Buttons

Today at lunch we were tired. A late night for mom and dad, an early morning for everyone followed by playgroup at church and then a trip to the store with both kids resulted in Silas and I sitting at the table with food in front of us wishing we could skip straight to nap time. I was urging him to eat.

"Take just a few bites, Silas. We will sleep better if we eat a little lunch."
"But I don't waaannt to."

He is looking around the room for excuses and distractions.

"I need to look at Baby Jewel, Mom."
"You can look at her when we are done eating."
"No, I need to look at her noooowww."

The tired and whining voice is starting to grate on me and I am exposed in my weaknesses as a mother.

"If you don't eat, we won't have snacks later, you will be hungry. I know you will ask me for a snack after naps and I will not give you anything else to eat until dinner. You will be hungry."

He lowers his head for a moment.

Then my watch beeps the hour. He is distracted.

"Mom, what time is it?"
"Time to eat your lunch."
"But I want to push the button on your watch."
"You can push the button on my watch after you take a bite."

"But I want to push your buttons..."

Oh Silas, now I am laughing. Trust me, you have already been pushing my buttons.