My kids and their current phases
Gabriel- All the questions!
My son is going through the phase of asking a ton of questions All. Day. Long.
“Mama, what’s this called? Why did you say ‘insert phrase’? What’s your name? What does ‘insert word here’ mean?”
Who else has kids that are going through this phase? It’s making me anxious to when all the “why” questions start popping up.
Having someone asking you questions all day long is draining. It’s a test of patience (one that I don’t always pass).
Rebecca- Miss Independent
Rebecca is going through her independence phase. She wants to be in control of things, including her younger sisters, pushing the stroller on our walks, and taking off and putting on her clothes. She is also sensitive and gets upset if Gabriel taunts her by telling her things she knows is not true (right now, he taunts her by calling her a brother. She gets so upset because she’s a girl).
Theresa- Miss Curious (as long as Mom is close by!)
My daughter, Theresa, is 19 months old. She doesn’t sit still when I’m getting her dressed, and is in her curiosity phase where she tries to push boundaries and explore. If I tell her “no” she’ll throw a tantrum, as all kids that age do.
Theresa is normally very calm, but if I try to take her to the doctor, or to a nursery, she screams and won’t calm down until I am with her. When I take the kids out for a walk/run at the track, she cries the whole time I’m running (even though I’m right there) and is only happy when I am right with her and put her in the stroller where she knows she is safe.
Shiloh- Miss Social
Shiloh is 7 months old and is a pretty calm baby. She just started consistently rolling over from her back to her stomach. She enjoys watching her siblings play, and discovered her baby bouncer. She can spot me from across the room and always gives me a big smile, but if she sees me and I walk away when she’s tired, she starts to cry until I come back and pick her up.
She will still fight her naps, because she’d rather be out with everyone else, but then she gets overtired and super cranky.
Relating my Kids’ behavior to ours with God
Getting dressed in sacraments
Tonight as I was getting my kids ready for bed (particularly wrestling Theresa into her pajamas) I had a thought; Is this how God feels with us and the sacraments? He is trying to clothe us to prepare us for heaven. But do we fight it just like my daughter fights sitting still to get dressed?
Through all the sacraments, God is trying to dress us in graces. Do we happily accept these graces? Or do we fight them? I know I am guilty of not going to Reconciliation enough. Do we force ourselves to go to daily mass out of obligation? Or do we happily go to receive the Eucharist and be in the presence of Jesus?
Asking God Questions
Then I started thinking about Gabriel always asking questions. How many times do we question God’s plan for us?
“But what does this mean?”
“Why can’t this happen now?” etc.
Does God lose patience with us when we ask these questions?
No. He is very patient with us and waits for us to come to Him. Our prayers aren’t always answered the way we expect them to be, but God is always listening.
Wanting Control
As I reflect on Rebecca’s independence stage, it gets me thinking about how sometimes we can be independent from God. We want to be able to solve our own problems, and don’t always turn to Him for help. We don’t trust His plan and want our plan to work.
We might get upset at things and issues that arise that oppose what we believe and cry out in dismay.
But God is always there for us to remind us that we know what is true. And he is always waiting for us to come to Him when we fall.
Fighting rest
As miss Shiloh, I too, fight rest time. I get so caught up in my expectations that sometimes, I become overtired and fall into the trap of comparison which only leads me further down the rabbit hole of depression.
Even Jesus needed time alone to collect his thoughts and spend time in silent prayer with God. We all need rest.
Needing Mom
All of my kids go through clingy phases or moments where they want me right there with them.
We all need our mom to comfort us at times.
Jesus offers His mother to us. To comfort us, and help guide us to Him.
Theresa is a little behind with her speech. She doesn’t know a lot of words, but can understand more than she can say. Tonight as we said our bedtime prayers, I noticed that when we said the Hail Mary, she had her hands folded like me, and was trying to say words with a smile on her face. She’s always been a mama’s girl and that warmed up my heart!
The lessons of parenthood
As I was reflecting on all of this tonight, it made me think that God blesses all parents with the ability to relate to how He must feel with us as His children. When we throw our “temper tantrums” because we don’t want to do what is best for us, or when we don’t listen to Him, he gets sad, but still remains with us to help guide us on the right path.
Parenting is hard. But it is a blessing.
