For those of you who were familiar with my Facebook postings of the same title this post will be nothing new to you, but for those of you who are not privy to my old Facebook posts then let me give you a little background.
Elizabeth is my spirited child. She is confident, bold, daring, and does not care what anyone thinks of her. Now, these qualities are all WONDERFUL qualities to have as an adult - particularly a female adult, BUT to raise a daughter with these qualities is VERY tough sometimes. She always seems to take things to that next level. The level 1 step beyond acceptable behavior.
Every so often Elizabeth will live out her life in such a way that I cannot even fathom. She will do things that amaze me (and I don't necessarily mean that as a good thing). So, I sometimes find myself sharing her daily decisions with those around me - here is one of those moments....
Our family had some errands to run yesterday. One of our stops was the local Lowe's store. As we were walking through the store, Josh, decided that it would be a good idea to try and embarrass me by stating loud enough for those to hear around us as we passed them, "I think I just pooped my pants". Now, normally I would NOT condone this type of behavior. AND my kids very rarely behave this way, but I laughed out loud despite myself. Josh didn't scream those words, he said them just loud enough for some people to hear,but not too loud for all to hear. He also did not speak them to anyone in particular he just kind of let the words float in the air to be picked up by anyone who was listening closely. Most people didn't even hear him. There was one person who did turn her head, and look at him like he was crazy.
I didn't say a word to Josh about this because I was actually proud of him for not allowing what other people might think of him sway his decision to be who he is. I know that this may sound crazy to some, but to me - the fact that Josh wasn't afraid that people would think negatively of him after they heard him utter that sentence says a lot about how far Josh has come. Of all of my children, he is the one who makes me the most nervous about succumbing to peer pressure, and being one of the "cool" kids. So, the fact that he was able to embarrass himself (as well as me) said a lot.
Fast forward to a couple of stores later - Bob took the kids into a small locally owned health foods store down the road. I sat in the car waiting for everyone to get back in after getting just a single item from inside. Three of the kids come running out to the car laughing hysterically. Apparently, Elizabeth decided to take Josh's sentence and one up him. She targeted a specific old man, and said "Excuse me, I just pooped my pants. Can you please change my diaper?" The man looked down at Elizabeth like she had completely lost her mind. At that point, she ran back to my husband who then sent her to the car with her siblings.
So needless to say, my kids are no longer allowed to talk like that anymore in a store. (They weren't really allowed to talk that way before, but I thought I would relax with them a bit, and not be so uptight). Elizabeth, upon hearing her brother in Lowe's decided to "win" the, let's embarrass the Gregg family trophy, by picking the smallest, most frequented shop that we go to, and targeting a single person to share her "funny" sentence with.
That is my life with Elizabeth. She is only 6. Lord, help me get through the next 12 years.
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