My son makes me proud

Today, Robbie learned about paying the consequences for his actions. He was caught carving into the wood of his chair. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but unfortunately for him, his daddy caught him.

I don't feel a need to rehash the whole incident, but it ended with him losing his five books at bedtime. Anyone who knows Robbie, knows this was the ultimate price for him to pay. Kasey and I chose the right punishment... because he was truly sad. Not mad, but sad.

Kasey was dreading bedtime with Robbie tonight. You would think he'd look forward to it since there would be little effort on his part since, without books, it's just a matter of motivating him through cleaning up and getting dressed for bed. But Robbie looks forward to stories every night. Since he was a few months old, he's always been read at least 5 books before bed.

But our little hero handled it like a champ. Before bed I reminded him that he would not get any books before bed. He filed his protest, gave me a kiss good night and pouted out of the room. Kasey helped him get ready for bed and kissed him good night. He was called back into the room just once and then he fell asleep.

I know that sometimes I get impatient with our son. It can be a bit grueling sometimes to explain everything to him, anticipate the things that are going to upset him (anything that disturbs his sense of order), and stand strong when helping him adjust to the unfair things in life such as the spelling for refrigerator). But it is nice that when you explain something to him, it make take a bit, but he will eventually accept it on his own. It's nice that if you warn him about something that might upset his sense of order, he can cope. It's nice that I can talk to him and reason with him in a way that you can't do with most 4 year olds.

He makes me proud and I try to remind him every day what an exceptional person he is. I can't wait to tell him in the morning how proud I am of him for paying the consequences of his actions like a big boy.