Dealing With My Nastiest Customer

We're potty-training our two-year-old, and on most days it's been:

"Do you have to go potty?"

"No!"

"Let's try!"

"No!"

We go anyway. And when he has some, I can't help but gloat to myself, "See? I told you so!" (so mature of me, right?)

Then he gets his treat for going.

"Do you want an M&M?"

"No!"

"Do you want a different candy?"

"No, I want a chocolate!"

"Okay, here's a green one."

"No!"

"Okay, here's a red one."

"I want a green one!"

And that's on a good day. Sometimes he refuses the M&M all together, throws it on the floor, then howls when he sees me put it in the garbage.

He's going through a "phase"; that's my hope anyway.

But he's not always so belligerent. Usually, he's a happy, smiley toddler with lots of hugs to give. But sometimes, like today, his belligerence seems to be the norm. Granted, he's recovering from a cold, but that doesn't make it any easier for me who has to deal with his complaints. Breakfast and lunch were not to his satisfaction, and he didn't like it when I stopped him from jumping on the couch and drawing on the floor. The last straw for me was when he took his freshly-washed blankie and put it in the bathroom sink, saying that it was too hot and needed to be washed.

I raised my voice. Or you may call it shouting, hollering, or yelling. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. And neither did my other children. I found my five-year-old sitting with her hands over her ears.

Anytime I lose it like that, I regret it for the rest of the day. It means that something went wrong. I forgot to rely on the One who can fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:9-11)

Yes, He promises us that. Even us mothers. Maybe especially for us mothers.

My nasty customer is napping right now. I pray that he will be in better spirits when he wakes, and while I'm at it, I pray that I'm ready for him even if he's not.