Meal-time melt downs

This morning Julian was wanting food faster than I could get it made which set off another bout of crying. At this stage, he really has an incredibly hard time waiting for anything. Maybe it's just being a toddler. When I finally did get his pancake, he ate a few bites but kept wanting the bigger pancake on the plate. When that didn't come and he was told to eat what was on his plate, he really melted down. Instead of just having him sit in his chair crying, I carried him upstairs to his room and set him in his crib to settle down. I didn't hear a peep once I did that and waited about 10 minutes or so and then he was fine. We stayed upstairs a while as he had several books he wanted to read. We went back to his pancake and he ate just fine then.

Today I was in 2Samuel 18. The conflict with Absalom continues. David sent out his troops in hundreds and thousands ordering them before they left to be gentle with Absalom. Beth reflects that this must have deflated his men who were risking their lives to defend David only to be told to lay off Absalom who was responsible for them fighting in the first place. Joab ended up with an opportunity to kill Absalom when a soldier found him with his head caught in a tree. The solider refused to touch him because of David's orders, but Joab and his armor bearers killed him. When David learned of this he went into mourning.

I'm continuing to finish my study of Esther. As the Jews found out about Haman's decree to have them all destroyed, there was great mourning with fasting and weeping as many sought God's divine intervention. Esther was wrestling with whether to risk her life and approach the king on the Jew's behalf when Mordecai reminds her that she too is a Jew and would be killed. He also says perhaps she rose to the position of queen for just this reason. She then asks Mordecai to gather the Jews in fasting for 3 days and then she will approach the king whether or not she will be killed. Here I notice how Esther has a major situation come up. Instead of just going along with what someone else wants, she wrestles with it herself first. She seeks council and then decides to trust the Lord. It is a good example for us of what to do when we are faced with a struggle.

We had another difficult meal time with Julian. He started out okay but somehow ended up crying again. This time I can't even remember what set it off. But again it was nonstop so I took him upstairs and let him settle in his crib. This seems to be working. He didn't end up eating anything else afterward, but his mood had completely changed. We got a late start but still made it for some time at the library. He had a shorter nap as I needed to get him fed before we left for our friends house. They offered to watch him while we get some time alone. This is the first time my husband and I have gone out to dinner in months. We ended up going to a Thai place and then hung out after to share with each other what's been going on in our inner spiritual life. We ended up staying at our friends' house for a couple hours celebrating our friend getting tenure. They had a nice fire in the fireplace which Julian had not seen before. It was nice to have some social time after the week I had where I had so little social contact with everything that happened. Now I have some time to do a bit of reading before I go to bed which will be a nice way to wind down.