As I have been learning to walk in faith and hear the Lord
on how to deal with things in my life, there have been a few things he has
told me that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was him speaking
because it was so bizarre! This instance is no exception.
My son has had an “issue” for the last year or so, and I
have been helpless to correct it, though I have tried everything I could think
of – he puts his hands in his diaper to soothe himself to sleep. My husband and
I refer to it as ‘digging.’ For several reasons I have not been okay with this:
1, My sons obsession with his “weeenie” as he calls it. 2, he and his bed are
soaking wet (sometimes to the point of dripping) every morning and nap time. 3,
its just gross! The thought of enjoying the warm stream flowing over your hands
as a tool for relaxation??? Hello! And everything in his room stinks like boy
urine!
Finally one day I said, half expecting a response, “God,
what should I do about this?” At first his answer surprised me! He
said, “Use duct tape.” I started brain
storming with myself, “I could wrap him in duct tape every night, but that
would use a lot of duct tape, and it would ruin all of his clothes (because
duct tape is sticky and leaves residue on everything), and I can’t really
afford to buy him new pajamas every day.” Nope, that’s not it…
I kept thinking but I could not come up with a solution. I
started wondering if it was just my wild imagination that came up with the idea
of using duct tape, but no. I knew it was God. I went back and forth about it,
every time I revisited the problem in my mind “duct tape” was always the first
thing I saw, but not in a way that worked.
After several weeks of being unsuccessful in working out the
solution, POP! There it was! He had the answer waiting right there for me! He
showed me a picture of a duct tape suit that went from the thighs all the way
up to the arm pits. And it was back to back duct tape, so there would be no
issue with it leaving residue on clothes! I was excited, and slapping myself on
the forehead a little bit – I was like a professional duct-tape-ist in high
school. I made wallets, Bible covers, belts… I even made a prom dress entirely
out of duct tape (except for the sequins). It even had cap sleeves and a bustle
in the back. I was a master, but I never thought about it for this. What a cool
God; maybe he gifted me with duct-tape-ability in high school just so that one
day I could successfully help my son break a bad habit.
Anyway, I made the ‘big boy pants,’ so we called them. The
story could end here, but there’s more. Not only did the Lord give me strategy
on what to use, he also orchestrated the perfect timing!
Maybe some of you can relate to this, but I have ideas about
parenting that I have come up with from observation and experience; what seems to be the most affective according
to my own opinion. I am not saying that we can’t use wisdom or good sense when
we discipline, but there have been several times where I have started to use my
own ‘ways’ of dealing with something and the Lord has stopped me and told me to
do it a different way. I have been so thankful for all of those times, and I
want the Holy Spirit to feel like he can always interject in my dealings no
matter how much I think I’ve got it sorted.
One night we were putting Jude to bed – the night that I had
decided was the night to start him wearing his ‘big boy pants.’ He was crying
because he didn’t want to go to bed, we had to fight just to get his pajamas on
and teeth brushed! I was determined to take care of this problem as fast as I
possibly could, so I whipped out the suit, and it was as if a monster had
walked into his room. He was screaming and wiggling, fighting me from putting
on his big boy pants. Elijah looked at me and calmly asked, “Does this have to
happen tonight?” …uh… I guess not. I realized that he was probably on to
something. So we let it go and put him to bed without the traumatic experience of the big boy pants. In my mind, I had been
thinking “well, maybe if it’s that big of a deal it will really make him want
to stop doing what he’s doing.” And maybe it would have, but I probably would
have had to fight the screams and tears every night, and who knows what else it
would have done to his mind and emotions.
The next night we waited again, but around midnight he woke
up crying. I went into his bedroom and discovered that his bed and pillow and
EVERYTHING was soaking wet ALREADY. I stayed relaxed, changed out his bedding
and helped him put on new pajamas. He was snuggling in my lap calming down and
somehow it just felt like the right time. “Sweetheart, do you want to wear your
big boy pants?” I asked. He wiped his teary, snotty face on my shirt and
replied, “Oh… OKAY!” So he stepped (on his own) into his big boy pants and woke
up dry the next morning. No trauma, no tears, and he was delighted every night
to put on his ‘big boy pants,’ so HE called them (-: What a blessing, and an
easier way to work out a problem without the striving and agony of a screaming
toddler. It’s not like he was getting in trouble every night, I just wanted to
block his access. Thanks God, this was a much better idea!
He wore them for about three weeks. And now it’s been a week
without them and so far, for nap and night, there has been no digging.
I am one thankful mommy (-:
