God's humor

So, God has been teaching me a lot through being a parent of a toddler. Lately, praying for patience has been my mantra as I find myself losing patience with Chase. It's at least several times an hour that I find that talking in a normal voice and giving eye contact and even showing affection all seem futile at times in teaching. We've gotten to the point that ANY instruction is rejected by my willful two year old and I'm having to sing the instructions just to maintain sanity and not show my frustration. I know in my heart of hearts they are not, but when my two year old looks at me and gives me his goofy look where he's not taking me seriously and proceeds to repeat everything I am telling him (not in a "I'm practicing obedience" way, but rather like the game of "shadow"), it's hard not to pull my hair out. I guess God gave me a lot of hair for that reason!

Our conversations usually go like this:
Me: "Chase, what did mommy ask you to do?"
Chase: "Mommy ask you do?"
Me: "Mommy asked you not to hit things."
Chase : "Hit things?"
Me: "No- DON'T hit things. You could hurt someone and we don't want to do that."
Chase: "do dat?"
Me: "go tell your sister you are sorry for throwing things that could hit her"
Chase: "sorry throw things?"
Me: "No. Tell Sophie, don't just repeat what I'm saying"
Chase: "Repeat sayin'?" (Looking at me cluelessly and waiting for the next set of words he gets to repeat.)
Me: Just GO and give your sister a hug please!!!!

I've found that the most deliberate things I am doing, it seems my two year old is ignoring. The whole "getting down on his level," direct eye contact, keeping explanations short and consequences immediate still seem futile much of the time. But......

I did find myself "caught" the other day. When Chase sees our dog escape through the gate, he starts screaming at her "NO ZOE!!! No no Zoe- no go through gate now!" (Gee,who do you think he got that frenzied response from?) And when the Veggie Tales DVD froze the other day, Chase definitely said "Come on!" I do recall saying that in front of him ONCE and not even to him but in front of him when our broken bunny ears were not getting a signal on the TV.

Why is it that all of my intentional gestures and training feel so stifled by those rolling of the eyes and goofy ("I'm not hearing a word your sayin' mama) grins? And yet look at what he is absorbing and mimicking? My frustration with the dog and my impatience with modern technology!!! (Ok, bunny ears aren't so modern but hey -they are cheaper than cable.) Sure makes the quote "preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words" resonate with you, doesn't it? Thanks Chase for being one more reminder that we must LIVE the gospel. Our indeliberate gestures speak as loudly (if not louder) than our deliberate ones. Loud and clear, God. LOUD and CLEAR. :) Little ears are watching. They may not be listening much, but they ARE watching mommy!