Fixing my Mistake

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Ben was jealous of Matthew's present. Mr. Benjamin proceeded to make life pretty miserable for all of us yesterday and his bad attitude eventually effected Matthew as well. We ended up putting the boys to bed early after multiple punishments. Something just kept bugging me about the day, though. I ended up going to bed early myself, but I couldn't sleep. It suddenly dawned on me that the bad behavior stemmed from jealousy. And the jealousy happened b/c Mommy gave Matthew a cool toy and gave Ben some educational items. Sure, the train is a toy, but putting it together was frustrating for Ben. After much prayer and contemplation, I realized that my sweet, little Benjamin just wanted a toy for Christmas.

Now, I know, I know, some parents can be overly indulgent with their children, which is certainly not the case with us. But I could hear his little thoughts as I watched his expressions throughout the day. It was not necessarily about the lack of toy...it was more about the thought behind it. See, my love language is gift-giving so I tend to attach love to gifts. Well, if your older brother gets a cooler gift than you, it must mean that Mom and Dad love older brother more. I know that might seem crazy to some of you, but that only means your love language isn't gift giving. :)

So I did the only thing I could think to do. At 10:40pm, I got dressed and went to Wal-Mart. I prayed the entire time that I was doing the right thing, and sure enough, God answered my prayer. I found the biggest fire truck Wal-Mart had: it was on sale and the last one left. If that doesn't scream RIGHT THING TO DO, then nothing did. I also grabbed a pair of Super Mario Galaxy pj's for Matthew, which was something big on his list. For Anna, I put one of her new sippy cups in a little bag.

When the boys woke up this morning, I told them "Santa" had left them another present. They hurried downstairs (they don't really believe in Santa, but it's fun to tease them). Matthew was excited about the pjs, Anna immediately demanded juice, but Ben's face was priceless. He was trying to get the bindings off the truck with his bare hands.

You know, I don't normally do things like this, but God taught me a lesson last night. Let my kids be kids. I need to leave the teacher hat aside more often and just be Mommy.