Often at bedtime, John complains that "the crickets are awake" and their noise is going to keep him awake all night. We reply that we're so sorry for the troublesome crickets, but it's okay if he stays awake all night in bed. And a few minutes later we check in on him and he's sound asleep.
Mary hears this complaint and has confused it, so now whenever she doesn't want to do something (several times per day), she says in a dramatic stage whisper (usually with hands thrown out for emphasis), "Shhhh! The crickets are sleeping!" I finally got her to say it on video tape this morning, as she'd been telling me she couldn't do something or other because the crickets are sleeping.
Later in the morning, we had a breakfast battle over waffles. She was eating maple syrup in her little bowl using her bare hands, so I said no, she had to dip her waffle strips. So she dipped her waffle strips and merely sucked off the maple syrup, refusing my request that she actually take bites of the waffles. So I drizzled the syrup over her waffles and took away her little dipping bowl. This led to a major tantrum and her screaming that she couldn't eat the waffles because "there are crickets inside." (And now she's being short-tempered--surprise, surprise--because all she ate for breakfast was a few teaspoons of syrup!)
Have you ever told John the story of St. Francis who couldn't pray because the birds were singing so loudly? He asked them to stop, and they did. Then he realized what beauty they had brought to the earth---or something like that. It's in the Little Flowers of St. Francis.
ReplyDeleteI think John might appreciate it.
Sarah: That is a fabulous idea to share that story. And St. Francis of Assissi is his patron saint (his middle name)!
ReplyDelete