Patience Is a Virtue

I feel I've been frustrated with the boys a lot lately. Jake's at that stage where he doesn't know what he wants and all I want is for him to stop crying all the time. Sam's at that age where he wants to do everything by himself. Get dressed, put on shoes, get in and out of the car, pour his own milk. And before it starts to sound like I'm the hovering, just-let-me-do-it, type of Mom, let me say that I'm not. On any day I would rather have Sam dress himself, take his own dishes to the sink, buckle his own seat belt. It's just that it takes soooo long. God, give me patience, and give it to me now.

The point of this is that my frustration with them is doing two bad things, at least. One, I'm rushing them through things that are important. I know there is a reason it takes Sam twice as long to get ready. He's a kid, and everything he does, everything he has the opportunity to do, is an opportunity to learn. Second, my frustration is clouding my behavior. One day this week I went out to get the car while Sam got his shoes on and got his Lovey Quartet together (Ducky, Woo, Spud, Sky Puff). I barreled the car out of the garage while looking over my right shoulder. When I turned around to reset the side mirror Sam was standing at the car's left. You know what I'm thinking, and what I thought.

My mother-in-law gave me a refrigerator magnet once that says "He who knows patience, knows peace." That is my mantra this week.