Greg & I have started this little tradition of taking turns taking the kids on special date nights.... We are on our second cycle..... Emy joined us for cook top Japanese at DaRuMa.... she was apprehensive, but then loved it! She ate edamame, ginger salad, clear soup.... filet, rice.... and carrots! We walked around a bit and finished with some ice cream... Emy enjoys nothing more than having our undivided attention.... She is in heaven on date nights.... but truth be told, Greg & I are as well....
To have Emy alone we get to see her true personality.... so inquisitive.... such a character and so over the top with her expressions and affection! She doesn't have to fight for attention, she has it.... and in turn it gives her a sense of self without the anxiety of having to compete with her brothers. We talk about her and answer all of her questions (and boy does she have questions).... but the biggest reward is her behavior for the days that follow. She is less likely to act out or be disrespectful.. She is more generous and giving and loving and affectionate toward us.... and her brothers....
It is sometimes hard to think of them as separate little beings..... so different.... with different needs....
Greg and I sometimes struggle with this as parents.... from recognizing them as individuals from day to day to bigger decisions that are starting to come....
God, today I pray that you help us to see them not just as a collective group of little beings.... but as the individuals you created.... help us to uncover them and all the special things they each have about them. Help us to understand them.... to guide them.... to nourish them....through the sunny days as well as the gray days. Help us to accept the things that challenge us about them and know that you have a plan for them.... for each little unique quirk that you installed within them is a tool meant to be used on their journey according to your plan....
Above all... help them to feel the love that Greg and I have for them.... each of them.... and know that they can always find safety in that love....
Amen.
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