The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I had the best day with this little guy. Good thing because Charlie was such a stinker this weekend. We reached an all-time low with him when he earned himself three time-outs in a row. The first one was for yelling at me, his Mama. I never got a chance to ask Jeff what the other offenses were. Our little repeat offender was to serve his sentences under a tree after church where he had commited all of his offenses. He screamed and yelled and made sure everyone walking by know that we, the parents, had clearly lost control of our little cherub. Then, it took both Jeff and I chasing him on the front lawn of the church, Charlie giggling all the while, just to get him in the car. We were embarassed enough and decided not to subject ourselves to anymore humiliation and to take our little guy home to do his time. Which he did. But the day never got much better, really. Then this morning he wakes up back to his happy self saying, "What can I do for you, Mama?" I did a double-take to make sure this was the same boy causing me such angst less than 24 hours earlier. It was. We ran errands together, laughed together, and exchanged more kisses and hugs than I can count. What made today so different than yesterday. I wish I knew. Sleep is part of the answer...the rest I can't figure out. If I could, I'd write a book and every parent in the land would be lining up to buy my recipe book for parenting well. But, alas, there is no recipe. Some days are just bad. Some moments are just bad. But, sandwiched in there is a whole lot of sweetness. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes all in the time it takes to get through a meal. Ahhh...parenting. Still, give me the bad and the ugly because the good is oh so good.