Long Day

Yesterday was a challenging day for Grace.  I had an appointment with a new dentist (when Todd changed jobs, we had to change dental insurance and they didn’t take my previous dentist) and I decided to take Grace with me instead of arranging for a sitter.  If I had known that it would take THREE HOURS, I would have left her with a friend.  Not only that, but we had to listen to a woman getting a root canal cry and moan and scream for a LONG time.  Which didn’t do much to help my dislike of going to the dentist, and it actually scared Grace. 

I had planned on going home for lunch before my music class I taught starting at 12:30.  But, since we didn’t leave the dentist until 12:15, we had to rush without eating to my class.  Thankfully, I had packed a few extra snacks which helped satisfy Grace until we got home around 3:00. 

Usually, while I am teaching my high school class, Grace watches a video and entertains herself with a backpack full of books, crayons, toys, and snacks.  However, right before my class started, another teacher came in my room and removed the TV/DVD player to use for her class.  You can imagine there was a moment of protest when Barbie as Rapunzel was rudely unplugged without the merest glimmer of sympathy from my fellow teacher. 

Thankfully, Grace was quickly re-directed and stayed busy with her backpack activities.  Until the last 10 minutes of class when she loudly declared to a roomful of teenagers that she “needed to go poopie now!”  Then, when I asked her to wait a few minutes, she declared, “but the poopie is coming out of my bottom RIGHT NOW!”  I scooped her up in my arms, told my giggling students to say a prayer, and continued the rehearsal.  She did make it to the end without an accident (thank you, Lord!). 

When it was time for us to pack up and go home after a three-hour dentist appointment, no real lunch, a two-hour class, and no real naptime, she was whiny and blatantly disobeyed me a couple of times.  Walking to the car, I knew that I needed to discipline her, even though she had been great the overwhelming majority of the time.  However, I just couldn’t overlook her behavior at the end because she was worn out.  It’s really easy to justify poor behavior under difficult circumstances, and I had to remind myself that there are no exceptions for obedience.  Sometimes it’s really hard to be consistent. 

After I disciplined her, I also made sure to thank her for being sweet and obedient most of the day.  Which made her smile.  And give me a big hug.  And melt my heart.