A light bulb went on

Sometimes as a parent you feel like a broken record, playing in vain. You tell your kids something over and over......and over and over again and you wonder if they will ever really get it. Examples? Potty training, pumping their legs on the swing, riding a bike (still crossing my fingers on this one). Then something clicks and they just get it and there's no looking back.

So why am I pondering about this tonight? Is it because Johnny finally participated in his final soccer game of the season? Well, yes he did! Thank heavens, but although he spent the majority of the time running back and forth across the field and occasionally controlled the ball, he spent a good amount of it with his shirt up over his head. I don't think anything clicked. But he watched his Sister get a trophy after her final game and he really wanted one too. So he went out there and gave it his "best". Then after every time he touched the ball he would turn to me and ask "do I get my trophy nooow?"

We were very glad that he tried at least in his final game of the season. But the actual light bulb that turned that I'm talking about was in Alex last night. I made one of her favorite dinners, chicken and rice. Johnny however hates chicken and neither of them were fond of the pile of green peas on the side of their plates. Alex starts to mimic her mother as she often does though and encourages Johnny by suggesting that he eats what he hates the most on his plate and get it over with so he can enjoy his favorite foods for dinner and have that be the last thing he tastes. I just shake my head any time I hear her go into Mommy mode because she is a "do as I say, not as I do" type teacher. Then the next thing I know, I look over at Alex and she is gobbling up her rice and every last pea was gone off of her plate. I almost wanted to look under the table to see if they were stashed there. I told her I was shocked that she hasn't even touched her chicken because usually that's the first thing gone off of her plate. She tells me that she's "saving it for last because it's her favorite". Really? No more pressuring you into eating your vegetables? No more counting and forcing? You're just going to eat them, and eat them first so you can move on? Every single time I would suggest she eat her least favorite thing on the plate first I never actually expected her to do it. But now it just makes sense to her and she did it for every meal today as well. She even finished her oatmeal before Johnny which is unheard of. Oatmeal is one of Johnny's favorite breakfasts and she has to be coached through the entire painstaking process. But she didn't even touch her chocolate milk until all of her oatmeal was gone. Hallelujah! There is hope yet! Never give up because you never know when that light blub might actually turn on.