Our little Justus is such an interesting character.
He was our easiest baby, and is a very jolly child overall. We often refer to him as the "sunshine of the family" because of his beaming smile and blonde hair.
However, life with little Justus, at this age, can be a challenge....indeed.
Our "Justus Stories" are legendary amongst our friends and family.
Just in the last few days, Justus has:
1. Peed off the deck onto some pool floaties on the ground below. Yuck!
2. Swung a belt around over his head and hit a friend.
3. Tried jumping out of the bike cart I was pulling while it wasn't completely stopped. Ouch!
4. Crashed into a friend with his scooter, on purpose, and knocked her off her bike.
6. Taken a nasty spill when riding his scooter fast and wild.
7. Bruised his heel on the pavement and screamed for all of the people in a 3-block radius to hear.
8. Had a 2-hour showdown with Mom over cleaning up legos.
9. Tumbled down the stairs.
10. Tried to squirt me with the hose full-force when I told him to turn the water off.
11. Almost killed my tomato plant by watering it with a few squirts of his squirt gun instead of with the bucket. "Yes Mom! I watered the tomato!"
12. Squirted the windows with a squirt gun.
13. Worn a swimsuit, which he wears daily at home, to church. He had khaki shorts on, but for some reason took them off at church during Sunday School, revealing a swimsuit underneath. To complete the ensemble, he had knee socks on, rolled down to his ankles looking like tubes around his legs, with sandals on. Of course we noticed this in the middle of church when it was too late to find his other clothes!
15. Created enormous messes in the downstairs bathroom with water, and covered the sidewalks in sand and mud.
This list of course does not include multiple fights with siblings, arguing with me over everything under the sun, pushing the boundaries at every turn ("You said I could watch 20 minutes of cartoons, I want TWENTY-ONE!!! You said we could have granola or pancakes...so I WANT SCRAMBLED EGGS!!!!"), and freaking out and crying over the littlest things, ("I WANTED SALSA ON MY TACO BEFORE YOU PUT THE CHEESE ON!!!!")
Much of my day is spent correcting and training this little guy. You would think from this list that he is spoiled and encouraged to be defiant, but he's not! He is not allowed to get away with this behavior, but that doesn't stop him from continually trying. It's quite tiring.....at the end of the day I wonder if I have even accomplished anything with him. But God is giving me little glimpses that give me some hope that Justus is growing and maturing.
I get the most-enthusiastic hugs from Justus.
He often tells me the food I made is "so good I just wanna die!!!" or "the best thing I've ever tasted!"
He's teaching himself to read; Yesterday I overheard him trying so hard to figure out the words in a book he was looking at.
He builds fantastic Lego/Duplo creations and proudly tells me all about them.
He's got a huge imagination and is extremely inquisitive.
He is extremely physically active and loves the outdoors.
He runs faster than any other 4 year old I've ever seen!
He's courageous and is a leader.
The little things in life bring him so much joy: homemade popsicles, catching grasshoppers, going to the park, snuggling up for a story, his freshly-washed blankie, planning out what he wants his birthday cake to look like, etc.
Someday these difficult years with tiny ones will be a distant memory. I won't miss most of "Preschool Justus" but I will miss giant hugs with my wild little guy and seeing his uninhibited excitement for life and learning.
Wow...God does work in mysterious ways! I was just feeling down and out about my own son, who sounds so much like your Justus, except my son is now 15!! He is argumentative, and strong-willed at times! and today was one of those days! It would be so much easier to just give up and give in, but, I know that would only hurt the both of us in the long run and his future even more so! So, I deal with it, and pray, and pray and pray :) And boy, it is tiring :)
ReplyDelete"You would think from this list that he is spoiled and encouraged to be defiant, but he's not! He is not allowed to get away with this behavior, but that doesn't stop him from continually trying."
ReplyDeleteThank you! This point is seriously missing in things I read and people I talk to. We can spend all day correcting a child and at the end of it, they'll still find another button to push or battle to wage. And it's not due to the parent being permissive or non-corrective!
Lately mine have thought they could perform tricks while standing on their little step-stools. Today my son found out the hard way this is not true. He'll have some issues sitting down for the next few days..I'm just thankful there was no more damage done.