A Hard Lesson To Learn...

Today we spent the morning (well, most of the day, more realistically) rearranging the kids bedrooms to make room for a crib for the new baby. The boys got the smaller room that was previously Sydney's and now Sydney will be sharing the larger room with the new baby. It was a big job but we got almost everything accomplished by nap time, or at least in time for a slightly later nap. Anyway, in the boys' new room the closet had some things in it that we didn't want them messing with during nap time. So before we tucked Noah in (Luke's still in a crib and can't escape to get into stuff, yet) we warned him not to go through the drawers or touch the stuff in the closet.

Naps seemed to be going well. All the familiar noises of kids playing and having fun were happening and Jeff and I were left wondering what state their new rooms would be in when we went to get them up from naps. Normally Noah creates a small whirlwind of craziness in his room and gets to spend the next half an hour or more after naps cleaning it all up. Well, today, as soon as we opened the door we noticed that he had done exactly what we told him not to do, go into the closet and play with everything. There were papers and playing cards and stuff everywhere. He knew exactly what he had done wrong and thankfully Jeff was here to "deal" with him.

After Jeff finished his "bible study" with Noah, Noah took a moment to reflect on the error of his ways. He was giving Jeff a hug and apologizing for what he had done when he said, with a quivering lip, "Dad, some days I don't know what to do."

Jeff questioned him "what do you mean, dude?"

And Noah replied, "sometimes it is very hard to do the right thing."

Oh, the lessons of temptation. Jeff used the opportunity to explain it all to him and how it's something we all have to deal with. It doesn't make "disciplining" any easier but at least you feel like a lesson was learned and hopefully next time the temptation arises to disobey he'll remember that there are consequences for his actions and maybe, just maybe, make a better decision. Then again, he is still only three. I've got a feeling we'll be dealing with this for a long time to come. And honestly, we will too, temptation really makes it hard to do the "right thing" some days.

*****Update*****
The boys were still very vocal and active over an hour after we put them to bed tonight, which is not normal, so I went in to check on them. As soon as I opened the door, the tell-tale smell hit me and I knew I had some cleaning up to do. While bathing Luke with wipes (I really didn't feel like giving him his second real bath in an hour and a half) Noah came and showed me what he "found". I quickly realized that he had pulled them out of the same drawers that he had gotten into trouble for messing around in earlier. I guess the lesson was only learned for a few hours and the temptation was still stronger than the known consequence (which usually works very effectively with Noah). Jeff and I are currently wondering how many more times the "temptation" is going to win before he learns. I'm figuring it will be at least a few more times as there are more drawers that he has yet to be found rifling through. Maybe once he looks through all of them and deals with the consequence, he'll "learn"??