Kitchen Timer 2

Sometimes my kids do things that just make me want to cry.

This afternoon, for example, Benjamin (who is almost four) threw my kitchen timer on the floor.  I didn’t see the first throw; I figured someone had simply dropped something.  I was curious when I heard the second throw.  I came in just in time to see the third throw.  Shocked, I stood there and watched him retrieve the timer, look at it, and throw it again.

Now, I realized that he had not had his nap.  His poor, exhausted little brain cells were mis-firing all over the place.  You could see in his eyes that he was in a weird place.  And, really, it was a cheap timer.  But he had broken it!  On purpose!  Then he looked up and grinned at me!

And, granted, if my house had been spotless and I had been caught up on laundry and dishes, and I didn’t have an agonizing hole in my armpit from a recent infected sweat gland, I may have not taken this as hard as I did.

But I was not in the best of places, and therefore was not short on explaining to Benjamin just how disappointed I was in his behavior.  After a lengthly lecture that I wasn’t sure sunk in very deeply, I told him he would buy me a new kitchen timer with the quarters he earned doing jobs.  And I sent him to his room.  When he emerged a few minutes later, he still had that goofy smile on his face.

Several hours later, I returned from a refreshing solo grocery shopping trip.  All three children were helping me unpack the bags.  Benjamin took a new kitchen timer out one of the bags.  He sat on the table, looking at it.  When he looked up and saw me watching him, he announced, “I will not let you pay for this.  I will work as many jobs as I need to to pay for this timer.”

I couldn’t speak for minute.  I went over to him, gathered him in my arms and kissed the top of his head, pausing to inhale the scent of those thickening blond strands.  When I could finally talk, I told him how proud I was of how he was taking responsibility for his actions.  I told him I loved him.

Sometimes my kids do things that just make me want to cry.

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