Monday, September 28, 2009

Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say

Gabriel was taking his short, morning nap as I was in the kitchen getting the dishes ready to be placed in the dish washer. Caleb was sitting at the counter, and along side of him was Sarah. They enjoyed playing with Legos together, and it was just a really peaceful morning.

As 11:00 am rolled by, I decided to start fixing a sandwich for myself before my baby woke up and hindered my ability to fix anything! I successfully got all of our lunches ready (for me, Caleb, and Sarah) when I heard Gabriel start to cry.

"Oh, shoot! Gabriel is awake!" Caleb said with a frustrated tone. He really loves his little brother, so I was confused by his statement and his attitude about it.

"Well, it's fine that he's awake! Why would you say that, Caleb?" I asked him.

He explained, "I remember the other day when Sarah was being loud and she woke up Gabriel. And you were mad that he was awake."

Wow. He remembered that. I was, in fact, upset one day when Sarah decided to scream about something in the middle of Gabriel's nap...which caused him to wake up at least 30 minutes sooner than he would have. And I'm sure I probably said, "Oh, shoot! Gabriel is awake!" verbatim! And I'm positive I wasn't too happy about it...and used a frustrated tone.

Just like he said it.

"Caleb, it's ok that Gabriel is awake. We like to play with him, right?!!" I tried to say with encouragement.

"Sure!" was his sweet and kinder response.

It was at that moment, perhaps more than ever, that I realized how closely my children are watching me. Everything. Every word and every action. We know this as parents, but are we really keenly aware of it?

I will be sure to work at being more aware of the words and tone I use...even in the smallest situations.

1 comment:

Nel said...

Libby is great at reminding me of this... it amazes me how much they pick up, remember and are effected by even the smallest situations.

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