Thursday, April 24, 2008

Where's all that water coming from?


We went to my sister-in-law's house to let all of our kids play together. I was talking to my nephews and nieces and then I noticed something... Gabriel just sat down on one of the tri-cycles and there was water dripping from the seat???... not just a couple of drops, but a steady trickle. At first I thought the seat had gotten wet by rain or something and when he sat down on it, that it was squeezing all the water out of it... then it hit me (I was still a little slow... jet lag, you know.)... he's peeing in his pants on purpose! What!? I told him to stop and picked him up and took him to the bathroom for the interrogation. What are you thinking? I was so mad. Here I was wanting to show off my new family and one of them is peeing all over himself on purpose. He's 4 years old and doesn't have accidents. We didn't have any extra clothes or anything... is he just trying to embarrass me (it's always about me, of course.)? I was livid. What would possess someone to pee all in their pants with that many people around and the bathroom only a few steps away? I have to confess... I was beside myself. Then, after I cooled down and was able to get my head around the situation, I realized it was his turn (finally) for the tricycle and if he got up, someone else would jump on it (there were literally another 20-25 kids there) and he would loose his turn. Now, I felt bad. I had just gotten all over my son and I didn't know the whole story. I just took it as something against me... embarrassing, inconvenient, un-necassary. I've never told anyone this, so keep it a secret... sometimes as a parent I over-react. Shocking, I know. I know you never do that, right? (note to self: try to get all the information before you react) You'd think that I'd have this parenting thing down by now. We've been doing it for almost 19 years now but I guess there's always areas we can improve in. It's just hard as an adoptive parent starting with kids who already have personalities and a history. You definitely have to take a step back and try to look at things from their perspective, in light of where they've come from and what they've experienced in their lives. Gabriel never had a tricycle. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to take a chance on losing his turn. Sorry Lord, for getting so upset. Help me to be more patient.


Sorry about not blogging more this week. It was very busy for us trying to get back into the swing of work and everything else involved with comng home. The kids are doing great. There haven't been any problems to speak of. The transition has been great. We're just trying to get into the groove of how to get things done when there are this many kids around. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know. You know, I was having such a good time writing the blog today, I decided to just sit here and pee in my pants so I wouldn't have to stop writing... so I better go.




Love ya,


Jim and MJ

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