Benjamin has wowed me again with his ability to repeatedly defy even the clearest of rules. A friend I haven't spoken to in many months called me Wednesday afternoon and I was really excited to talk to her. However, as is always the case, the instant I got on the phone, the kids went berserk. They were screaming, jumping on me, pounding on the piano, grabbing at the phone, etc. They had been calmly reading books only moments before. This is why I pretty much NEVER speak on the phone - everything is email. However, this was a special situation and I really wanted a moment of peace. So, after asking them several times to calm down, all with no result, I went into my room and closed the door. This was immediately followed by hysterical screaming, pounding, pleadings to be let in, promises to be quiet, etc. After many minutes, there was silence. I assumed they'd given up and resumed their book reading or maybe they went into the basement to play. After about 10 minutes of blessed silence, the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I waited for the usual sound of the kids running to the door to see who it was. No sounds of running. Only another more insistent doorbell ring. I went to the window, still on the phone, and saw there was no car in front. Who could it be and where are the kids?! Now I'm starting to panic. More fast, hard doorbell rings. I opened the door to see my next door neighbor with a look of complete fury on her face, with a barefoot child in each hand. Without a hello or greeting of any kind, she snaps, "I watched Benjamin open the back gate and lead Bella down the street! They were clear down the street at Al's place!" (I have no idea who Al is, but I assume he lives far from me.) I was so embarrassed to be standing there with the phone in my hand and without any excuse worthy of such a mishap. I thanked my neighbor for bringing them home and locked them both in their rooms until I could calm down and formulate a plan. I have never been more grateful to have a watchful neighbor! :) How do I make clear to Benjamin that wandering away from home is not okay? I thought we'd cleared this up last week when he took Bella for a stroller ride! He had promised me he'd never do that again, but after my neighbor left and I let him out of his room, he showed absolutely no remorse and refused to acknowledge that what he'd done was against the rules. I realized then that he cannot be trusted. So, these last few days it's been total lockdown at our house - every door is dead bolted closed at all times and no ones leaves the house before I do. I really shouldn't have to do this, should I? It's terrible that I can't trust him, but as he told me yesterday, "I know all things right, but sometimes I forget." Well, my little Alzheimer's patient, then you will be on 24 hour surveillance. Alas, it feels like more of a punishment for me than for him. Keeping him inside more only leads to moments like this:
He couldn't decide which game he wanted to play. And of course we had huge tantrum issues when I asked him to clean it up.
On a happier note, I did an activity I found at No Time for Flash Cards using number and letter recognition combined with one of Benjamin's favorite things - pretend play. So, I got out our passports and made up fake boarding passes. Then we arranged our chairs in rows, recruited additional 'passengers' and played airplane, complete with a safety demonstration and in-flight snacks - no budget cuts here! The kids had to hand me their documents before boarding and then had to find their correct seat row and number according to the pink tags I'd put on the back. Of course, as soon as Benjamin found his seat, he insisted on moving up to pilot, complete with cool shades. So he did the flying from then on, but we had a lot of fun and played it on multiple days.
Bella's newest favorite thing is music. She will regularly pull herself up on the piano bench and start playing notes while singing along. She also does the same thing when she's playing Benjamin's ukulele or when we went to the Detroit Science Center last week and she got to play the drums.
The cutest is to hear her singing along to hymns during church or Family Home Evening or to see her dance to the radio. She's really growing up. Only 4 more Sundays until she's in nursery! (Not that I'm counting the days or anything!) :)
6 comments:
Scary!! But take heart - he won't be three forever. Give yourself a break - send him to your mom for a day.
Wow, what a day! Good luck with your lockdown, it sounds like a lot of work.
I love your pretend flight game. That sounds like a blast!
at least you have something interesting to blog about?!?!? That's what I always think when my kids do something terrible. :) You get a gold star for how great your little flight plan thing was! that looked like your kids were having fun. Is bella's hair growing back yet? I couldn't tell in the pictures. and, i have no idea why my kids still nap. I just put them down, and they sleep. Camry pretty much tells me she's tired and ready to go down, and Pacen naps probably 4 times a week. I think it's his way of paying me back for being such a terrible napper when he was a baby.
Michelle! I totally hear you on the escaping kids thing. Calvin escaped THREE TIMES in one week, each time brought back by a kind neighbor. It's exasperating, and makes me feel like a bad mom. But he can unlock the doors! Luckily it's been a couple weeks since he last tried it.
Michelle... I couldn't help but laugh... the thought of Luke doing that sends complete chills down my spine, but at the same time, picturing Benjamin and Belle walking down the street, is just too much not to laugh about. Hopefully he will learn to understand the danger aspects soon... in the mean time, I guess it's lock-down and a good laugh when you think back to that furious neighbour holding your 2 barefoot wanderers.
I am so glad for blogging... it means even when we move I won't miss out on the funny stories you always write about.
And this is why we have childproof knobs on the outside doors (which Sam can now get open) and when we had out fence installed I made them move the latch for the gate. They wanted to put it in the middle of the gate, I made them put it in at the top. I thought why the middle, the idea of a fence is to keep people out or in. I think the guy putting the fence in thought I was crazy but he doesn't know my kids. And I have to laugh at the games. All of our games routinely looked like that until I confiscated most of them. Our puzzle box is mostly just a bunch of puzzle pieces. If you want to do a puzzle you have to do multiple puzzles until you find all the pieces for the one you want. The kids don't seem to mind.
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