Where the wild things are . . .

It was a beautiful day!
All I really wanted to do today was sit in a lawn chair and veg and watch my kids playing in the yard . . . maybe read the book I will be reviewing for BookSneeze. . . (It came in the mail yesterday! That means a review is coming soon . . .ish).
But it was not to be.
It was a busy day.
I had to get ready for two viewings of the house, and Josiah woke up with a throat of fire this morning, and a croupy cough lingering in his chest. I felt his head, looked at his eyes and told him not to bother getting dressed.
He laid back down on the couch and I finished reading Mattimeo to him and Isaac while Isaac ate his breakfast and got ready for school.
After Isaac left, I began cleaning up the house . . . not that it had gotten all that dirty since I cleaned it for the last viewing. That's the good/bad thing about having your house on the market. You never know when someone will want to see it, so you have to keep it clean . . . and, you have to keep it clean.
Daniel slept on the couch for a long time this morning, and I let him sleep as long as he wanted today, hoping a lot of rest will keep the ickies away.

Doesn't he look so . . . peaceful, sleeping there like that? Hmmmm.

Eventually, he woke up. But apparently, not on the right side of the couch.
Now, Daniel is my most blatantly strong willed child to date. That is to say, his brothers could be just as strong willed, but they went about it in more subtle ways.
Not my Daniel.
He can be as openly defiant, as unceasingly whiny, and as downright cranky as he can be sweetly innocent, preciously loving and adorably funny.
And at various times today, he was all of those . . . and more.
Now, I would like to think of myself as an always clam, ever gently loving, consitently self-sacrificing, perpetually smiling, once-a-week cookie baking mom.
But the truth is . . . it's not true.
Not always, anyway.
There are some days I hit this nail right on the head, and I glide through motherhood and wifehood and housekeeperhood with amazing grace and confidence, with honey dripping from my clam, dulcit tones all day, right down to the cookies, and I think, "Quick! Someone take a picture of this day and send it to the nearest Hallmark store . . . STAT!"
And then, there are days when I want to pull every hair follicle out of my head, and I rant and rave over this and that, and I allow myself to get upset, and sometimes even angry, with those little ones who are my most precious gifts that God has entrusted to my care, because . . . THEY"RE NOT ACTING RIGHT! (Ugh! Really bad, I know. But the truth is ugly sometimes. Not facing it doesn't make it any less the truth . . . it just makes you blind to it.)
Today was a little bit of both of these.
Today was fits and challenges and out loud defiances.
Today was frustration rising in my gullet. 
Today was me almost losing my cool . . . almost.
Today was me crying out, Jesus, I need you to help me! I can't do this alone. I need your grace. I need your love. To wash over me, and spill over onto my son!
And so, in the middle of the "no!s" and the seething of a will-crossed two year old little boy, the grace came. The love flowed.
And there was discipline.
Oh, yes.
There was a time out.
A time for listening to what had been wrong.
A chance to sit and think about the offence and collect scattered emotions.
A chance to repent.
A chance to forgive.
A chance to keep on moving forward.
A chance to have some really great moments today.
Not that the uglies didn't try to rear their monster heads again . . . they did!
But I had battled them already and won this day, so I met them with calm assurance and . . . love.
The uglies don't like to stick around too long when love is on the scene.
This is something I am learning more and more everyday . . . not just in parenting and my relationships with my kids, but in all my relationships.
Too bad I'm not a quick study.
If I had gotten this long ago . . . who knows.. . .  I would be so different. Maybe my kids would be too.
But, I am getting it now. And now is a pretty good time to change.
So, it is Thursday, and that means . . . family dinner!
I made my boys' favorite meal . . . pasta e fagioli (this is not even remotely pronounced how it looks!).
Isaac will eat anything, Josiah is very particular about his food, and Daniel is kind of mix of the two.
But they ALL love this dish.
And it makes me laugh, because, really, it is one of the most basic, Italian peasant soups there is . . . especially the way we make it.
I love it, too. It was a staple in my childhood home kitchen.
Joe . . .not so much, but he eats it anyway, with a big smile on his face. He knows the boys love it, and I try to have chicken or something else he likes a little better when I serve it.
Simple, hot and satisfying!
Tonight, we had sides of roasted asparagus, a tray of baked Italian sausage and a crisp salad with homemade vinaigrette.
Delish!

 At the table, the talk turned to the many one pot meals grandpa's parents would make, and how his family cooked and ate lots of soups and stews to sustain themselves (Grandpa had 17 brothers and sisters!). He said they would go and pick greens from outside, in their yard and along the road, to add to these dishes.
"So, they would just grow wild and you would go pick them?' I asked.
Daniel, who was eating like an angel in the chair beside me, perked up and blurted out, eyes wide circles of wonder, "Growin' wild?! I'm growin' wild!!"
Everyone laughed, and I thought back over our long day together, with its many ups and downs, and His love holding us together . . . and I was laughing too.
"You sure are . . . " I said as I slid my hand over his flushed baby-boy face, smiling into his looking at me with all the sincerity his blue eyes could hold.
"You sure are."
My favorite images of the day . . . my wild child pretending to be a "super sleuth."
They call him Sherlock Homey. Love the hoodie. He pretty much wore it like that all day.