the    sides

I’m learning that while as a parent I can choose WHAT battles I will fight, I don’t necessarily get to choose WHEN or WHERE those battles take place.

Profound?

Glad your impressed, let’s go to the telestrater.

Exhibit 1: hairstyles
Cooper wants a mohawk. Which honestly, I’m okay with. Amy - not so much. Right now it’s a joke so no major battle is on the horizon. When it does, we’ll probably punt, let him get the mohawk and the earring.

Hopefully he’ll grow out of the mohawk. We can share earrings.

Exhibit 2: swimsuits
Amy’s okay with the little tank-ini’s and other modest two piece suits for the girls. I’m not. Besides the fact that Camber has a hard time keeping her butt crack from showing anyway, I’m not thrilled about my babies running around in bra and panties. Unlike my wife, I KNOW what goes on in a boy’s head.

Eventually - there’ll be a compromise of sorts but by moving to Colorado I’ve just limited the amount of time a swimsuit is going to be worn. Shrewd move by the Dad!

Exhibit 3: bedtime
Cayden has been sneaking in our bed in the middle of the night for some time now. We’ve tolerated it some nights - thunderstorms, sick, etc.. - but it’s become more of a pattern and we’ve decided that our bed is our bed and not hers.

Great idea, good thing to fight. Cayden got to pick the timing. Like this week. My last week at Grace. The week of lots of meetings and sermon prep and webstuff.

Here’s the typical series of events. Whining, crying, stumbling into our room, adult picking up Cayden, telling we love her but she has her own bed, put her in her bed that lasts for the next 30 minutes, more whining, getting up, picking up, back down, moving Camber out of room so she isn’t disturbed by crying.

Time Cayden finally fell asleep this week:

Sunday: can’t remember…for reasons you’ll see why later.
Monday: 3 AM
Tuesday: 5 AM

Average amount of sleep this week for the adults: 4 hours a night. You can imagine how happy of a camper Caydo is by the afternoon.

In the meantime, Cooper and Camber are looking at us and laughing. Which has led to the following exchange.

Coop: That’s funny.

G: What?

Coop: Cayden not going to bed in her own bed and you guys taking her back to her room.

G: You think that’s funny?

Coop: yeah, I do.

G: Shut up. And while you’re at it brush your teeth and go to bed. Think that’s funny???

So all of that to say this, while I am in complete control of WHAT I choose to fight my kids on, not so much as to when that battle takes place. And it will always happen at the most inconvenient time.

It’s God getting us back for how we were when we were kids.