Among other things lately, Henry has discovered his incredible ability to persist. In everything. This is both beautiful and challenging, as any parent who has weathered life with a two year old can attest. I want so badly to have the patience at all times to endure his determination, but there are moments when it’s just plain hard.

As I write this, H is upstairs crying in his bed because he “just wants to cry.” This, after about ten minutes of him repeating “Hey, Mommy!” and other things to get my attention. We’re not ignoring him, I promise. We’ve both been upstairs and to the bottom of the stairs to reply to his requests, but we’re just not breaking through to the common understanding that it’s bedtime, and that he needs to give in at the end of this day. The cries keep coming, and his tactics are clever.

“My arm hurts. You want to kiss it.”

“I need my animals back on.” (his music and animal pictures projected on the ceiling.)

“I need my covers back on.”

“You want to come see me.”

What’s a parent to do when a child’s persistence is so amazingly strong? Sometimes we oblige and head upstairs to quell the stream of toddler requests coming over the monitor. Often we take deep breaths. Regularly we just have to laugh together from our posts on the couch, when peace and quiet would be so welcome at the end of the day.

I’ve just gone upstairs after the crying escalated to hysterics, and on this particular night, all H wanted (for the moment) was a kiss to make his arm feel better. I covered him back up, put his animals back on the ceiling, and told him I was going downstairs. “That makes me happy!” he said, in his sweetest, most high pitched tone. He hasn’t made another peep.

“That makes me happy, too, munchkin,” I think to myself. Tonight is going to be a long night (in a good way), and I’m looking forward to a teensy bit of time with my feet up on the couch before I get back to work. (More on this later:)

Oh, being two. It can be so hard. And so wonderful. I wouldn’t change it, but I do have to pray about it a lot.

leaning on grace,

mm