The Left Side of the Moon

Yes, I'm Seriously Inappropriate

I probably shouldn't let my eight-year-old watch horror movies, but I do. And since I let my eight-year-old watch them, well, the five-year-old watches them too. Usually he falls asleep five minutes in before anything scary happens. Usually, but not always. I guess I just only have so much fight in me, and since Blackstone and I just love a good horror movie, I figure it's just encoded in his DNA.

When Trouble was maybe three, he walked in on me watching Thirteen Ghosts. Pretty gruesome movie if you haven't seen it. I didn't realize he was in the room right away, and as soon as I did, I changed the channel. He had a fit. "Put it back! Put it back!" he yelled.

He started watching Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings movies around this time too. He was one of very few three-year-olds asking to watch Frodo over and over again I'm willing to bet. Nothing ever scared him. Nothing gave him nightmares. Still, I've tried to curb him from some of the more terrifying movies, or at least what I'd consider scarier. I know plenty of grown adults that are scared watching Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. But Blackstone and my dad are even less restrictive than I am. So they were watching Alien vs. Predator and Eight Legged Freaks, and who knows what else, years ago. They absolutely love it. I still try to keep it to the lower end of scary. I'm fighting a losing battle. I lose more and more ground every year.

They had been playing outside a couple weekends ago and happened to walk in shortly after I flipped on The Mist. That was gruesome. I'm going to give away the ending here, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want me to give it away, stop reading now. *SPOILER*. Honestly, had I known it was a movie about huge, killer bugs, I might have never put it on. Bugs are seriously not my thing. It's based on a Steven King story. One I probably read, but don't remember. I read a lot. I forget at least half of everything I read. The boys were enthralled. The only thing that appalled them was the ending, which was not so scary but seriously, ironically tragic. It certainly sparked some interesting conversation. Not just the ending, but the demented, religious zealot, offering any unbeliever to the giant, other-worldy bugs as offerings to appease God, who obviously unleashed them on us as punishment for our sinful ways. Perhaps Trouble has a slightly better understanding of my opposition to church now. So that, and the ending in which the main character shoots all the other passengers in the car, including his son, so they don't have to be eaten alive by the bugs, raised some questions. He would have shot himself too, only there weren't enough bullets. So he goes outside awaiting his terrible fate, only to have the mist begin to clear and the army arrive. Now that's something difficult to explain to a child.

It hadn't really occurred to me after having watched all of these scary movies, that I would eventually find one that scared Trouble. Really never thought it would happen. It did. And oddly enough, I didn't think the movie was that scary. No one actually died in the time span of the movie. Oh there were ghosts of people, bodies that had died long ago. But none of the main characters in the current story died. Again *SPOILERS* people. The Haunting in Connecticut has had Trouble sleeping with his light on for a week. At the end of the movie, the poor, sick kid tormented by all the ghosts is cured of his terminal cancer. I mean, yes, it was scary. Yes, there were dead bodies in the wall. Gross. Not nearly as gross or scary as watching spiders hatch inside a person and eat him alive. At least, not in my mind. Trouble seems to have a different opinion.

I figure it must be because huge killer bugs seem so outrageous, so far out of our reality, but maybe spirits of the dead, are a little too easy to imagine as real? I guess I'd better be sure not to let him know that it's supposed to have been based on a true story. Of course, I take all that with a grain of salt, but something tells me Trouble wouldn't.

So has that stopped me from letting him watch scary movies? Not really. I've started watching the series Supernatural recently and they love that. And they saw Coraline this weekend. *SPOILER* A kids movie, but pretty scary, and honestly, another scary spider. EEeeww. I've had enough with the damn bugs lately. Animated, mechanical, or otherwise. I've always had a spider phobia. Nothing terrible. But I do yell for Blackstone to come kill them for me. Apparently, that's nothing compared to my babysitter. I had to take down some of our Halloween decorations; the spider web and fake spiders, and the large mechanical one that drops from the ceiling when you clap. Now that's some serious arachnophobia.

So this Halloween will be spider-free and will probably still find Trouble sleeping with his light on. At least I bought some of the new energy saving bulbs. You can get them in soft light now, too. They're not nearly as terrible as they were at first. I can't stand flourescents and these are do-able. Peace of mind for me. Peace of mind for him. And we can still have our horror movies. Everybody wins!

Of Course You Do

Trouble: Feel my backpack. It's really heavy.

Adult: Wow, that is really heavy. What do you have in there?

Trouble: Rocks.

The End of an Era

Tomorrow is LT's last day of pre-school. LT spent two years at this pre-school, Trouble also spent two years at this pre-school. We have spent four years with the same wonderful group of teachers. The boys have loved their time there, and I am sad to see it come to a close. Much sadder than they, I'm sure. Trouble moved on three years ago, so it's of no consequence to him now. Though he's been jealous as all get out that LT gets to play all the time at school, go swimming on Fridays, when he has to work all day. He'd go back to pre-school in a heart beat if you let him. LT can't wait to go to kindergarten. He's way too excited to be one of the big boys to miss his beloved pre-school. He will miss it, though. I know he will, even if he's too excited to see it.

I already have LT's yearbook and report card. I won't be dropping him off or picking him up tomorrow. My final trip to the pre-school has been made. Somehow this mile stone is much more bitter sweet for me than so many others. I couldn't wait to stop nursing. I threw out the last bottle with glee, did a dance for joy when the diapers came off and diaper pail sat on the street, was thrilled to have spent the last dollar ever on pull ups. The sippy cups are still sitting in my cupboard, though I'm ready to toss them, and will be thrilled to rid myself of those stupid spigots, every cup with a different one, somehow I can never find the right one for the cup I'm trying to use.

Babyhood aggravation be gone! I do not miss their baby days. I do not have baby lust.

I am so glad to have my two little boys, riding bikes (LT's just learned the two-wheeler this week. Skipped training wheels altogether.) and playing baseball. It's so much easier, so much more fun than the sleep deprivation, spit up, diapers and mastitis.

LT's made so much progress in the last two years, it's utterly remarkable to me. He was so little last year, and shy, clinging to my legs when I dropped him off in the mornings. There's been none of that this year. He's a big boy now. He knows his colors, finally, and most of his letters. Can count to thirty without too many mistakes. He's yards ahead of where Trouble was at this point, which is such a relief. I'm sure some of that is due to being a younger sibling and watching as his brother learn his letters, and paying attention as we practice spelling words. Still, reading and writing has been such an uphill battle with Trouble, it's nice to see him progressing without the fighting, complaining, obstinance and tears. And Trouble has been progressing too. He finally met his language testing benchmark a few weeks ago, for the first time EVER! It's really been a big year for them. They're still my little boys, but they're not quite so little anymore.

Somehow saying good-bye to their pre-school years, that time when they're so full of energy, so happy, learning and growing so fast, making their first friends, really becoming their own little person, is not all that joyful. Realizing that they're growing out of that stage is much harder for me. Now I want them to slow down a little. I want them to stop growing up and maturing quite so fast. I don't want to see that glint of innocence go out of their eyes too soon. They're not teenagers yet, but somehow it's starting to seem much closer on the horizon than I'd realized.

Mom, You Kind of Suck, but I Love You Anyway

Vicodin is a beautiful thing, people. I believe I've been suffering from a pinched nerve in my neck which is radiating pain down my right shoulder to my wrist. It's been doing that for a week, despite the Motrin, heating pad, ice pack and Biofreeze I've been using. It's only been getting worse. I have an appointment with a chiropractor on Tuesday. Until then, I now have prescription Motrin and vicodin, which means the brain skills are a bit stilted. Especially after the vodka. So I'm just going to give you the low down on the Mother's Day card I received from Trouble. It read:

Mom,

You are lots of fun and play baseball with us.(This is how I believe I pinched a nerve in my neck.) You watch movies with us too, but boring ones. You are fun anyway.

Love, Trouble

If I just let them watch things like Alien vs Predator every movie night, I'd get much higher praise.

I'm thinking at his High School Graduation, his card should read:

Dear Trouble,

You are a very bright and talented young man. You've been a really great kid when you weren't stealing, being brought home by the police, and complaining about everything twenty-four hours a day.

Love, Mom

Could You Move Any Slower?

It's comments like this that are teaching my son to be sarcastic. I recognize, I own it. I still can't stop myself. I hardly know how to talk without the sarcasm. I mean, what else would I say when it takes him more than 15 minutes to don shoes and a coat to leave the house? I suppose I could yell, "MOVE YOUR ASS!!!", but that's not really very nice is it? No, sarcasm is much more pleasant.

I'm not sure how sarcastic Blackstone was before I met him. My guess is not nearly as sarcastic as he's become. When he kissed me good-bye tonight to go to yet another town meeting and leave me home with the kids, I heard his phone talking in his pocket. You know how it is, sometimes your ass just needs to make a phone call? His phone wasn't in his back pocket, but you get the point.

So I asked, "Calling your girlfriend?"

"You know it, baby," was his response.

Trouble was terribly perplexed, "Dad has a girlfriend?"

"No, he's just being sarcastic," I explained.

Trouble learned all about sarcasm today. Blackstone picked him up from school for the first time and he was on the later side and at the end of the very long line of cars picking up their kids. Trouble was not thrilled to have to stand in the freezing rain and wait. When he got in the car he said, "Thanks for picking me up dad, so I didn't have to stand in the freezing rain."

Then just in case he wasn't being understood, "I'm saying the opposite of what I mean. Get it?"

("Get it?" is one of Trouble's favorite things to say to us. Apparently, he just doesn't think that we understand him.)

"Yes," Blackstone told him. "You call that being sarcastic."

Blackstone explained to me later that as Trouble heard this, his eyes lit up with understanding and delight. I think part of his world just clicked for him.

"You get it from your mother," Blackstone told him. That just has to take some of the joy out of it.

I Believe

Sticky Fingers

Trouble came to us at the beginning of the week saying he had found twenty dollars at school. It's not the first time the child has told us he'd found money and we were suspicious. We sent him back to school with the money and a note to his teacher explaining what he'd told us. He said he found the money outside at recess. They hadn't had outdoor recess that day, it was too cold. So we knew he was lying. Further pressing got him to reveal that he'd taken the money from my purse. We had a stern talk with him about stealing and how you don't take money from anyone. He was grounded for four days.

The next day he stole a candy cane of m&m's the teacher had in the classroom. He admitted it a day or so later to his teacher who was threatening to punish the whole class. Now he's in further trouble at home and also at school. He's grounded for the rest of the month. No karate, no friends over, no going to friends houses and no video games. He can still attend cub scouts and basketball. We lectured him on how disappointed we were with him, but that we knew he was a good boy. He promised he wouldn't steal anymore.

----

And now it's two weeks later because I've been sidetracked by Christmas, the snow storm, and the boys with the stomach flu.

----

The day after our lecture was a Saturday. I brought LT to karate and then ran some errands. Blackstone was home with Trouble who decided to run away. He left a very endearing note on the fridge telling us he was sorry for being such a bad boy and that he would love us and miss us very much. He put on his coat (no hat or gloves in the 20 degree weather) and left the house with two stuffed animals. He was picked up by the police a few blocks away and brought back to the house, much to Blackstone's surprise. They had a nice sit-down with the officer, Trouble showed him the note he had written, and the officer decided to leave Trouble in my husband's care.

I got the low-down on all this when I arrived home a little while later. While I'm quite relieved things worked out as they did, it could have been much worse, it's also disturbing that this is the third time our boys have brought the police to our house. I certainly hope this is not foreshadowing of what's to come. I also hope that we don't end up with DCYF questioning us at some point. We do watch our kids, play with them, read with them, chauffeur them to classes, practices and games. It just seems every time we turn around, they're attempting some other daring, stupid or treacherous act.

Trouble returned to school and lost his lunch bag for a few days. It showed up again a couple of days later, but we had switched him to hot lunch and it wasn't until the end of the week that I opened his lunch bag and found a wallet I didn't recognize. A kid's wallet with just some loose change in it. At first Trouble insisted he had no idea how it had gotten there. After some pressing, he finally came to me and asked, "So if I make a mistake, you can help me?" Which is one of things I've been telling him, that he has to tell the truth and if he does, we can help him make it right. And he confesses that he found the wallet on the floor at school. I asked why he didn't turn it in to his teacher. He says it was time to leave and he didn't get a chance. The boy always has an answer for everything. I told him he has to give it to her after vacation and explain it to her, and that he is NEVER, FOR ANY REASON, to bring home anything that doesn't belong to him. If he doesn't have time to turn it in, he should leave it on the floor.

So I'm a little nervous as to what the future holds for our little klepto. He knows better than this. And while on the one hand his running away because he's so ashamed of himself might show remorse and a true understanding, what do I make of the wallet turning up after that? And running off in the cold, no idea where he was going, only stuffed animals with him, the boy is smarter than that. I feel like it's more like him manipulating us than an honest attempt at running away. I know this likely is him seeking out more attention from us, so we're really trying to work on that too. Providing him lots of positive attention (another reason I'm finding less and less time to blog). And to that end, I'm off to take my boys to the movies.

Happy Holidays! May your children not be escorted home by the police.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

Bookgirl, this is very timely for me, because I knew you were waiting.

The boys have been in their costumes almost every day for a week. There was the Boy Scout Halloween party where Trouble won a bucket full of candy. Yes, joy, a bucket full of candy. Way more exciting for him than it is for me. Then there was the school Halloween dance, then Trouble's Karate class party, then Trick-or-Treating, and finally, LT's Karate party this morning. I'm a bit Halloween-ed out. I can't wait until they're old enough to enjoy the spook trails and haunted houses.

Blackstone decided to be a construction worker at one party.

Cone Head and Mork from Ork

Heat Blast from Ben Ten

Marshmallow Shooting

Karate Class

Pouting Stitch

LT Learns to Wipe his Bum and Ride a Bike

Wipe Bum 1

Wipe Bum 2

Stunt Men