I find myself constantly asking two questions:
1. Is it really hurting anything?
2. Am I willing to follow through with the consequences?

Here are some of the battles that I have chosen not to fight.

Raine always wants to “do it myself.” She is so proud of herself when she does something all by herself that I can’t bring myself to tell her that she did it wrong. As a result, she regularly goes places with her shoes on the wrong foot.

Nap time is a big enough battle by itself, so I really try not to create any extra problems. As a result, Raine has slept with all sorts of things in her bed. She has also worn some rather unusual things to bed — like her “princess” shoes.

I normally don’t let Raine watch TV, but when she started asking to “sing with the prophet” after we watched General Conference, I happily consented. Thank heavens for the on-demand links to every song the choir sang. And yes, she always conducts the choir with a hymnal on a chair in front of her.

This one really wasn’t much of a “consent.” I’m not a big fan of traditional gender roles, so letting Carter play with dolls is perfectly fine with me. I just included these photos so he would be adequately represented on the blog.