At least my son is nice

As the mom of two preschoolers that are 19 months apart I have learned some valuable life lessons.
In the past I would have definitely been guilty of judging a mom in the grocery store, but not any more.
There is an Amy Grant quote that I love...it is "You have to treat people gently because we're all in a process. What might seem like a good idea to somebody at 21 is probably not going to seem like a good idea at 50, but you don't know that until you get there. "
I was in Walmart the other day and my son pitched the fit of a lifetime.  I can remember a younger, foolish Eileen that would have looked at me and thought "She should have fed him before she brought him here so he would not be so cranky or why did she bring him so close to his nap time, he is obviously tired."
As it turns out he was not hungry or tired, he was just disappointed that he did not get to do what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it.  Does this display of his disappointment make me a bad mom?  No, it does not.  Could we work on how to deal with disappointment a little better...yes we could.
Every night when we sit down to dinner, getting my son to eat is a battle.  I try to remember that for the first few years of his life most of the things we gave him made him feel like crap since he was allergic to them and add that to the fact he is just picky, so food is a constant battle ground.  Again, does this make me a bad mom?  No it does not.  Could we work on his eating habits, of course we could.  But as long as we are making some progress, I am happy.  It may not be what other people would picture as progress, but to us it is.
So this leaves me thinking that I have a son who pitches ridiculous fits and does not eat without a fight...what am I doing right?
And my answer is "At least my son is nice."  I am multiple times every day astounded by how kind he is to his sister.  He is constantly battling with me in stores to buy things for other people. He will ask to watch Food Network shows, because he knows I like them.  So we must be doing something right.  We are working on the rest, and you better believe he can be a mean ol' monster when he wants to be, but in his heart he is very kind and that is all a mom can ask for really :-)
This brings me around to a principle that I try to let guide me and that is to find the joy in a situation.  It is there, you just have to be able to see it.  When I am having one of those days, I just say to myself "At least he is nice."