a little help please

I mentioned in a previous post that I sometimes become frustrated with Jem's inability to buckle his seatbelt. He sits in the very back of the car so getting to him isn't super easy. And sometimes he pulls his seatbelt across and snaps it into place without a hitch. Then there are the other times when he can't seem to get the buckle to click into place or he doesn't really even try. He just flails around.
When that happens, I don't always react super well. Today, after picking Truett up from preschool, Jem couldn't manage to buckle up. It didn't help that there had been some earlier behavioral problems. This was just icing on the cake. I found myself leaning over Caia's seat to reach back to him and flapping my arms around like some deranged lunatic because I was so frustrated that I couldn't manage anything else. And do you know what happened? He laughed. And why shouldn't he? It was ridiculous.
So why does it happen? Why do I get worked up over a seat belt? I think it is the same reason that I sometimes get worked up over Truett not being able to put his pants on. I've seen him do it so many times so I know that he can do it. And yet, there are those days when the legs get twisted. Or those days when nothing seems wrong but he still insists that he can't do it. The frustration comes because it feels like a step backward. I finally have the freedom to lay out clothes for my kids and trust that they can put them on without needing help. I can finally open the door to the car and expect that one of my children can get in and get himself buckled. So when that doesn't work, it can throw me out of whack, especially on a day when they simply refuse to try.
Thankfully, I'm still learning and growing. And today, when my five-year old laughed at me for being insane, I realized that it's just a seat belt. I also discovered that perhaps there are times when my children magically lose the ability to do something because they just want to be a little kid who needs Mommy's help.
The seat belt may have won today but next time I'm going to take it as a chance to look at my boy and say, "I would love to help you."