little girls, little girls.

Nora and Sophie came only 14 months after Samantha .

I get really tired (surprise!) and the discipline that comes in their direction is always starkly different in appearance than the discipline Lydia or Samantha gets.
I still have the energy to keep on top of them and I'm in the groove but I catch myself a lot just not caring about things they did/do that would have sent me through the roof with Lydia and Samantha.

Or, even worse, I go through the roof about things that I think Nora and Sophie should already know not to do and I feel like I've disciplined them a thousand times for the same action when really what happens is something like this:

Lydia goes through the terrible threes and I have one month to recover until
Samantha goes through the terrible threes and then I have two months to recover until
Nora AND Sophie go through the terrible awful, stupid threes for what feels like has been two years straight.

oh wait.
it has!
maybe not for Nora and Sophie, but certainly for mama.

current example:

Lydia at age 3 drew on the walls and on her clothes and on the floor a lot.
It was a 'no-no' and she's over it because she's not three anymore and I was very diligent about her discipline.  She drew a lot but never in the same place twice!

Samantha at age 3 drew under her pillow case on her bed, on the wall by her bed and they were some of her first 'real' pictures she drew - broke my heart to erase them!
She took a few more times to 'get it' but I'm not sure if that's just a Samantha thing or if my discipline was already wilting.

10 minutes ago....
Nora and Sophie, now age 3, took a mechanical pencil to four pieces of furniture in their room (and it's not the first time ;-)
I walk in dumbfounded....have we not been going over this same issue for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT!?????
After the shock wears off, I get down right frustrated and annoyed.
Everyone gets in trouble.  (I'm not sure why Lydia and Samantha keep getting roped into Nora and Sophie's deals...that's a whole other blog post!)
I start to leave and things have calmed down a little when Lydia and Samantha innocently start remarking about how they don't do that any more, they did that way back when they were THREE.

OH YEAH!
It hits me like a ton 'o bricks.
Lydia did this when she was three.
Samantha did this when she was three.
Why wouldn't Nora and Sophie be coloring on the walls?

(and this cycle repeats itself inserting different behavior issues something like, everyday!)

Deep breath, go back in to calmly talk with Nora and Sophie, sooth them, kiss them and trick them into not coloring on the walls.
("Big girls only color on paper, you're a big girl aren't you?  Ok, good, then be a big girl and only color on paper, that way you can turn FOUR!"....uh hem...and make mommy's life much easier because four year olds are AMAZING around here!)
I get some nods, smiles and kisses back and leave the room, still annoyed.

But now it's at myself.

I'm slow and it frustrates and annoys me that I can't seem to get it through my head that NO, Nora and Sophie don't know some of this or they need to test out the boundaries so I can tell them where to stop and where to RUN.

I'll get it.
It might be too late, but it will be given a good shot, covered in prayer and all holes will be filled with Grace.
Because that's all we've got as moms.  Grace from our Perfect Father above who has enough spackle to cover a multitude of holes!
There may not be any left after He's done with me though.

oh boy.

 ***************************************************************

update.  

it's an hour later and I look up to see Samantha redecorating the stop sign pole outside our house.

 great.

so it's not just going to be three years straight of THIS one, but FOUR years instead.

perfect.

since I have my patience with this one DOWN.