Blaine is my son. He loves to read. His sister does not. She's me in so many ways, some not so great, admitedly. But..she does NOT love to read. Blaine is Joey in so many ways, some good, some not so great either. But..he DOES love to read. Anything. He'll read his bible, his school books, anything he can get his hands on. He'll read in bed, even when he doesn't yet get all the words. Night before last, he and Joey started reading (not for the first time) Froggie Plays T-ball. Since the minute I picked him up from school yesterday, he was waiting for his Daddy to get home so they could read it.
Reading with Daddy
{Click on each word for a different video}
Isn't that sweet?!
In the middle of the night last night, I awoke to him standing right beside my bed, almost nose to nose. He was crying. He'd had a nightmare. I just put him in bed between Joey and I, and we both went back to sleep. This morning Joey was asking him about his nightmare. He was telling Joey that it started with three monsters. One bad, two good. But then the good ones started getting bad and being mean. Joey, trying to lighten the mood, said, "Ah, I think you're making this up." Blaine said, "You don't know. You're not in my life. If you were in my life, you would know, but you're not in my life, so you don't know." What do you say to that?
After Joey left, Blaine started telling me his leg hurt. When I asked him what was wrong with it, he told me it was broken (which just means it doesn't work). He knows my judge is out, and I think he wanted to go to work with me. I told him I'd give him some Motrin with his breakfast, and it would feel better soon. When I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he asked me what he had had yesterday. I told him Rice Krispies, and he said, "I want to make a pattern, okay, Mommy? I had cereal yesterday. Today I want Malt 'O Meal. Tomorrow I want cereal again, like a pattern. Okay?"
I brought him his Malt 'O Meal with his Motrin. When he went to sit up in the bed to eat, he picked up his leg with his hands like it was paralyzed and moved it where he needed it to go. I laughed. To me this time, he says, "You don't know how it hurts. You're not in my life. If you were in my life, you would not, but you're not in my life, so you don't know. Again, what do you say to that?
As I was getting dressed, I started to get concerned that I was ignoring something that may really be bothering him. So as I was blow drying my hair, I left the blow dryer going, set it down, and went to see what he was doing. He was in my bedroom with a hockey stick and puck, playing hockey! I knew it! As SOON as he saw me, though, he fell down flat, holding his leg. I was less concerned at this point. I took him to school, and I went to work.
I got a phone call a little later in the morning from Kylee, who told me she needed $5 for a book she'd ordered but hadn't paid for. I told her I would bring it when I picked her up from school, but she said she had to have it before then. When I finished all I needed to do, I headed to the school with the $5. By this time it was about 1:45. {Blaine gets out at 2:30; Kylee at 3:15} I decided, as a treat, I would just check them both out and take them home. This is where the not-so-cute part of the story comes into play. I went to Mari, the front desk clerk, and told her I was there to pick up the kids.
While we're waiting for them to come to the front, she says, "You know, next time Blaine needs to be out of P.E., I really need you to send a note." ?????? Me: I have no idea what you're talking about. Mari: Well, Blaine came down and told me that his Mommy said he shouldn't go to P.E. today, so I told him to go ask his teacher what she said. He left and came back and said Mrs. Murphy had told him to go to the library during P.E.
Me: I NEVER told him he shouldn't go to P.E. today!
Mari: Ooopss. Well, that's what he told me.
I knew at this point it probably had something to do with his "ailing" leg. I'm not sure if Mari could tell I wasn't at all happy, so she stopped her story there, or what, but that's all I got from her.
When Blaine came out, I said to him, "Why did you tell Mari {who, by the way is sitting five feet from us during this conversation} I said you shouldn't go to P.E?" He said, "How did you know?" I said, "Blaine, Mari is sitting RIGHT there!" He said, "Oh. I have a note." And he hands me a note from Mrs. Murphy.
(I guess you've figured out by now that the 'front desk clerk' is Mari.)Claire Huxtable. I went Claire Huxtable. (Which is something Joey calls me regularly, and I promise I will post about that very soon)
Safety?! Seriously?! How about lying? Okay. Okay. Safety, too. Nobody knew where he was. I'm sure they were f.r.e.a.k.e.d! and much more worried about WHERE he was and WHAT they were going to tell his mother than they were that he had lied. I get it.
Anyway, so I looked at Blaine and asked, "Why!?!?!?!did you do that?" He looks at me as straight faced and innocent as a five-year old who REALLy means what he's saying would, and says, "Because I didn't think you'd find out." I said, "Well, you are in VERY big trouble when we get home, young man, VERY big trouble." He went Kylee. You know, screaming, crying, yelling, freaking out Kylee. I told him he needed to calm down and we would talk about it when we got home. It didn't seem to help. In fact, it almost made it worse. It went something like this:
B: Please, Mommy, please! Give me one more chance, please!
M: One more chance for what, Blaine? To lie? I don't think so.
B: I'm BEGGING you, Mommy! Please! I pinky promise I will never do it again!
M: Blaine, I said we will talk about this when we get home!
B: I'm BEGGING you, Mommy! Please! With a cherry on top! Please!
M: Blaine, be quiet right now!
B: But I'm talking to you, and you're not even looking at me! Please, Mommy! Please!
M: Blaine, be quiet before somebody thinks I'm hurting you.
B: I WANT somebody to think you hurt me so they will take me away from you!
Thank the good Lord above Kylee came down at that point so we could get out of there! She, of course, has NO idea what's going on, and she's looking at us like we're freaks, just like the rest of the students/parents/faculty that have walked by while this is going on. He cries all the way home. I ignore him all the way home, playing the What-if game in my head again. Twice in 24 hours? I may lose it!
When we get home, I realize that I'm probably too mad at this point to deal with him, so I send him to his room for my own sanity. I had already called Joey and filled him in on what was going on. Now I just had to figure out how to deal with it until he got home. Remington had to be at the vet at 3:30. I didn't want Blaine doing ANYTHING he would enjoy, because at this point, I'm still fuming. Very Claire Huxtable. So I called Dad Dad to ask if he could keep him while Kylee and I took Remington to the vet. He got another phone call, and I realized that Blaine had gone from screaming and wailing to very quiet. I went to check on him, and I told Kylee, "Bet you $100 he cried himself to sleep." She said, "You know he did."
Are we good or what? Not that it made me feel any better.When it was time to take Remington, Blaine was still asleep. I decided to just load him in the car and take him with us. After the appointment, I decided to stop by Dad Dad and Mom Mom's house so they would know he was alive since our phone call was interrupted. When we first got there, Blaine didn't even want to get out of the car. He didn't want anybody to see him. But after being there a few very short minutes and getting the loving only grandparents can give, he remembered this was the safest place for him to be. He wanted to spend the night. He wanted to know if Daddy could come give him the spanking he knew was coming at THEIR house. Who can blame him?
We only meant to stay a few minutes, but we ended up staying until bedtime. Dad Dad is teaching the kids to play chess
and then we moved into Skipbo and then Spoons. Mom Mom went and got wings for us to eat, and we watched some Olympics. I think Blaine was SSOO happy to be putting off punishment, and the rest of us had a great time, too.After we got home, he got his punishment, and now it is over. His sister, after early wanting to watch punishment, felt so bad when he was crying that she asked if she could go talk to him. When I checked on them later, I found my girl who does NOT like to read
reading to her brother to make him feel better. These are great kids, y'all, BOTH of them!I'm calmer, no more Claire Huxtable, so I'm glad it's over, too. He really is a good boy. He just had a bad day. Boys will be boys, after all.
**Morning update**
Blaine got up this morning very apologetic. He said he was sorry. He read to me for a long time. Then he said, "I know I can't go bowling tonight with Jack, and it's ok." I said, "Blaine, you took your punishment very well, and I'm very proud of you. It's over. I think you get to go bowling with Jack." He grinned.
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