Perrier Painting

Just by looking at these pictures, one would probably think, “Wow — what a fun morning!”  And, indeed, this was the highlight of our morning.  Sometimes you just need a craft!  To be honest, I hadn’t even planned it, but I noticed our empty water bottles left out from the night before and remembered seeing something similar on Pinterest… it just turned out to be a blessing in an otherwise difficult morning.

What you don’t see in these pictures is what you can’t hear; the whining.  Oh, this morning was hard.  Hard, hard, hard.  See this sweet girl below?

She truly is as sweet as they come.  She also happens to be as stubborn as she is sweet.  And, when it comes to doing something she doesn’t want to do, (especially when food is involved), she has issues!

Last night she refused to try her dinner.  It has happened before — and she has gone to bed hungry.  Most nights, I end up helping her finish her plate, which is also difficult when I have a 2 year old to cut food for and a baby to feed.  She is 5 1/2… it’s time she finish her plate, without complaining, by herself.  Well, last night she wouldn’t even try a bite.  Not a bite!  I gave her a time limit as I often do, only her consequence is usually no dessert — this time, rather, it was nothing else to eat until she finished her chicken and half her broccoli.

Twenty-five minutes passed as I sat with her, and then I excused her.  We had a fun night outside and she went to bed hungry.  This morning, while the rest of us were enjoying some oatmeal blueberry pancakes, I presented her with her dinner.  I told her I would warm it up just once when she was ready.  I warmed it up — she refused to eat.  Hours upon hours of whining, crying, fussing — it is by God’s grace I did not cave.  A constant “Why, why, why???” echoed in my ear. She hadn’t eaten since our 11:30 lunch the day before!

By 1:30 she caved — 26 hours!  Tonight she actually apologized and was so sweet, once again. My sweet, sweet, stubborn, stubborn girl.  God has big plans for her! 🙂  In the meantime, try the craft; it was a lot of fun!