So the other night after supper, Emily went to play outside. Ethan then said he was going to ride his bike around the block. Ethan has a little more freedom than Emily. He can ride his bike around our neighborhood as long as he tells us where he's going, we agree on it, and he follows the rules.
So, I'm cleaning the kitchen, Emily's outside playing and Ethan says he's going bike riding. A little bit later, I get a phone call from my dad, who tells me that not only Ethan is at their house, but Emily's there too. My parents live three houses down from us, however we're in a subdivision out in the county, so they may be three houses down, but they're 1/2 a mile away.
I tell my dad that Emily is not supposed to be down there and he should send both kids back home. Now, Mark waits outside for them. When they come home, I can hear Mark, not yelling, but being very stern with Emily, telling her she knows she is not to leave the yard and explaining why. Next, I hear Emily crying.
Emily has a very tender heart. She's very sensitive. The other day she received a "yellow" on her behavior folder for talking too much (she's really like her dad, no kidding!) and cried when she showed it to me. Well, needless to say, she knew she had done wrong. She knows she's not to leave the yard. So, she cried off and on all night. After getting her out of the bathtub and drying her off, she started to cry again. I reiterated to her we were not mad at her, we are supposed to protect her and we do that by not allowing her leave the yard by herself until she's older.
Now's the time I tell you that I have been reading "The Help"
So, while I was drying my baby off and she started to cry again, I just wrapped the towl around her, told her she was a good girl and how much we love her, then this book came to my mind. So as I held her, I said this...
This book is very good by the way. I have yet to see the movie.
So, I'm thankful for such a tender-hearted baby girl. I pray she will carry that sweet, gentle spirit with her all the days of her life.
Lastly, after I got home this afternoon, Ethan asked me if he could call his dad. I said sure. He dials, then realizes he misdialed and hangs up. The phone rings again and Ethan picks it up. He's talking to someone, so I assume it was Mark. Then, Ethan hands the phone to me and tells me they need to speak with me.
Me: "Hello?"
Them: "Hi. This is Bastrop County Sheriff's Office. Your son just dialed 911 and I'm making sure everything's alright."
Me: "This is who?"
Yep, we had our first 911 misdial. I explain everything's fine, my son misdialed trying to call his dad.
I'm thankful for what happened next. Ethan started crying, because he didn't mean to call 911. He knows that is for emergencies only. But Ethan's not one to cry. When he does something wrong he is usually stone, blanked faced. He get's defensive. We're not sure if that's due to the ACC, or that's his make-up genetically or what. ACC kids sometimes don't know how to react in certain social situations, they get confused or they just don't understand severity of certain situations. They sometimes don't get sarcasm and have a hard time reading facial expressions.
But he actually showed true, real emotion to this lesson. I explained it's ok, I wasn't mad, he just needs to be more careful next time while dialing. He said alright, then proceeded to call his dad, correctly this time. But I was actually impressed with this!
So, today I'm thankful for little ones who may have shed some tears this week, but learned some important lessons. And I'm thankful that I was there to hug them, tell them how much I loved them and explain to them that even though mistakes were made, they are loved, they are cherished, and they are still kind, smart and important.
