Frustrated is the Word of the Day

Yesterday morning I tried a pilates class at the gym thinking I would do just fine because I have done a few pilates DVD's and liked them. Those DVD's must be for absolute beginners because the class at the gym kicked my butt. I woke up so sore this morning I could barely move.

As a result, we stayed close to home today. And when we stay home, that means the house gets good and messy, especially since I was in no mood to constantly pick up after my mess maker.

At one point, she was playing so quietly in her room that I went to check on her to make sure she wasn't getting into trouble. I came upon a room that looked like a tornado ripped through it- every single one of her toy bins had been emptied and the contents were spilled out all over the floor.

And there Grace sat right in the middle of it telling me, "Come in, Mama, and play me."

"Oh my goodness, Grace..."

Noticing the look of distress on my face, she answered, "It's okay, Mama. It's fine for me being messy like this."

"Yes, Baby, it might be fine for you, but it's not fine for me. It makes Mama feel frustrated."

I have been trying to label emotions to help her understand feelings. This was the first time I used frustrated so I wasn't sure she would quite get it. But later we were playing with some matchbox cars and I was teasing her by taking away her car and she told me in an exasperated tone, "You have to share and be nice so I don't get frustrated!"

I was so tickled by her use of the word frustrated that I wanted to keep frustrating her just to get her to use the word. I didn't. How mean would that be? I was tempted though...