his knees.  Silly boy.  

It is a wonderfully difficult privilege to be a mom.