I Love You Enough for Both of Us

I've talked to enough moms of teenagers to know that likely, at some point, my children will tell me that they hate me. Not that they really do, but the tension of the moment would drive them to say it. I expected it. However, when it came today, I didn't expect it. Isn't 4 a bit early?

Benjamin wasn't a big fan of the dinner I'd made. So after he'd eaten only a small portion of it, he started to play with a balloon Bella had received as an early birthday present from a friend at church. I asked him to put it away and continue eating. He did, but within a few minutes, he was back at it. So I warned him that if he didn't put it away, I would take away his dinner and he wouldn't get dessert. Within moments the balloon was back, so away went his dinner and his hopes for something tastier down the line. He was livid! He started screaming and crying. He threw the balloon at me and then he went over to the coloring supplies and wrote this:


The arrow in the word hate is his way of tying the two parts together. He originally thought that another letter needed to go in there, so he left a space to be filled in later. However, I, not wanting to miss a lesson opportunity even in such a situation, reminded him of the rule that the silent E makes the A say "AY" and that no other letter was needed. So, he drew the arrow, to ease my eyes from one part of the evil word to the other and to facilitate my understanding of his venomous feelings towards me. ;) Then he read it out loud to me, crumpled up the paper, and threw it at me. That's when he ended up in his room until bed time.

So, I guess another milestone has been reached. A little early mother's day present to me. :)

This morning, as we sat at breakfast, I looked out the back window to see this, the reason why we can never get our garden to grow:


No amount of fencing can keep these guys out. We've decided to just forget it and go to farmer's markets instead. Although, I read an entry in a friend's blog who has the same problem, and I thought her daughters' idea was adorable. Maybe I'll get Benjamin to write a note for me....this time with some of that anger directed at the rabbits.