The Wednesday Review

My big boy will turn five over the weekend so today he brought some mini cupcakes to preschool to share with the class. I live for making cute cupcakes, so I very much look forward to having an excuse to make them! I was told later by the teachers, that they were a big hit with the kids. Vroom-Vroom!

I love, love, love the teachers at this preschool and will be sending the little boy in the Fall because of this. However - the director is a horrible, old fashioned, controlling nightmare - so I secretly loved the fact that she was surely having an internal fit about all of these little cars! Oh the horror - having to rinse them off and then letting the kids *have* them for the remaining hour of school. It's the little thrills in life that get me through, you know? Living on the edge. Being a rebel.

Here is a picture of my big boy in his birthday crown. The crown is actually about 14" tall and very, very, glittery and cute - but it also has his name on it, and you know how I'm trying to keep that top secret. So - here's the chopped version. Not the best picture of my handsome "BIG 5" boy! His eyes look exhausted from all of the birthday fun.

My little boy has been....let's see....shouldn't say "a pain in the ass", that wouldn't sound very nice...... so lets go with....."CHALLENGING" lately. He doesn't listen. He's stubborn. He's defiant. He's fearless. He's too clever for his own good. He's been known to cuss from time to time. He knows when and how to balance his badness with cuteness - getting him off the hook for most things. He's feisty, and funny, and horrible. He's my sister. That's right Shawnee - I said it. He is YOU when you were 3 years old!!! So I'm packing him up, and sending him to you. Try to be home between 3pm and 5pm - you're going to have to sign for him.

KIDDING!

Look at this picture of the little boy - he seems to have forgotten his eyebrows at home again.

Back to the issue - "LB" (little boy) has been so terrible about doing what he's told lately. It's gotten to where I can't bring him to the park because he's a flight risk. I of course take him anyway, and give him the talk before getting out the car.

Here's an example.....this is how it went down yesterday.

"We're here! Ready to go play at the park? YAY!!!!!! Okay - well wipe those smiles off your faces. First we have to take care of a little business.

See that bridge? That bridge that will take us right to the homeless people? We aren't going across that bridge today. Here's what we will do! We're going to play on the playground with all the nice little children and their Mommies. We're going to play in the sandbox over there. We are going to play a little catch on the grass. We are going to eat a sandwich. That is all that we are going to do. Got it? Great! Let's get out there and have some fun!"

After about 40 minutes of earning my trust and staying within the bounds, the little boy starts to inch toward the forbidden bridge - keeping one eye on me to gauge my reaction. To give you an idea of what we're dealing with here - it isn't like this bridge is right in the middle of the park and hard to avoid. It's out of the way. That's how the occasional druggies, homeless people, and semi-crazy-wandering-hippies like it!

Anyway, the short version is - he took off over the bridge after I told him to freeze. A chase ensued, the big boy tackled him to the ground and sat on him until I could snatch him up myself (big boy - my hero) and the day was ruined. He was crying, I was livid, and had to drag him to the car because he went all "boneless" on me, THE END.

I'm actually looking forward to being able to scare the little boy with the truth. The big boy used to push the limits when he was younger.....until he understood that not listening to me could lead to him being taken away from me, getting lost, or hit by a truck. It really is exhausting.....all this raising of children.

Wouldn't it be nice if the new baby could take after his oldest brother? I love a good challenge (especially when "the challenge" takes time out to hold my face in his dirty little hands and tell me he "wubs" me) but it might be nice to get another easy, compliant, low key child!

In closing - here's a picture of my window sill today. New flowers, new Lori Mitchell friends (from my birthday!) I know...I'm so lame for including this, even *I'm* rolling my eyes at me.

~~~~Edited to add: I can't get the spacing right on this post to save my life. I've tried 2 or 9 times. I am now surrendering.~~~~