Whew...it was a morning

This morning did not start off well. Peter did not want to get out of bed. He rolled around for about 20 minutes then finally stirred. He was then instructed to take his sheets off his bed with Andrew's help. No go. We have been having him shadow the kids on their chores (only feeding the animals) so he will not be scared of the animals and he will learn how to do it so he can help with this one day. Once he was asked to help Abi, he proclaimed very loudly that he would not. I tried very calmly to get him to go but he sat in a chair and refused. Eric stepped in and told him not to treat mommy that way (he was acting very ugly towards me) and he finally got up. As he got up, he made a point to push Abi. We then told him he could not push his sister and he needed to be nice. He "hmmphhd" (his way of expressing intense displeasure) his way through 'helping'. I use that term very loosely because he then tried to take it over and got angry at Abi again. At this point, we all wanted to admit defeat but we knew this was not the route to take. You can be grumpy but you cannot act ugly when you are grumpy. We have always had this rule and it will apply to Peter also. We may have to handle it differently since he has not grown up with this rule but it will apply. We both calmly reminded Peter to please be nice and then sat down for breakfast. He didn't say one word the entire meal. I read our mission book which of course he has no interest in because it's in English and then on to our Bible. He has a Chinese/English Bible so he can follow along. He loves to get his Bible but rarely follows along. That's ok. I'm thrilled that he wants to get his Bible and knows what it is and can say the word! After that, he went and laid down on the couch and slept for an hour and a half. During this, I stayed right by his feet in case he woke up. I folded laundry, wrote thank you notes, etc. but I wanted my face to be the first he saw if he woke up. He sleep was very restless so I would rub his leg when he tossed around. When he woke up, he said his head hurt so we put some peppermint oil on. After that, he was back to normal Peter. So Eric and I have concluded that he will need to be in bed by 7:30 on school nights. This will not be easy because he likes Andrew to be in there. This is a hurdle we will face on Sunday so I am not going to think about it right now! I'm just thankful for a better afternoon. He was hamming it up and we have some great videos of what he thinks mom and dad act like. So funny!!! All the kids enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Peter and Abi made a scooter course and enjoyed that for a long time. We left to go buy Peter some things for his room and to get Andrew's hair cut. But first we stopped to see big sister at her work! She had bought the kids a red velvet cupcake so Peter enjoyed his first cupcake. We visited with Ms. Sherri (Chelsea's boss. LOVE HER!) and Chelsea then headed to Hobby Lobby. Peter loved Hobby Lobby!He found a car hood ornament for his wall that he was very excited about. We also purchased a basket to put the snacks that Peter is allowed to grab when he wants them. We've had a few issues with hiding/sneaking food and we want him to know that he does not have to do that. By having it out in the open, it's available when he wants it. And since we picked out what goes in there, he's free to any of it. While there we ran into one of Abi's castmates from 'Annie' and her mom. Her mom and I had become friends so it was neat to introduce her to Peter. She is also a dental hygenist and offered to look at Peter's teeth right there to determine his age. Yay for that! She said she calculated around 10. Just what we thought! We headed to Sports Clips then Target. We've been to Target before but it was quick. We let him look around more this time and he loved the toy section. We bought a bin to put all his toys in (since we thought he was 12 we weren't expecting needing a bin for toys!) and came home. We ate whatever everyone found and watched 'Tangled' with Chinese subtitles. The kids enjoyed a small bowl of ice cream (Peter's new favorite snack) and we had to keep watching to make sure he didn't take more. ;-) Bedtime went smoothly and he finally understood why Sissy wants to sleep with him and loved the idea. Then Abi came and took Sissy since it was her turn. sigh...I tried to talk to her about it but she didn't understand. We will all talk again tomorrow. He was ok with it but I think his feelings were a bit hurt. Tomorrow Aunt Brandy and fam are coming to visit then the Sutton's will be here for our first attempt at small group. We are horribly rude and told them a time limit. But we do not want grumpy Peter on Sunday and I especially do not want grumpy Peter because I am on my own all month while Eric opens the church! Love you all! Thanks for praying for us! We feel it!