Supporting you in motherhood, one little blog post at a time
Full Speed was invited to a birthday party this weekend. T.Puzzle is having a hard time comprehending that he isn’t invited to it. I’ve tried explaining that only the kids in Full Speed’s class were invited and not their brothers and sisters. He can’t let it go.
“Why aren’t syllables invited?” he asked.
“Siblings just aren’t, sweetie,” I replied.
These are the hard knocks of a boy’s life.
I picked up T.Puzzle early from school today. I had lunch with Full Speed the day before and it was my attempt to keep things equal. Little T.Puzzle was so thrilled to see me. We came home, had lunch and I got to enjoy a conversation with him. Usually his older brother dominates our family talks so it was nice to let T.Puzzle speak without interruption.
After lunch I explained that he needed to play on his own for a bit while I got caught up on some of my super very favorite things like laundry and dishwasher duty. I’m not sure if he caught the sarcasm there. As I attacked my chores while singing showtunes to express my joy over sorting socks, he wandered around like a lost puppy. He eventually gave up trying to figure out what to do on his own and laid down on the couch in defeat.
I think someone is missing his partner in crime.
Full Speed has a tendency to wake up angry. He naturally channels this anger at his brother which often culminates in physical violence. Full Speed was feeling extra saucy this morning and released a flurry of kicks and punches upon his brother. When it came time to brush teeth Full Speed had managed to stop the physical attacks (thanks to some threats and coaching from Mom). Instead, he attempted to keep his little brother intimidated by striking a menacing pose topped off with a fierce grimace. After being mostly whiny (and who can blame him?) T.Puzzle had enough and finally fought back landing a blow squarely on Full Speed’s stomach. At this point I didn’t care who started it, who kept it going or whatever.
“Guys, knock it off. The next person that hits or kicks their brother is getting their first strike of the day. You know the rule, hands and feet to yourselves while we brush teeth.”
Full Speed denied any culpability and surprisingly didn’t throw T.Puzzle under the bus, “Mom, T.Puzzle used his elbow so it doesn’t count.”
That’s when Mom started to count to keep her own aggression at bay.
I ended up counting to a million and seven.
Full Speed has declared that he would like to join the military or be a police officer when he is grown. Whatever he says he wants to be I agree with him wholeheartedly. Why? This is because my own Mom never once scoffed at my goal of being a ballerina. She didn’t hold it against me that I had never taken one ballet class and that I was better at throwing a softball than doing a pirouette. She was good like that. Therefore I have an ‘If you can dream it, you can achieve it’ sort of policy with my own kids. Note to self…still have never taken a ballet class, maybe my policy should be revised.
As for now, Full Speed’s military aspirations are still in place. Full Speed must have seen the commercial for ‘Surprise Homecoming’ on TLC. It’s a show dedicated to reuniting military families with their deployed loved ones. This is the conversation I overheard between him and T.Puzzle:
Full Speed: If there was a war and I was in the army I would take a break and come home and surprise my family.
T.Puzzle: You would surprise me?
Full Speed: Well, no, I would probably surprise the person I married and my kids. I bet my kids would miss me a whole lot.
T.Puzzle: Oooh, man! (sounding quite bereft) You really aren’t going to surprise me?
Full Speed: (spoken with trepidation) Alright, I’ll surprise you, too.
T.Puzzle: YAY!
The next time we head out on a road trip I need to devise a list of rules such as the following.
1. Do not throw any objects whatsoever at Mom’s head whether in a vehicle or on land. Better make that on horse, in a boat, in a go-kart, and at a magic show, too.
2. Wrestling is allowed because with two boys it is inevitable. However, wrestling 24/7 is not great. Try to limit wrestling smack-downs to only eight per day.
3. Try to go against Mommy instint at least fifty percent of time. For instance, if I had followed my initial gut reaction at the riding stables, Full Speed would not have had the amazing experience of riding a horse all by himself:
4. And lastly, always appreciate the opportunity you have been given to travel, have new experiences and spend time with the people you love.
