Thank God for Do-Overs

Just before Valentine's Day Ms. Boo and I were making some cookies to send to some folks far away. I had one conscious goal in mind when we started out: that she would have fun. I had one subconcious goal: that we would have perfectly shaped, evenly sprinkled cookies when we were done.

After rolling out the dough... my two goals collided. It bugged me so much that she was messing up the cookies. I didn't want her to touch the dough until she was "supposed" to (this, I think, is punishable by law in 7 states.) And I kept telling her she couldn't use the spatula. And when it came time to sprinkle the sugar on, well, I had issues with her technique.

Needless to say, Boo ended up crying. I looked over at her sitting on Paul's lap. He was trying to console her. (This is no easy task, when the child's mom was being so unreasonable.) Anyway, I looked over at them and I'm like "what am I thinking?" Immediately, I thought, "I want a do-over."

Well, last week Boo and I planted some seeds together. She picked out a little shovel and started scooping soil into little pots. She kept spilling and apologizing. It was rather nice to tell her "that's okay." Soon her apologies just turned into delight. I let her fill a whole tray of planters all by herself. As she worked she said things like "whoa, mommy, this is messy!" Yes, dear child, gloriously messy. She keeps asking to plant more seeds. I think she had fun this time.

Thank you, God, for do-overs.