Splash Park, "No, I can't", & the Table

Today I took the girls to the splash park. We met some friends there, and I invited our new friends next door to come too. It was a silver and gold outing! (You know the song, "Make new friends, but keep the old..." It makes a great round!) As a happy surprise, we happened to see more friends when we got there!

I really wish my little girl wouldn't make every little thing I ask of her into a battle. She completely laid out the little one year old of our surprise friends we found at the park, and would not apologize. She spent some time in time-out after I did the James Dobson shoulder trick on her. My mom used to do that to me, and she got results. I wonder if I'm doing it right. Maybe it will work better when she's a little older.

My super-big, all-time thing I want the most in the whole world right now is for my little girl to stop responding to EVERY request I ask of her with, "No, I can't." I want so badly to remove those words (and mostly the attitude behind them) from her consciousness. Today coming back from the park, I had the girls come in our front door instead of the garage door because I've got my project all over the place in the garage right now. When I asked little girl to come "this way," she said, "I can't go this way." What's the point of arguing that? She ended up doing what I asked, but why waste the breath in protest? Is that just part of being 3 years old? Does she feel a surge of independence every time she argues? Am I somehow reinforcing this behavior? Oh, I so hope that my actions, words, or whatever are not keeping this going. It's like a rock in my shoe type of annoyance to me every time she utters those words. I'm starting to get pretty testy about it. I'll welcome any help on this issue. Please give me some feedback, especially if you've been there, dealt with that, and come out with a sweet kid on the other side.

The project that has taken over my garage is the re-refinishing of the kitchen table. I had a major catastrophe after doing it the first time. The picture to the right is the result from the first finishing job I did on it with latex paint. The picture to below is what happened after that. It all peeled up. I felt sick about it. I haven't been able to tackle that project to do it again for several weeks. It just makes me so sad to have to do it all again. And this time with oil-based products, which are harder to clean up. I'm using a roller AND a brush, a technique I learned watching DIY network, rolling the paint on, then following that with the brush so that it doesn't look like an orange peel texture. It gets the paint more evenly distributed and it makes the brush easier to clean up, with only the ends of the bristles requiring a dip in the paint thinner. Another downside to this go-round is that it all has to be done in the garage. Latex paint has next to no fumes, so I did that work inside, with air conditioning. This time I'm doing the work in the morning, before the 100 degree heat sets in. I know I'll be happy when it's done. I just have to get to that point.

Today's song is still "Dips". God really used that song in a special way last night. It sounds like a silly song, but the message is really good. It's about being so blown away by God's love that it becomes the motivation for sharing with others. God's love for us really is so profound that experiencing it changes everything we care about. Whatever was important before that encounter pales in the light of the eternal, REALLY important things. So I'm really pumped about singing it on Sunday night! Thank you, God, for dipping your hand of love down in my heart!