It's always an adventure with Benjamin around. He's gotten in the habit of picking Isabella up and taking her where he'd like her to be whenever it suits him. I've tried to get him to stop since she's far too close to his own weight for this to be safe. However, the other day he did it again, and I warned him to put her down, but he ignored me and immediately thereafter accidentally dropped her on her head. So, he went straight into time-out while I calmed her down. While I was holding her I heard a lot of banging in his room. This is not unusual when he's upset about being in time-out, but the strange thing is that I recently cleared his room of all hard, breakable objects which he was in the habit of hurling in anger. So I listened carefully in an attempt to identify the source of the sound. BAM! It went again. BAM! again. After another bam, I heard Benjamin say, "Another hole!" That's when I set Bella down and threw open his door. He had turned the glider's footstool upside-down and was smashing the leg of it, systematically, down the length of the wall. "What are you doing?!" I shrieked in horror. There were already 6 or 7 holes, evenly spaced in a line and he was gearing up for the next one. "I'm making a smiley face," he calmly responded, "See?" (pointing to the holes), "Can you see it?" Needless to say what happened next need not be recorded for posterity.
So, what we're left with now is the question of how do we get him to fix that without turning it into a terrible mess and a lot of fun? I mean, it's putty and paint - that's supposed to be a punishment?
And as a follow-up, a more harmless adventure - I got out of the shower, to see a toilet paper trail that started in his room, went down the hall, into the living room, and so forth, throughout the whole house, including the basement. The entire roll was empty. "Why did you do this?" I asked. Why do we as parents always ask why? Do we really expect a good answer?? This time the answer actually made me laugh, though. He said, "I asked you if I could do it. I said please." (Of course, I'd been in the shower at the time and never heard him utter a single word.) "What did I answer?" "You didn't say anything. I don't know why." How convenient. Again, I forgot the camera at the time. I'm sure there will be more opportunities.
5 comments:
Wow, at least he was making a smiley face, right?! I love how you said you didn't want to record what happened next for posterity. I do want to see a picture of his smiley face though!
oh, my! That would be a hard one to deal with. I see what you mean about the putty and paint being fun. You don't want to give him any ideas, huh, and have him try to fix other "holes" for you?
I love that he said please about the toilet paper, though, and that made it okay (in his mind at least).
I love it! Sam carries Michelle around (of course he is 5) and then uses her as a weapon to kick Hannah. And why is that not okay he wants to know, Michelle likes it, she's laughing. I love your stories. Good luck with those kids.
Will you please post a picture of it...pretty please!?!?!? When it doesn't happen to you, you have that feeling of 'oh that is just what parenting is all about...what an adventure!" but when it's you, you want to rip your child's head off. Good luck with that one!
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