Fallen nature

I think that people who believe that we are born with a purely good nature and just get corrupted from society must not have ever been parents...at least not ones that interacted daily with a toddler. I am seeing the fallenness of humanity in Austin these days. I love him SO much of course, but have been really frustrated these past few days. Oddly, ever since he got over his fever he has been in terrible moods. I go from thinking...maybe he is still sick to maybe he has a food allergy that makes him irritable to maybe he is OCD to...maybe he is just a toddler. Who knows?

But he has been getting very upset, screaming, whining, you name it throughout the day for days. Time outs and discipline seem to have little affect. He gets upset about things like...my pants' legs ride up when I sit down and feel funny, my cup won't stand up straight in bed, I spilled a tiny piece of granola on my shirt, I can't play my "violin" right, etc etc. The last few mornings he wakes up early screaming b/c something is not right in his bed (his cups won't stand up straight, the pillow keeps falling down, his blanket isn't on right etc) and then he wants to get up (at 6 am or some other much-too-early hour). He wakes Bennett up with his protests. Today I put him in the guest bed, where he screamed for about 20 minutes because he was so mad.

He also told me perhaps his first lie today. He was in time out, where he is supposed to stay in his bed. He keeps pushing the envelope lately- like putting one foot off the bed. Today I opened the door to see his little body catapulting back into his bed from the other side of the room. I asked him if he got out of bed. He said "I fell out of bed Mommy". I am sure he did NOT fall all the way across the room.

So, we love Austin and how God made him. But he has been testing our patience lately with screams and going his own way. But it shows me lots of truth about the world and about people...we certainly cannot be all good in and of ourselves and definitely need a savior to free us from ourselves. And there are days I am sure it is only my adult inhibitions or fear of what others would think that keep me from lying down on the floor screaming :).