- Obviously, the birth of the little guy has thrown my schedule for a loop
- Josh started playing tackle football with two plus hour practices 2 times a week and a game every Saturday. The practices are from 5:30 to 7:30 or 5:45 to 7:45 which means they're home about 8:00 or shortly thereafter. Dinnertime for him is thus -- very late -- as is a shower and he's not getting to bed until around 9:30 - 10pm. Most nights Drew is on that same schedule. Let me be the first to say that THAT is NOT GOOD.
- Drew has baseball practices about 2 times a week and has one game a week. Some of the games do not begin until 7pm... over at 8pm... same rigmarole with the late dinner (no one wants to eat very early here for some reason).
This has just taken a toll on both of the boys and they are just tired.
Yesterday afternoon I set up a play date with one of Drew's little friends that he's been asking to play with for a month or more, Austin. Austin and Drew were best buds for the last 3 years at the school Drew still attends. Drew is still there, Austin moved up to Kindergarten (he has an earlier birthday than Drew).
Fast forward to yesterday evening... I was in a cleaning fury because my housekeeper was coming this morning. I asked Drew to clean up the playroom. He basically refused. I asked later for his help but he was NOT helping. He was making more of a mess. My simple solution? He's now grounded from the playroom for the next two days. I wanted to be sure all the little pieces/parts/guns/heads/light sabers/etc. of the Star Wars Lego's kits were accounted for so it HAD to be straightened!
Pat comes, cleans and the house looks fantastic again. I love my "Pat days." While I'm out running a few errands while Pat was here, I figured -- let's go get Drew while we're out. It's a little early but we'll go get a treat so I run by Braum's and get us all an ice cream cone (I've been wanting ice cream but didn't want to buy an entire half gallon - just wanted a scoop!). I'm thinking -- these kids are great. What a fun mom I am! I not only got him out of school early but I also gave him a great treat! We get home and he IMMEDIATELY starts whippin my arse about, "Tell me when it's time to go to Austin's!" "When is it time to go to Austin's?" "What time is it?" "What time does Austin get out of school?" "Is Austin coming?" ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON! Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. At least once every 4-5 minutes he was asking something.
I'm ATTEMPTING to work with Josh on some Language Arts issues he's having. We are attempting to learn to recognize adverbs -- how they can modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. For the last two years we've been homeschooling, I've asked him the SAME FREAKIN QUESTIONS when figuring out anything to do with sentences: Who or what is the subject about? What did ____ do? When you're trying to figure out what the verb is you ask yourself, "Can you _____?" If is truly an "action" word, you can do it.
We get to a question that he's struggling on (seriously, however, he has missed almost every one that we didn't do together).
Since we've started adverbs, we have a list of questions to look at once we have found the verb -- does anything answer these 5 questions to modify the verb? Are there any adjectives that describe a noun or pronoun? Are there any adverbs that modify the adjectives? Seriously, it's all a system. We've been doing this for TWO WEEKS... the kid is just shutting down.
So, today Drew goes into the playroom and starts to get something out. I kindly reminded him that the playroom was off limits. He wasn't thrilled about that but remembered. He walked to the table where Josh was working on his school work and struck a pose. It was a goofy little pose. I have no idea why he did it but the he just hauled back and kicked Josh. Josh (of course) had to make all kinds of drama like he was so seriously maimed in the leg (I hate drama, have I mentioned that before?) and so I asked Drew, "Did you just kick Josh in the leg?" He smiles. HE SMILES?! but he does admit that he did it. I said, "Fine, to your room. You're not going to Austin's today."
You couldn't have paid an actor to do a better role of an agonizing, defeatist death... It was beyond pathetic.
And, mind you, I had no intentions of NOT taking him to Austin's house to play -- the fact is, they're best buds and hadn't seen each other in a while. I just really wanted him to understand the "currency" that he stood to lose. I generally give my kids one "gimmie"... they just never know when they're going to get it. Today was his because, frankly, I wanted him gone for a bit. Dont get me wrong. I love my boys. Sometimes, I just need a break too. :) Today was one of those days.
We went.
They played.
All was happy in Drew-land again.
The funny thing... he came down from his room and Josh realized that HIS actions (the ridiculous over-acting as if he were dismembered) was a great part of the reason for the punishment Drew received... he owned up to it and told Drew (after Drew went in to profusely apologize for kicking him) that he was okay and that they were to tell me that Josh forgave him. LOL
Their little hearts do have moments where they shine really brightly. It's those times when they're covered with tar I tend to lose my cool.
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