A Peaceful Presence

Yesterday I was doing a bit of blog reading and read how a prayer was said over this particular blogger's unborn child, asking God for the baby to be a "peaceful presence" in this family's home.

After being touched by such a sentiment, I immediately questioned why I never prayed such a thought over little Miss E. while she still resided (quite peacefully) in my tummy. Things might be a lot quieter around here had I thought to submit such a petition.

E. had a bit of a loud day yesterday, something not too unusual around her. She is all spunk and we just adore her. The sentences are flying out of her mouth, along with her fair share of whining and fussing. Bless her heart. Lately I have really been telling her that she is starting to become a big girl, who can understand and communicate with others. Last night after her usual bedtime routine of a book and repertoire of songs, I sat her up in my lap for a little woman-to-woman chat.

It was hard to be serious, because E. was sporting her own serious expression that makes me want to giggle. I told her that in the morning she needed to try really hard to use her big girl words, as opposed to fussing, to talk to me and that I would try really hard to use my most patient ears to listen to her. And we might somehow survive these toddler years together.

Such a talk was met with silence for a moment.

She then screwed up her little face, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "P-eas (please)".

I am guessing "peas" is her stab at big girl communication. I'll take it. She was much better today in the fussing department, so I am pretending that our little chat made all the difference.

And although I missed out on the chance to pray for her as an unborn child to be a peaceful presence in our house, I have started praying such a little prayer anyway....over myself. I figure why expect others to be beacons of peace unless I have stepped up to the plate myself.

***

I think I have mentioned our reward chart for Isaac before in a post, but have never shown a picture on the blog.

Here it is, in all it's Disney glory:

I made this a few months ago, when I really felt Isaac was having a bit of too much Independence with compliance (meaning he was being just a tad rotten...just a tad). I hated saying the same thing repeatedly to him without seeing any results. I then created the board and he knows what needs to be done and gets it done. Currently we don't use this board anymore, however it sits in the kitchen in full view for when we will need to pull it out again. I really try to phase certain rewards out for expected actions or behaviors once we have created a steady pattern (this idea is a whole post in itself...perhaps one day). It is a pretty standard reward board of chores/attitudes we would like for him to show or do and chances to earn a small prize if such things are done.

Above is the list of posted expectations of our house. I titled them "expectations" because we see these as the social norms at casa de phillips. These are behaviors/actions/words we all need to exhibit on a daily basis. These have no pictures...mainly because I am a terrible artist and hate searching for clipart...but I feel that is okay despite the fact our children do not read. These are concepts we discuss frequently, so as to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them.

Question? Comments?

Happy Friday!