Sing Along With Me

There is a favorite childhood song that I sometimes like to sing to Thomas with my own made up words. You can ask the McNichols kids, I do this A LOT. I love to make up silly songs to tunes that the child already recognizes. Well, Thomas may never know the real words to this song, but here are the versions he gets:

First the sappy version:

Oh where, oh where has my baby boy gone?

Oh where, oh where can he be?

With his sweet gummy smile and his kissie cheeks,

Oh where, oh where can he be?

Then I catch him doing something like this...

I can't help but sing this version:

Oh why, oh why is my little boy bad?

Oh why, oh why is he bad?

With his sweet little curls and his big blue eyes

Oh why, oh why is he bad?

But, here is my thought of the day. Sometimes it hits you in the face the responsibility that God has placed on us as parents. I believe that it overwhelms us when we first get pregnant or hold our newborn, but then leaves us as we begin that stage of our life and just surviving until the next day is our biggest goal. I believe that we all strive to do the best we can, but what is our best. I love my little boy and may let him get away with somethings because they are cute. (i.e. playing with the toilet paper, pulling things out of the cabinets) But Tyler and I are pretty strict about a lot of things and I like to think that we are giving Thomas a good balance of love and discipline while also allowing him to be himself and be a little boy. What brings all this thinking on? I was in Target today and waiting to get down an aisle that a woman was blocking. She had her son standing in the cart. (He was about 2) She put something in the cart and he stomped with his foot, she told him no and said that he would have to sit in the front of the cart, he did it again and she spanked him. Now so far, other than the attitude she was portraying she hadn't actually done anything I thought was out of line, but after she spanked her son, she called him a butthead. And I am sure that my very non-poker face was showing every thought that was going through my head. As a parent I do understand that we may all think that at one time or another that our child is, in fact, being a butthead, but I would also like to believe that I will never call my child a name like that out of anger. I just pray that God will always remind me that Thomas is a gift from Him no matter how difficult he may seem at times and I hope you will all do the same. Yes, our children may get on our last nerve and make us want to run somewhere far away, but we would also not take anything in exchange for them. They define who we now are and who will become.

(On a lighter note: The shoes in the picture were a Christmas gift from my cousin Gini Lynn, are those the coolest or what??)