I love my oldest son. But to say that sometimes he's a bit of, um, a challenge is putting it mildly. Often I'm pulling my hair out because I can't seem to get through his thick skull.

Earlier this week, we had PB&J for lunch. Normally I cut everyone's sandwich except his. Actually I did so that day too, but accidentally gave his sandwich to C. C had it half-gone before we realized what had happened.

G HAD A COW. He wanted me to cut off the part that C had already eaten so he could eat "his" sandwich. He didn't want to eat a cut sandwich. He slammed his chair around. Pushed the table. (It is easy to move because it sits on a Pergo floor.)

COW. COW, I TELL YOU.

I apologized for the mistake (multi-tasking leads to errors, I've noticed!), but I informed him that it was the same sandwich, just cut up. And he needed to just get over it. He was not going to get anything else to eat (well...he already had applesauce, but I wasn't going to fix him a new sandwich, and he was not allowed to fix himself a new sandwich either) simply because he was refusing to eat a CUT sandwich rather than a whole one. He said, "FINE, I'll just be hungry."

I then informed him that if he didn't eat that cut up sandwich, I would continue to cut up his sandwiches every time we ate PBJ until he DID eat a cut up sandwich. Oh then it got ugly.

He told me he wasn't a baby who needed a cut up sandwich. I said that being a baby had nothing to do with it...I HAD MADE A MISTAKE. I hadn't cut his sandwich on purpose - I had accidentally given it to C. And actually, BIG kids wouldn't be having the cow he was having. He was ACTING like a baby.

(MEANWHILE, I'm thinking to myself, "All this over a CUT UP SANDWICH?!?!?!?!?!")

So I went on my way...he knew the consequences, and he needed to make the correct choice. A little bit later he was sitting on the couch with this awful, sick look on his face. I went and asked him for a hug. He refused to give me one. So I sat next to him and gave HIM one. I talked to him a bit more about how we need to be thankful, blah blah blah. I reminded him that he could pray about it and ask God to help him do the right thing.

I then had to go change S (phew!!!), and when I came back, he was eating his sandwich. I was calm on the outside, but inside I looked like this: LOL! So I gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was of him making the right choice.

Then I asked him if he had felt bad in his heart, almost sick. He nodded. I asked, "Do you feel better now?" Yup. I explained that that was the Holy Spirit convicting him, and He'll do that when we're doing the wrong thing, so that we'll obey and do the right thing. I told him that it makes you feel almost sick, and it makes your heart hurt. I also told him that the Holy Spirit does it to me all the time. But it was a good thing because it means we are growing. Sometimes growing hurts, just like the growing pains G gets in his legs. He gave me a big hug.

So I guess as it turns out I'm not the one who needs to be getting through his skull anyway. The Holy Spirit is the One who wants to get through to his heart.