Proud of the Kiddos

Yesterday incident gave the twins an opportunity to prove how far they have come in how they handle disappointment.

Vanessa and I had a funeral to play piano for....We were gone about 4 hours. We were starved and cold and tired when we returned home. The rest of the family needing to get out and go hiking or something and we discussed taking the twins' bikes and heading out to the loop trail. The twins were excited at the proposal. However, by the time Vanessa and I ate our lunch and my frozen feet were finally thawed it was  getting late and the sun wasn't going to be out much longer. Driving out to the loop trail was going to take too long since the girls had a music appointment at Abundant Life, so we decided to hike the pinnacles instead, which meant no bikes.

Missy's reaction was whine and fuss at dad which was quickly remedied by my prompting for her to say 4 nice things to him, instead. Her eyes revealed the utter disappointment, though, and I was proud of the fact that after all these months she can handle the letdown without losing total self-control and screaming her wrath at us.

As it happened, brother was not in the house at the announcement. James' reaction was total silence. One could see he was clearly disappointed. He was also asked to switch shoes since sandals were not appropriate for the Pinnacles. He would rather wear velcro shoes over hiking boots any day, because he doesn't want to be bothered with laces. He stood there in silence and thought through how he should act or react to the two disappointments facing him. He did nothing.  He did not frown, or curl his toes, or make a sound. He turned and opened the closet and pulled out his boots. I was very proud of him and let him know that I knew he was sad, but he handled it very well.