My shining mommy moment :-)

So I got home from the retreat last night and Belle just started melting down at dinner, turning her nose up, and just not being really nice. I kindly asked her to go to her room and decide if she wanted to join us and eat like a big girl, or if she wanted to go ahead and go to bed (it was almost 8).
She came back down saying she wanted to eat, but just sat there pouting instead. So, I told her that she was deciding to go to bed and removed her plate from her reach. She refused to go upstairs, so Chris took her to her room, and closed the door. She then proceeded to scream and cry and bang on the door for about 20 minutes while we were finishing dinner.
I went upstairs and very non-emotionally and non-involved, I directed her through getting ready for bed and had her wait for me to tuck her in.
And I know God definitely gave me the words to say because I NEVER come up with good stuff to say to her on my own! But we had spent the whole weekend talking about gratitude and being thankful...and here goes.
I started by saying "Belle, I don't want you to talk for a few minutes, just listen...what if tomorrow you woke up and immediately said 'Oh man, it's cold outside! I hate it when it's cold out!', and then you went to get dressed and said 'man, I wanted to wear my purple shirt, but it's dirty so now I have to wear this pink one', and then you went downstairs and said "darn it! I wanted froot loops, but instead I have to eat these cheerios', etc. I went through her day and picked about 10 different situations for her to have a negative response to. Then I asked her, 'How would your day be? Do you think it would be a good day or a bad day?' to which she said "That sounds like a BAD day!" I confirmed that I agreed with that for sure!
"So, then, what if instead you woke up tomorrow and said "oh, it's snowing...but that means it will snow soon and I love to play in the snow!" And then, you said "Hmmm, I wanted to wear my purple shirt, but I can't...but this pink one is much warmer anyway, so I won't have to be cold!" and then, "You know, I wanted froot loops this morning, but they make me super hyper and these cheerios don't, so they might help me to not get into as much trouble today!" etc.
"How would that day go? Good or bad?" 'Oh, that would be a good day!'
Yey! She's catching on!!!!
I then shared about how when she has a grateful heart it helps her to have a great day, even when things aren't going her way! And, when she's happy, those around her are usually happy! And when she's sad, everyone around her becomes sad.
Then I shared with her that "Luckily, mommy and daddy, and Julie and Derek are your family. that means we'll love you no matter what. even when you're being nasty to us, we'll still love you. But you know what? Your friends? They might not stick around like we do. If you had just treated Ashlynn like you treated mommy, she might decide to not be your friend anymore." This surprised her greatly!
"So when we send you to your room for being nasty to us, that's our way of helping you remember that if you had just behaved that way to a friend, you might have just lost that friend."
Then I told her about the idea of starting a gratitude journal to help us remember the things we are most grateful for. I was telling her about writing 4 big things and then 4 little things..."So, would my bed be a little thing or a big thing?" I said, "Well, that's sort of a little thing, but you know what? MOST kids in this world don't get to sleep in a nice soft, warm bed. Did you know that? Most kids in ths world get to sleep on hard, cold, muddy dirt floors." (She looked shocked, even though we talk about this often)..."And you know what else? That food you turned your nose up at? There are so many kids in this world who would BEG you for that food, just so they don't have to go hungry tonight."
"When you go to bed hungry it's because you CHOSE to not eat the food you were given...but these kids, so many kids, they go to bed hungry because they don't have ANY food to eat. It's not a choice for them. Lots of kids don't even get to eat one meal every day."
"And as far as being angry about things not being fair or not getting your way...these kids not having a warm bed to sleep in, or food in their tummies, that's unfair, that's sad, that's worth being angry about and wanting to do something about! But not getting the exact meal you wanted to eat every single mealtime, that's not something that's unfair. Because you're not being forced to go to bed hungry."
I then asked her to tell me some things that she could be thankful for about mealtime tonight, even though she didn't want what was on her plate...we came up with 1. it was made with love, 2. she had food to put in her tummy so she wasn't hungry, and 3. she got to use a fork (I pointed out that the kids from Uganda that we had dinner with didn't use a fork to eat their rice, b/c they had never used one before), so she could be grateful that she didn't have to just eat out her dirty yucky hands.
that's THREE things to be grateful for about a meal she totally doesn't want to eat!
So we then named about 10 things she was grateful for in her day. And I left her with "Now, I would like you to lay here and say a prayer to God, thanking Him for all those 10 things we just talked about. Tell Him how grateful you are for all the blessings that He gives us! And ask Him to help you to be more grateful for things, and less angry about not getting your way."
I walked away feeling like that was just the best parenting moment I've had with her! She seemed to get it!
And, though I know it will probably take hundreds of conversations just like that one, this morning she woke up and we were rushed to get out of the house for MOPS, and I had the best morning ever with her! She was helpful, kind, thoughtful, and appreciative all morning! Lucky for me b/c I knew I was going to have to get them lunch on the way to school, so I made a big deal in the car to mops, that because she had such a gracious heart and was so kind and agreeable this morning, that I was going to be treating them all to McDonalds! So of course she was super excited!

Annabelle's so cute

Belle, Chris, and myself were playing a game the other day where you rolled a die, moved to a space containing a letter, and then had to draw a picture of a word that started with that letter...while using the actual letter in the drawing.
Chris got to the letter J...and Belle said "I know what you're gonna draw, Daddy!"
"You can draw a Jragon!"
You couldn't really argue that Dragon actually starts with a D...it does sound like a J!
Why is the English language so complicated?!