The Dreaded Moment

It happened this morning- June 28th, 2010- after swimming lessons. Hunter has been pleading with me to buy him "Smash Brothers" which is some kind of Super Mario Brothers game for Wii. The game costs fifty dollars and I had fantasized about Hunter earning the money to buy the game by doing little chores around the house. That will honestly take forever, even on the dollar-a-day allowance. So... I told Hunter that if he worked really hard at swimming lessons (10 total lessons), I would buy the game for him because he worked so hard. Well, 10 lessons in Hunter's mind isn't what 10 lessons is in mine. Somehow he had decided that if he completed one full lesson, he would be playing "Smash Brothers" within the hour. Not so, however. I told him again, "Nope, Hunter. Ten lessons. Then I will buy Smash Brothers." We went back and forth like this for a good ten minutes. I finally had it and told him that if he wouldn't stop complaining, I would just say NO to the whole thing.

Then he said it.

It broke my heart.

"I don't want to live with you anymore. I'm going to a new house." (So, it wasn't the teenage "I hate you" yet, but still... it burned)

My response: "I don't want you to go. I love you. I would be sad without you."

Hunter: "I don't want to live in your house. I'm going to live at Hudson's house."

We went back and forth like this for a few minutes. When we got home I asked Hunter what his plan was. We were in the garage at this point.

"I'm going to Hudson's."

Me: "How will you get there."

Hunter: "I'll drive."

Me: "Okay. I'll see you later then. I love you. I'll miss you."

I walked into the house and shut the down.

Hunter stood out in the driveway for maybe two minutes before he came in and said:

"But I don't know how to get there. You need to take me."

Me: "No, I can't. It's too long of a drive. You'll need to drive yourself."

Silence. We went back and forth a couple more times, Hunter insisting I drive him eight hours to Hudson's house and me telling him it was an impossibility.

More silence.

Finally, Hunter said, "Oh, I'm sorry Mom. I want to be with you. I'm sorry I said that."

All is well again!

I'm sure we'll go through this again tomorrow after our second swimming lesson. One down. Nine more to go.

Tornado Drill

We had one helluva storm last night. Thankfully no tornadoes but my flowers were basically ripped apart. One minute I was letting Bruiser out into the backyard; the next, I was racing outside to collect the darn dog as sirens blared. We moved the boys into the basement bathroom. Without our instructing him to do so, Hunter immediately moved into that crouched position we all learned in elementary school. He told Mason to do the same and became quite agitated when Mason completely ignored him. I could tell that Hunter was extremely frightened, even though he hardly spoke. Mason was more concerned that the power was out- not because he's afraid of the dark but because we were just prepping to watch "Bolt" on DVD. We were without power for over three hours. I hate to admit it, but it was brutal. No TV; no music; no computer; JUST TALKING! :) I did read to Hunter by flashlight. We were able to get the boys to bed despite the lack of light (they both require nightlights to sleep). After the boys went to bed, Mitch and I sat on the couch and drank some Miller Lite and discussed how/why men and women are so different. We so don't see eye-to-eye on some things. Anyway... when the lights finally came back on, Mitch and I both breathed a sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong- we do love to talk to one another and spend time together but if you take the option of TV/Computer - "quality time" can feel downright torturous!

A Bug's Life (a Mason-focused entry)

While this isn't a new development in our son's life, I think it's worth mentioning that Mason possesses an intense fascination for bugs. This has actually helped my fear of bugs diminish. No use passing on my fear. I might as well embrace it. Anyway. Mason absolutely loves bugs; so much so that he will lay right down on the ground and stare at them. Ants. Junebugs. Grasshoppers. Spiders. Worms. He stares at them. He talks to them. Picks them up between his fingers. Shows them to people. And then stomps on them.

If you want to capture his attention, all you have to do is mutter this four-letter-word: "Bugs."

Other things I'd like to share about Mason today:

He is an expert on chocolate milk and all things sweet.

He won't eat anything (please do not disregard the first point)

He loves to chatter and has a very large vocabulary

He believes he IS Batman (After one of the daycare teachers tried to talk him into using the "big boy" potty by telling him that Batman doesn't wear diapers, he proved her wrong. He went up to her shortly after, dirty diaper and all, and said "Miss Kimmy, Batman pooped)

He loves to play; he has always been very good at playing on his own but has recently starting asking people to play with him. "Do you want to play with me Mommy?" He proceeds to take my hand and lead me where he wants me to go.

He loves the song "Itsy bitsy spider" (lover of bugs I tell you)

When I put him in a time out, he starts yelling "I love you Mommy! I love you!"

He is incredibly strong and has started tackling his brother right back.

He calls our two twin neighbor boys by one name "Carter Dylan."

He is not a fan of shirts. Last night he insisted that he wear his pajama bottoms but no shirt. A little man in the making!

Wordless Wednesday

Metaphorically speaking

Damn that Leona Lewis who had to go and title one of her songs, "Bleeding in Love." The other day when I was driving Mason to school, that song came on. I wish I could say I was listening to NPR or something scholarly. I have to admit that I had the radio tuned to KDWB. Well, Hunter was along for the ride and heard the song and, utterly perplexed, asked me, "Mom, why is she bleeding? Did she get cut? Does she have an owie*?" I tried to explain that she felt so sad that she felt like she was bleeding but I really don't think that answer satisfied him. I teach high school English and I spend most of the year helping high school students understand non-literal, figurative language. Most of them don't even get it.

Another example- today I was listening to Vanilla Ice. I'm not going to try to explain myself- it's bad, I know. Hunter's response to the song: "What's this song about? Is the baby made of ice?" As I ummed and awed*, he came to a conclusion: "Oh, wait a minute Mom, I get it. The baby is blue. I got it." I thought that was a pretty good explanation because I realized that I don't even know what "Ice Ice Baby" is about.

*I realized in writing this entry that I don't know how to spell owie or awed (ahed). Add that to the list of words I cannot spell, which includes popsycle/popcycle/popsicle. Yes, I teach English. Even though it's a popular belief, we can't explain every grammatical rule and we can't spell every word in the English language. At least, I can't.

Our Kindergarten Graduate