miracle

The other day I made the apparently horrible decision to pause the tv while the boys were watching a show. I had something to tell them and was planning on turning it right back on. However, Truett did not think much of my idea and let me know by screaming and throwing a toy at me. I calmly told him that he needed to go sit in his seat for a time-out.
I turned the show back on and allowed Truett to come back over and watch once his time-out was finished. Normally, after time-outs, the boys have to tell me why they had to do a time-out and then apologize to whomever they offended or hurt. But sometimes I forget or sometimes I'm just too tired or sick of time-outs to bother with it. I know, not great parenting. This was one of those times. I let Tru come back in and I completely forgot to ask him what he did that was wrong and have him apologize. But about five minutes later, as we were sitting watching the show, Tru looked at me and said, "I sorry for throwing the toy at you Mommy." I thanked him for his apology and told him that I forgave him. And then I ran to the phone, called Sam at work and said, "It works!"
I actually didn't do that but I wanted to. It is so easy sometimes to feel like the time and effort of disciplining isn't worth it. They just do the same thing over and over. But then there is a moment like that when I see a tiny glimmer of hope and it gives me enough push to keep on trying. The next moment could be one week from today or one month from today but I have faith that it will come so I will keep trying.