Crocodile Tears

Just yesterday my dear friend Leigh was saying that most blogs she sees lack the essence of real life because everything is always rainbows and butterflies. Hardly anyone posts about the hard stuff of raising children. I told her that I choose not to because I expect my babies will probably read this one day and I don't want them to think for one second that I was unhappy. The truth is they have brought me more joy than I could have imagined. My boys and I had quite the morning around here and I thought it would make for a fun, real life post. This story is too hilarious not to share, so this one's for you, Leigh!

Aaron has been out of town for a couple of days for work so I have been flying solo here with my little posse. Poor Tiger woke up very sad for his Daddy this morning and it made for a rough one around here. It all started off okay but quickly went downhill. He immediately asked to wear his crocodile suit when he got up this morning so on it went. After breakfast I decided it would be fun to put the boys in the stroller and bring them down to our neighborhood tennis courts so they could run around. They love doing this! We bring a couple of balls to shoot hoops and play catch and whatnot. Well before we left I asked Tiger if he would rather wear shorts or pants with his crocodile suit and he grumpily opted for neither. I warned him he would be cold but it didn't matter to the commando croc. So I loaded up the boys and off we went. I had only taken a few steps when Tiger started repeatedly informing me "I need to walk a little bit!" Normally I would consider letting him walk beside the stroller but not today. He had also chosen this morning to wear his police car house shoes which are not conducive to walking on asphalt. So on we went. His need to "walk a little bit" became more and more urgent which made me stop the stroller and give an ultimatum. He calmed down for a second after that. We got to the courts and I laughed the whole way down the hill. You see, the grass was wet and slippery and the stroller is quite awkward when it is loaded down with boys. Somehow I managed to get them down the bumpy hill without anyone sliding out or the stroller careening out of control. So we get out to play at the courts and after about 5 minutes Eli picks up the basketball. Big brother was not a fan so he came up and yanked the ball out of sweet boy's grasp and threw it angrily away. I sternly told him to pick up the ball, hand it to Eli, and say "I'm sorry Eli." Not gonna happen. So then I told him he had a choice. He could do what I asked or we could load up the stroller and go home. In my head I was thinking "Come on little guy, please make the right choice-I am 100% serious" but his stubbornness won. This is where it gets funny. Imagine me walking all over the tennis court after a hysterical 3 year old dressed as a crocodile with police cars on his feet and nothing but underwear underneath his costume. I mustered every ounce of patience I could and tried to pick him up. He flailed and screamed like a little banshee. I explained to him after the consequences that I loved him too much to let him act like that to me and his little brother. Didn't matter. Still flailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. I finally wrestled him into the stroller and he chose to ride very uncomfortably the whole way home. Crying and screaming the whole way. I appeared calm on the outside but was very un-calm on the inside. I even enjoyed a couple of songs on the ole ipod while I pushed them home. There I was, calmly (on the outside) pushing an out of control, screaming, contorted, uncomfortable crocodile and his little brother through the neighborhood while I enjoyed some tunes and waved at every car that passed by. Here is a picture of how Tiger chose to ride home:










You may be wondering what Eli was doing through all of this. This picture says it all:



Yes, that is my beloved youngest smiling happily while his brother agonizes in the back seat. I have said it before but Eli definitely has my gift of inappropriate laughter. He has done that since he was tiny! :)


So Tiger was inconsolable the whole time I prepared lunches and his grumpiness trickled over to the beginning of lunch. What is the quote...necessity is the mother of invention??? Well, that is how the joy siren came about. Anytime Tiger appeared to be joyless (otherwise known as grumpy pants) I enacted the joy siren. It was basically just me announcing that someone had violated the joy code and the joy siren was there to bring them back. Then I made an obnoxious siren noise...and guess what??? IT WORKED! My joyful little man reappeared for the rest of the day. No more grumpy pants!

Here is what he looked like after lunch:



"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice!"-Phillippians 4:4