Introducing Katie, a new contributor

I am so excited to welcome Katie as a contributor on To the Mom Next Door. You can read all about her on the new Contributors page. We met a few years ago when her family moved to Madison. 

I love going to Katie's house. The first time I walked in the door, I was in awe of the beauty of everything around me and the feeling of peace and comfort that pervaded the atmosphere. 

Read on for her first post that made me laugh out loud. 

How to keep your highly active, compulsive-water-drinking toddlers from chronically poisoning themselves (i.e., getting diarrhea) with dirty water by Katie J. 

If you, like me, have a toddler who seems to have magnets compelling his hand to his mouth, then maybe you are, like me, also exhausted from trying to keep this child from drinking off-limits water. Water in the bathtub, water next to the curb, water in a muddy depression in the backyard, water from a wet shoe print in your entryway, any water, anywhere. For us weary hand-to-mouth interceptors, I have compiled the following list which may prove useful:

1. Velcro his arms to his sides. 
2. Move to a desert.
3. Attach small dowels on each arm from wrist to shoulder (between meals, of course) so that he cannot bend his elbows.
4. If he is prone to bending over to drink water, from, say, the small depressions on the lid of a manhole cover… consider a very secure hat with a very wide brim.  
5. If he is a Houdini at escaping from velcro, dowels, hats, and deserts… then you probably have a child who has some advanced gross motor skills, for which a “thank you, Jesus” is in order.

Also in order are some deep breaths, a second cup of coffee, much prayer, and a few phone calls with older women in our lives who have raised challenging toddlers. 

Yes, it's beautiful, but not potable, buddy. 

The everyday energy and creativity that it takes to keep my son safe (even in my home, which I thought was childproof yesterday) is more than I have within myself. I have met the end of my own capacity time and again, and it is so easy to place the blame on my child — the way he is has caused my anxiety and despair, I think. But if I dial down and let scripture and the Holy Spirit inform my outlook on the situation, I can see more clearly. 

Oddly enough, I take great comfort in Ephesians 6:4, “Parents, do not exasperate your children.” 

Wait, wait, wait. I am the one exasperated while my son is over there curdling the insides of his digestive tract with another gleeful gulp of swamp water! But these chapters in Ephesians about family life don’t focus on exhorting my children to make parenting easier for me. Instead, I have to reorient myself to: imitate God’s ways as a Father; value my children as beloved; love like Christ; do the ongoing work of discipling and instruction. Focusing on who God is and cultivating gratitude for the gift of my son has been an effective antidote to my anxious, emotional swirl that can lead to depression if unchecked.

Tomorrow, by the grace of God, there will be another way for us as moms to dig in, set our eyes on Christ, and give from the sacrificial love that has been given to us.