Precious Little Ones

Ok, so children are in my blood. What exactly do I mean by this? What I mean is that I have an absolute adoration, unconditional love, and draw to the little ones. I love the little spirits that they are. I love the mini people that they are trying so desperately to become and I love to witness every step of this transformation. Truly. I continually marvel at the things they say and the things they do. No joke. It's a huge reason for why I studied Family and Human Development in school. As I've been thinking of some tender memories of my little ones, I really wanted to share the most recent funny story. :)

Recently I stopped by my parents house for dinner and my mom was watching 3 of the little ones. They were playing in the basement when I arrived. It was dinner time and just as we were about to call them up, I hear Ryan (3yrs) start to cry. I thought, well we're going to find out soon enough who the culprit is. Moments later, his older sister Abby (6yrs) also started to cry. That kind of clued me in on who was the culprit, Ethan (4yrs).

Well, we called them up. As soon as my crying sweeties saw Aunt TT (me), they came over to cuddle with me and get some lovings. Abby and Ryan began to tell me that Ethan was hitting them. Ethan came up more slowly. As soon as he saw me I asked him to come over. Boy he didn't want to look at me. I believe it's called CAUGHT or GUILTY. Haha.

Anyway, he came over and I told him that I needed him to tell me what happened, but I needed him to look at my face. I have this thing about making the little ones face their problems, face the situations, face owning the solutions in these kinds of situations. Also its good for them to see that you are concerned, sad, disappointed, or whatever. It's important for them to see that their actions also affect more than they realize. Anyway, boy he didn't want to look me in the face. When he finally did, he put his hand out as if to try to reason with me and explain. (I have to tell you it was really hard not to laugh at how cute his actions were). This is what he said "Abby hit ME!!" (Apparently Abby tried to defend Ryan so her way was to hit Ethan to make him stop). Then he said with his hand still in the air "I REALIZE NOW that it probably wasn't such a good idea to repeatedly hit my brother in the head with the bottle." I kid you not. That is what my 4yr old nephew said while he's trying to talk himself out of getting into trouble. Then when we talked about a better way to have behaved and solved the problem, I told him his brother and sister were waiting for a "sorry" from him. He got really frustrated again and said "I KNOW...!!" At first I thought he was going to put up resistance but then as I waited, I realized he was trying to be sincere about it so he was just taking a minute (not gonna lie, it was cute to watch the workings of his mind). He hugged them both and sweetly told them sorry. Cutest part is that he waited to really MEAN it. I LOVE my kids, even when I have to teach them how to be nice to each other. :)

I feel so lucky to be blessed with 8 nieces and nephews (soon to be 9). They truly are a blessing from our Heavenly Father and I take joy in learning from them how to be more childlike by making the things in life that need to be more simplified, simple. I also take joy in teaching them and helping them to grow whenever I have the opportunity. Every day with a child is a gift. Every moment with a child is a blessing.