Last Sunday was a hot and humid sticky day. During a lazy family lunch, Jayden eyed his grand-uncle’s pint of freshly poured cold beer sitting on the restaurant table.
He has always enjoyed a few sips of beer from his beloved grand-uncle, so instinctively, his little hands reached across the table towards the full beer glass.
I detected the intention of the little hands, and immediately scolded Jayden for reaching out to grab something that wasn’t his without even asking.
“You don’t just grab the glass Jayden! It’s not yours and you have to ask first – politely!” I scolded with emphasis.
“No, mommy, I wasn’t going to grab it! I was just going to touch the glass to see if it was cold or not…..” Jayden explained his logical excuse.
“Okay, just make sure you ask and not grab – okay?” I chided in.
It was then that Jayden’s little face started to change, his mouth quivering and his nose making sniffling noises. Then he put his entire little hands over his eyes and face….
I knew he felt bad and was on the verge of tears. So I relented. I reached over to comfort him by patting him on his little hunched shoulders and said: “Oh darling, it’s okay now…there’s not need to cry….”
Instead of leaning back in for a hug or taking his hands off his face, my ever so stubborn 3 year-old replied: “I’m not crying <sniffle sniffle>…..I’m just sneezing!”
Before I could find any words to reply, he sucked in his pride and asked for a tissue – all the while he still kept his hands over his eyes and face.
“Here you go darling, you want me to wipe your eyes?” I said gently, conscious that he now needed to find a dignified way out of his stubbornness.
But he was a hard nut to crack! Frustrated that I didn’t buy into his sneezing excuse, Jayden corrected me: “No mommy, it’s for my nose, I told you I just sneezed!”
At that very moment, I heard a tiny inner voice say to me: “Have I learned nothing of the stubbornness of 3 year-olds?”
You Silly Mommy! 