We stood in this place for several minutes as Eli tried to overcome his fear and go play. It began early yesterday morning, "I want to go to the park!" After dropping Isaac off at MDO (which is another difficulty to share on another day) we decided to try the park even though I did not expect this to go well. We arrive at the park and of course there are kids at the park. I told Eli that there were only a few kids there and he agreed to get out of the van. However, about 30 feet away from the car, in the spot you see above, Eli froze. "But there's kids!" Panic. We try to reason with him that there are only a few kids and they are all happy. It doesn't work. He's stuck. My heart breaks for him because he wants to do fun things, but the fear just cripples him.
As it often goes in our lives, the story now takes a comedic turn.
Eva was a little bummed that we weren't staying at the park. I hate that she gets the short end of the stick sometimes. So I told her to go play while Eli and I sat in the shade and watched from a safe distance. Eli was standing behind me as I was telling Eva the new plan. When we finished talking, I turned around to find Eli with his pants around his ankles, relieving himself. Watering the grass, if you will. Right there in front of God and everybody. But what do you do? He's in mid-stream! It's not like I can make him stop. Wait. That's the only thing I could do! Once his bladder is finally empty, I try to explain AGAIN that it is not okay to tinkle outside. I'm fairly certain he has no idea what I'm trying to explain.
Meanwhile, Eva got completely embarrassed and hid. Behind a tree. She was no longer interested in playing at the park, so we went home.
We will try again another day.
1 comment:
oh, dear one! You are amazing! I love how God is using Eli to shape all of you. :)
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