Scowls and sighs

Andrew plays a "game" when we get in the car -- it goes like this:

I go to put Eric in the car while Andrew clambers into the car. Andrew climbs over the car seat, and into the front seat.
I say "Andrew get in your car seat please."
"No!"
"Andrew get in your car seat, now."
"I'm too busy!"
"Andrew, get in your car seat NOW!"
Andrew says nothing.
"Andrew, get in your car seat now or we can't go to the library."
Andrew says nothing.
"Alright, I guess we won't go to the library."
"No! I want to go the library!" Andrew hastily crawls back to the car seat and gets in.

This happens nearly every time we get in the car. So the other day I was feeling quite grumpy about it. And as I was buckling Andrew in, he looked at me and genuinely asked "Mom, why you so mad to me?"

And that's when I felt the scowl on my face and heard the sigh that I had just uttered. And then I smiled. Kids can be so perceptive.

Fire Safety

For Family Home Evening we decided to have a lesson on Fire Safety. I wasn't very well prepared so I was just reading aloud from the FHE Manual -- "Protect children by buying them flame-retardant sleepwear and costumes for special holidays." Apparently other people where costumes a lot more than we do....

Later on during the lesson I could tell Andrew was getting a little nervous about their actually being a fire. So to clarify, I said "If the fire alarm every goes off, don't worry. Mom and Dad will come and get you."

Andrew said, "Yah, and then I'll get my costume on so I won't get burned. And I'll put those [the piano headphones] on so the noise won't hurt my ears."

Then he was obsessed with the idea all night -- going through the house pointing at things "I hope my digger doesn't burn. I hope my Bob the Builder toys don't burn. I hope the couch doesn't burn....etc, etc, etc."

I'm not sure that lesson was very effective. But in the end, Andrew did say he would go outside if there was a fire, and then he added "I know, I will play catch with the fireman. That's a good idea!"