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This morning I was awakened to Ava screaming for Mom at 6:15. The rule for Grace is that she stay in her bed until 7 am. We figure that if she has nothing better to do, she will go back to sleep. This morning, Ava was bugging me and I got up to close our bedroom door to drown out some of the noise.

I got out of bed and to the door only to see the girl’s bedroom door wide open and the blinds open as well. Grrrrrrr…. I stormed down the hall, getting my temper under control and walked into the room to find Grace already with her green church dress on and trying to figure out how to put on her socks. She had pulled out everything she needed for church, including shoes and was getting ready.

I told her she had to get the dress off and go back to bed. I could see in her face that her feelings had been hurt, and she tried to choke back the tears that were destined to come as soon as I left the room or within 20 seconds, whichever came first. Rather than have her bawling in the same room as Ava (because let’s face it: I hadn’t come to my facilities yet and thought there was still hope for Ava to go back to sleep), I told her she could go downstairs and play quietly.

“Ok Dada,” Grace responded with a smile, arms around my neck, and kiss. I went back to bed. It was 6:16 and Sunday is my only day to sleep past 6 am. She went downstairs.

I crawled back into bed and had one of those epiphany/guilt replays in my mind. It occurred to me that the last thing on Grace’s sweet little mind was waking up Ava or being bad (in fact, she had intentionally tried to be really quiet, which translates to pony in the house, not elephant). She was trying do something nice for mom and dad by getting ready for church all by herself, in an effort for our approval.

I felt bad about misreading her motives and knee-jerking to the situation without putting myself in her shoes. Admittedly, it is hard to put yourself in the shoes of a 4 year old: to reason how they reason and to perceive the circumstances and environment they way they perceive and value the environment and circumstances. So often, my perception of the situation is skewed by my personal view of the circumstances and situation that without taking the time to think about why Grace is getting ready for church at 6:15, opening shutters even earlier, and trying to be quiet (after all, Ava wokeher up), that my reaction is inappropriate once her perspective is taken into account.

So, tired as I was, I got myself out of bed, marched down stairs, and apologized to my little girl for misreading the situation:

“You were just trying to make mom and dad proud of you weren’t you.”

“Yes dada.”

“I love you, Grace.”

“I love you too, dada.”

Eating crow at 6:17 am was enough to get that extra fifeteen minutes of sleep I wanted.

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