My Reaction

My son learned a 4 letter word. A word that we don't use in our house because, as parents, we set the example. A word that I have been dreading. A word that I have been preparing for, trying to decide what my reaction should be. He learned the word HATE.

Yesterday, Bear was having a time-out from his sister's ride-on fire truck because he was being too rough with it, using it to bump into his sister, etc. After his time out, I told him his sister was having a turn on it, and he couldn't have it back until after her turn. Perhaps the consequence was more severe than it should have been for the infraction (because in my mind this was strike number3, and in his mind, the last infraction wasn't as bad as the first 2). He threw a fit. When I tried to talk to him, he told me, "Mommy, I hate you." And when all he got was stunned silence, he looked me in the eye and repeated it again, slowly and deliberately.

This is it. The moment I have dreaded/planned for/hoped would never come. What will my reaction be? Do I get angry? Sad? And then...I just laughed. He was surprised and almost laughed himself...but then he remembered that he was mad at me. Frowny face returned.

"I don't believe you." I said in my 'you're silly' voice. "Because I love you so much!" And then I gave him a hug. There were a few more minutes of tantrum after that because he still wasn't getting what he wanted, but I am pleased with my reaction. I was able to laugh it off, diffuse the situation instead of escalating it, and reassure my son that I loved him. And hopefully he will not permanently add "I hate you" to his list of things he does or says when he's mad.

Summerfest Carnival

This year we decided our kids were old enough to take to the Summerfest carnival that our city does every year. The first thing the kiddos did was sit in the back of a real helicopter!

BooBear rode rides appropriate for his age, mostly vehicles that go around in a circle.

I took both kids on the carousel. Little Miss enjoyed it at first, but by the end she was starting to get scared.

BooBear in the boat ride. Little Miss watching her brother and eating fishy crackers.

We grabbed some carnival fare for dinner and headed home right before the parade started - we were almost cut off from being able to walk home. We saw a lot of people we knew going TO the parade, while we walked home. When they are a little older, we'll try to the parade. We spent about two hours total, just right for our little ones.

Welcome New Little Niece!

Cherry had her baby last week. She went into labor on her own, and everything went quickly and smoothly.

Here is Little Miss being pushed by one of the girls in the ward at the annual end-of-school block party.

 Doesn't this look like the cover of the book, "I Love You Forever"? Too funny.

 I had lunch last week with some of my former PHS friends. Sherrie just retired, and Gloria is visiting from Chile. She came to see her daughter who had just had a baby. The best part is, her daughter didn't know she was coming and was totally surprised. It has been two years since Gloria was in the States. Both of her daughters now have two kids.

 I finally let Little Miss in the sandbox. Yes, she did try to eat the sand the first time. We just keep the binky in when she is in the sandbox.

 Werty has been working this week on a plumbing problem. His exploratory meddling on Saturday caused it to start leaking. Tuesday we had another plumbing issue that came up, so Wednesday and Thursday he  removed the corroded trap in the upstairs bathtub plumbing, snaked the clogs, and now he is going to put in a new trap and pipes tonight. He was supposed to finish last night, so I could bathe the kiddos this morning, but he was short one piece of pipe. So, tonight. Here is Bear helping out his daddy. When Werty was buying the bigger wrench there, he bought a smaller, matching one for Bear. What a great daddy!

IB Program Cancelled

PSD has cancelled the IB program due to budget. It's a good thing I quit last year, because this alone would have made me want to quit. I know how difficult it was to get the program up and running, I watched it, I campaigned for it, I worked so hard to be a part of it. Without any discussion with the teachers involved, they informed them the program was over. It feels like the district really doesn't care about PHS, like they have given up on it academically. It's an "at-risk" school. Good thing they are getting that new football field, since kids at "at-risks" schools only get to college on athletic scholarships.