So Very Spencer

I wish I could fast forward ten years and have my children look back and tell me their impressions of our attempts and find out what they think.

Spencer is great at teasing. I think he is even going to top Dave and Ty at some point, and that is saying something. He also knows exactly whose goat he can get. Namely: Justin. There comes a time most evenings when Justin has had enough brotherly love and just wants to be left alone. Then there are those evenings when Spencer is in the mood to get his goat and does so, not by throwing things at J-Man, but by showering him with kisses. It is easy to put someone in time-out for throwing things, quite another for throwing kisses!

Abbie has been anxiously awaiting her turn to do a particular Family Home Evening lesson. It was on "Love One Another." Spencer had started in on Justin while we were waiting for everyone to gather & I couldn't keep the two boys separated. Justin is just too big to curl up completely in my arms anymore!

We started out by practicing the song we are singing in Sacrament meeting in a few weeks (I love this song and when we were asked to sing as a family and the topic of the day is Eternal Families, I knew this is what we had to sing-you can listen to it here-The Family is of God). So here we are, singing about families and Justin is sitting on the piano bench right next to me and Spencer, who has already pushed him past his limit is trying to squeeze in next to him. Usually, Spencer is trying to squeeze next to wherever I am, but there was no doubt his aim was Justin last night. So this tug-of-war begins while the rest of us try to sing through this song, bringing the spirit of love into FHE. Not.

The tug-of-war continues as Abbie patiently gives her lesson (honestly, that girl is such a great mother. Not in the same bossy way I was at that age-for which my older sister dubbed me "Mom"- but her patience with her younger brothers astounds me. Wish I was as patient as she is with them!) I'm trying to protect Justin and Dave tries to keep Spencer under wraps-we were both a bit unsuccessful. Spencer did spend a bit of FHE in time-out and things were down right peaceful for a few minutes there.

Time-out cools Spencer down a little and Justin gets a breather, although he is now easy to set off. Fastforward a little while to scripture reading where I watch, thoroughly surprised, as Ty (laying on his stomach) reads his verses while Spencer marches on his rear-end. Ty didn't even bat an eye.

I'm pretty sure when our children look back, they will remember difficult evenings and trying to get something done when someone's personality seemed to get in the way. I'm pretty sure they'll remember the bad evenings more than the one like last night when they handled it with flying colors. But I don't think I'll soon forget an evening of evidence that they can have patience for one another, particularly patience for the one that pushes their buttons the most.