Crazy Talk

I've been moonlighting as neurologist lately.  I would have thought the pay would be better, but it turns out that I'm not at all qualified.  Nevertheless, I have discovered that Isaac has some neuro-weirdness and I've  diagnosed him with a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  It's nothing terribly serious, he isn't washing his hands twenty times a day or arranging his underwear by color.  But he is driving me nuts!

Yesterday he got himself all in a dither about supper.  From the moment he rolled out of bed in the morning he was deeply concerned. "What's for supper?  Can we have pancakes?  Is it suppertime yet?  I'm gonna have milk for supper.  Daddy, can you make supper?  What are we having for supper?  Do you know what I want for supper?  Can we have supper now?"  Seriously, this lasted ALL day long!  Even as he ate breakfast, snack, and lunch, all he could talk about was supper.

We have a code word for Isaac when he is asking too many questions, especially questions that we have already answered.  Peanut butter.  Once "peanut butter" has been issued, all the questions are supposed to stop.  It's usually a helpful tactic but sometimes it just doesn't work.  Now, Isaac is a smart boy.  He knows when I'm about to go completely crazy.  And he's also a good boy.  He knows that shoving mommy over the edge of sanity is not nice...a simple nudge will suffice.  So, after a brief moment of blissful silence he changes his approach, "Mom, you know what happens after nap time but before bedtime?  What's that called again?  You know, when we all sit around the table to eat..."

The most terrible part of this behavior is that I remember doing the same thing to my parents when I was a kid.  In fact, I remember doing that to God as an adult.  I'm pretty certain I was doing it today!  "Hey God, you remember that thing we were talking about?  You know, that thing that I really want but you said 'no'.  I was thinkin' about that thing again today.  I still really want that thing...the nice thing, not the other thing.  I want that thing a lot.  Do you understand, God?  I need that thing.  Whaddya say God, how 'bout it?  Please?  I'll do anything!  I just gotta have that thing!"

Apparently pestering runs in our family.  But, I have found that as I mature as a mother, I am beginning to better identify with God as a father.  The whole, "Be still and know that I am God" verse...I'm understanding that so much more now than I ever did as a kid.  I'm reaching a point in my life where I crave quietness.  I want to stop and hear what God has to say.  Unfortunately, I'm still not very good at actually stopping or listening.  I continue to pester him with all my wants and worries, never taking the time to consider what God is indeed doing in my life.  And even when I do manage to button up my own lips, sure enough somebody else's gums are still flappin' in the wind...usually Isaac's!  Oh, what I wouldn't give for him to be still and know that I am exhausted!  Maybe he and I both need a verbal time-out.