Sucky Parental Truth

Over the Easter holiday we spent time with Boy Toy’s family. There was the annual Easter Egg hunt where Spotty Chop…never does very well. He doesn’t have the drive to win that his other cousins have. Don’t get me wrong, he loves to win. But not as much as these guys do. After the hunt…well towards the end of the hunt when everyone got more eggs than he did we found Spotty alone and sad in a room by himself. When we asked him why he didn’t finish the egg hunt he said “ because I’m no good at it. I’m not as good as my cousins at anything. They beat me in EVERYTHING”. He was so distressed. We explained that he was right these guys seemed to be better at finding eggs, and in some sports than he was, We said that this wasn’t about who got the most eggs, but about having fun (which went over like a lead balloon.) We asked if he wanted to learn to play baseball and hockey, he said no, he didn’t want to play either of those and that he liked soccer and swimming. We reminded him that he was a better reader and that everyone was really good at something and everyone was bad at something. He felt that he sucked at everything. We talked and snuggled for awhile and he seemed to feel better. He even tried hitting a few balls and did a great job, he shocked the hell out of me that he could hit a pitched ball (whiffle). I think he surprised himself too.

Midway through this conversation I was almost overcome with grief in the fact that I couldn’t fix this. No one was being mean, nothing was unfair. It was just life and sometimes things don’t go your way. And I realized that I was going to have to get into the ring with this situation probably for the rest of my life.

Sometimes parenting sucks.

Happy Belated St. Patrick’s Day

Did everyone have a good day? Did you eat a boiled dinner?

Were you visited by leprechauns?

 Did you apparently break out into fist pumping and roof raising

during RuPauls Covergirl?

Or was it Sexy and I know it?

No? Well you missed a good time. Anyone with questions on how Spotty even knew what fist pumping and roof raising was? Get in line…behind me

 

What's going on over there?

Spotty just called me to tell me WILD TURKEYS ARE IN OUR BACKYARD!!!

While he was talking I was blown away by how delicious his voice sounds. I don’t often speak with him over the phone. He sounds different. I can’t pinpoint what is different, but I can’t imagine anyone not falling in love with him the second they hear his voice.

The fact that he was so excited about the turkeys in the backyard that he had to call me? Priceless.

Dear Spotty Chop you are 84 months old today

Happy 7th birthday love of my life! I can’t believe how much your face has changed from last year to this. I have photos taken at Santa’s village every other year of you sitting in a cupcake seat and there is a noticeable difference. You no longer look like a child, but like a little boy. I will confess it has made me cry on more than one occasion. I couldn’t be happier that you are growing older and strong, but I do miss my baby.


You can’t wait for your birthday! You are literally jumping out of you skin. You want PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond in the worst way. You also want some new Ninjagos. Luckily this is something easily remedied.

We went to the snowflake ball where you and JMan danced the night away…well actually you battled the night away, but you guys had fun and that’s all that really matters. You didn’t find it too loud like you did last year.

Your February break was a bust, we didn’t do anything. You did get to spend the day with Nannie and Papa. Papa took you for a spin in his new (to him) red Mercedes convertible. Dada told you to just wait until the good weather comes and the top comes down. You will LOVE it! You had a new friend come over to play, not sure if we will be doing more with him he’s 1) older and 2) his family has LOTS more rules than we do. I think we horrified the mom…

You started a readathon. You are a bit uptight about it because it takes away time from playing video games. I am not sure what we are going to do about this video game junkie we have created. Any time we try to do something/anything that involves us leaving video games you pitch a fit. Me no likey! We honestly don’t care that you love to play video games. We love to play video games. The only rule we have is that your daily homework be done, (which takes no more than 5 minutes for you) and you usually have the week’s assignments done the day they have been given out and at the Y program. I can’t actually remember the last time you did your homework at home! We play board games and you still love to play Bakugan, Beyblades and Ninjago’s. It will all work out

Your swimming class this term has been really hard. The last class you were in was a combo of 2 classes and the lower class got all of the attention. You didn’t learn what you were supposed to and have really struggled this class. Although I don’t think you realize how much you lagged behind the other kids. I do know you were upset when you didn’t “move up” to the next class. Every class you have taken so far you move out of, and even skip a few levels by the end of it. Both the teacher and I (and your dad) have explained that this is the first class that “older kids” take and there is a lot more to learn and do. You are ok now, but every once in a while I can hear it in your voice that you are not happy. The teacher said that some of the kids in this current class have been in it for 3 or 4 times, so hopefully that will reassure you if you need to take it a 3rd time. If my mom offers to pay for private lessons this year…I am taking her up on it. I really want swimming to be fun for you. I want you to enjoy it both as a sport that you can do for the rest of your life (dude, swimmer bodies are the BEST! I am only trying to set you up for hotness when you get older!) and as a fool around fun thing that we will be doing for the rest of your life as we have a pool and can’t afford to go anywhere else!

You really enjoyed Valentine’s Day this year. You picked out Power Rangers valentines; you also gave bookmark/ruler thingy. You picked a valentine for each kid, and then gave a few extra to a couple of girls from your kindergarten/Y program. You loved going through the valentines and showing them to us, the “bag” you created to receive them, the candy that some of them contained, the whole thing was super sweet just like you.

You went to Favorite Uncles house with Nannie. The house is coming along and they will soon be able to move in. You liked seeing how much has changed since the last time you saw it. You said to Favorite Uncle “if you were rich, it would be great if you got door knobs, but this is good too.” My brother and Nannie could barely hold back the laughter.

In the morning you come running into the living room where I am working and jump on my lap for a quick snuggle. Best part of the day. You have been watching videos on the computer, some animal/nature thing and they make you laugh out loud. But not just laugh, belly laugh, huge booming laughter that you can’t control, laughter that almost seems fake, but we know isn’t. Dada and I always stop what we are doing and have to grin at each other. I need to get a video of you doing it, it would cheer up anyone. I started reading the A-Z mysteries to you, but I am going to have to forbid your father from joining us. The main character’s name is…Dink. This is the reason you do not have a sibling. Your father has the brain of a 3 year old.

I love you kiddo. I hope this is the best birthday yet and this year brings you joy and wonder.

Dear Spotty Chop you were 83 months old last month

Little dude, I am sorry I haven’t been a good blogger. I still have to write about Christmas for Christ’s sake (ha, see what I did there). I have been slightly addicted to playing Skyrim and Dragon’s Age. I have settled on Dragon’s age as I am SO CLOSE TO FINISHING!!!!


But that doesn’t mean you haven’t said or done anything adorable


Lego’s has come out with some horrific new girls only Lego creations. Moo and I have of course been WTFing about it. When I told you about it you didn’t understand why girls had to play with different Lego’s, your friends play with Lego’s all the time. And when I told you that they don’t work with regular Lego’s, you said that wasn’t fair.


As heard at our house:


"Respect what comes out of your butt RESPECT IT!!!" after that you called your dad a ninny and then punched him in the chest.


You and I went to see my parents. Nannie, Papa you and I all went to my Great Aunt’s to see if there was anything we wanted. She is 93, and told me the other day that she could sleep forever. Her sister died a few weeks ago, they had lived together for…well, basically 89 years. You don’t know them very well, Nannie has brought you over to them a few times, but you have far too much energy, and you make them…nervous. You aren’t doing anything wrong, they are just not used to so much…boyness.


Anyhoo, my parents take us to lunch at 3 or 4 pm because a quick trip with your parents ends up being….well, much longer than a quick trip. I am going to have to re-read this when you are in your 20’s and 30’s so I don’t do this to you! So we are at the table when you say “when my parent’s pass away I am going to get my own house and live with my friends.” I just stared at you.


Then a few mornings later when I am trying to wake you up (you had climbed into our bed at some point) and I said “and by the way, you spent all night snuggling your dad, what about me”? And you reply “Dada is older than you and he will die first so he needs to get extra snuggles now”.


Finally – and now that I think about it, this may also contribute to why I skipped writing for so long. We went sledding and I took you out. As in I was barreling down the hill, you were in the way, my brain blanked and I smacked into you. I thought I broke your neck…other parents were coming over to see if you were ok. Worst Parent ever…