Blessings in Disguise

What am I, CRAZY?! Did I actually put it in writing that the discipline issues were just a phase? I'll put it this way; last week I learned for sure that God has a sense of humor!
The one thing that does make it all a little bit easier is that as Isaac's gotten older and more verbal, it's gotten easier to distinguish between real anguish and the times that it's purely for my benefit punishment. Mostly because he tells me. For instance, he spent one of his (many, many) timeouts last week fake crying and saying, "Help me calm down Mama. Help me calm down!" I didn't mean to actually help him calm down but my laughter may have done the trick!
Another time last week, we were in the car and tired, hungry Grace started crying. Not to be outdone, Isaac began the really REALLY fake crying (not to be confused with plain old "fake crying") and when we ignored it he called to us, "We're crying back here!"
I'm afraid that Grace has inherited a very unsympathetic Mama. I find myself daily saying to my sweet 8 month old, "Oh stop fussing. You're fine." I NEVER would have said that to 8 month old Isaac! I guess I can chalk some of that up to experience but honestly, I think that mostly it's because Grace is such an amateur compared to her big brother. Thank the Lord.
Anyway, I do want to just state for the record that even though I know you're not supposed to compare your children, I do it anyway because I really am just so wildly proud of both of them. I love each of their personalities and having them be so very different just makes me feel like I've been given a little bit of everything. They compliment each other perfectly and I wouldn't change a thing!
And in case my very positive attitude this morning is making you wonder...yes, I've just had my coffee! :)