Category Archives: Scorch

Jan14

A Well Laid Trap

Posted on by
Standard

Scorch came home from school today just full of it today. No idea what was up with that kid, but he was a wild man. I had already spoken to him twice about the potty words he was using when I heard him in the other room start chanting “Boobies, boobies, boooooobies!” over and over.

Huh- that was a new one.

Now, I get that I’m raising a boy. At 6, he’s not a baby any more and he’s learning new words and concepts all the time. I can’t stop the march of time, but I can darn well do my damnedest to raise a gentleman. A gentleman who uses correct verbiage for body parts.  So, with a full head of steam, I walked purposely out to the living room, intent on having a conversation with my son about slang words, body parts and showing some respect. It wasn’t going to be fun, it wasn’t going to be pretty- but I was ready.

“Scorch- that word you were saying? We need to have a talk about it.”

“Boobie?”

“Yup- that’s the one.”

“Why? Are we going to build one?”

“Build one what, bud?” <I’m way confused now>

“A booby trap. Like on Indiana Jones- are we going to build one?”

“Ohhhhh….nope. Never mind- forget I said anything.”

And that is how I ended up spending a good part of my evening planning with Scorch how he could build a booby trap for his sister. Awesome.

 

 

Jan9

You Learn Quickly, Padawan

Posted on by
Standard

There is nothing that Scorch loves right now more then Star Wars. Nothing.  It’s all he reads about, talks about and watches on TV- he’s obsessed.

And there is nothing Scorch hates more then people getting sick. Freaks him right out.

So when the kids were having a light saber duel earlier and Scorch was beating the Bean pretty badly, she made noises like she was going to puke. Scorch immediately stopped what he was doing and asked her if she was OK. That’s when she pretended to skewer him right through the heart- winning their match.

Scorch was ticked that she’s tricked him, but I was in awe. That little girl is going to rule the world one day.

Jan6

Walking Disasters

Posted on by
Standard

That about sums us up today…

This morning we got up and out a little earlier then usual so we could attend a fundraiser breakfast for the kid’s school. The kids were excited and I was thrilled because there are few things I like better then breakfast out.  But, we didn’t even make it out of the driveway before the drama started. Scorch wanted to bring two lego figures with him to breakfast and asked me to get him a good guy and a bad guy.  All I could find were two bad guys and he was Not Pleased. At all. So he generally threw a fit the entire 10 minute drive over.

When we got to the restaurant, Scorch dropped the hat to one of his lego guys into a crevice of the car and he couldn’t reach it.  This normally wouldn’t be a huge deal, but the Hubs was dropping us off and there was a line of 4 cars behind us waiting to get out while Scorch tried (unsuccessfully) to reach the freaking hat. The Hubs and I finally ended up yelling at him to get him to move out of the car before the folks behind us started honking.  So that’s why I walked into breakfast this morning with a 4 year telling me in a sticky sweet voice how good she’s been and my 6 year old crying. Awesome.

The kids and I got a table, I got Scorch calmed down and we went up the buffet line.  The Hubs wasn’t there, but I decided that we’d be fine. I’d hold the Bean’s plate along with mine and Scorch could hold his.  So I’m ordering my food while constantly muttering “use two hands” under my breath to Scorch. I swear I only took a 2 second break in  my mantra, but that was enough. Scorch got distracted and that big china plate tumbled to the ground, breaking into a million pieces.  Now, if there is anything Scorch hates more then calling attention to himself in a negative way, I don’t know what it is. So suddenly I’m juggling two full plates with a 6 year old burrowing into my side all while trying to help clean up a mess and apologizing left and right.  That was fun.

But the mess got cleaned up and we made it back to the table with our food- just in time for the Hubs to arrive. Finally- man on man defense. So we all dig in and make it 5 whole minutes before disaster strikes again. Just as the Hubs got done warning the Bean to move her cup to the inside of the table, he knocks his OJ to the ground- and, in the process of cleaning that, he dumps the Bean’s water.  As this point, all I can do is laugh. I mean- come on. It’s not even 10:30 in the morning.  I bet the entire wait staff (all 6th graders and parent volunteers) let out a huge sigh of relief when we left.

I wish I could say the day got better, but it really didn’t. The Hubs got a migraine, I was that mom putting her kids in timeout in the aisles of Target and Scorch managed to spill half of my much-loved Starbucks hot chocolate.  But our evening was spent with friends, the Hubs is feeling better and both kids are sound asleep.  Here’s hoping tomorrow is much, much less eventful!

 

Jan2

The Making of an Awesome Day

Posted on by
Standard

Surprisingly enough, the kids slid back into the routine of school without much of a fuss this morning.  As amazing as the vacation was, I think we were all ready for a bit of routine back in our lives.  That said, I missed the little buggers like crazy and couldn’t wait to get them from school today.  As the bound into the car, I asked them how their day was.

Scorched told me it was the best day ever because I’ll never guess in a million years why.  Because he and Logan had on the same underwear, that’s why! The same totally awesome Lego Star Wars underwear and that was awesome.

I was too charmed by his enthusiasm to ask him exactly how he knew this. Honestly, I don’t think I want to know.

Jan1

A Sore Subject

Posted on by
Standard

Scorch has a canker sore.  You know- those annoying teeny, tiny little sores you get in your mouth along your gum line? I get them when I eat too much chocolate and for all I know, that’s how Scorch got his too.  I keep trying to tell my boy that it’s not a big deal, but to my budding hypochondriac (a delightful bonus that cropped up with his anxiety), it’s a Huge Deal.

Mom- why did I get this?

I don’t know, Bud- too much chocolate? Or maybe not enough sleep.

Is it from too much gum?

Probably not.

What about how I got bopped in the jaw 2 weeks ago at football? Could that have caused it?

I don’t think so.

How about maybe I’m losing a tooth and that is causing this.

Rather doubt it.

And on and on and ON. Finally the Bean turned around, glared at her brother and said “Enough! It doesn’t matter how you got it. Deal with it.”  It’s very handy having a kid around who can say exactly what you’re thinking so you don’t have to be the bad guy!

Dec30

Well, That was Awesome!

Posted on by
Standard

And it was. It, of course, being Christmas!  All the shopping, wrapping, stress, anticipation and craziness was more than worth it for all the fun we’ve had in the past 8 days.

To recap, we have:

> Celebrated Christmas 7 times since last Saturday: 1) the Hub’s Dad’s side of the family, 2) the Hub’s Mom’s side of the family, 3) my immediate family (parents, siblings, etc), 4) my Dad’s side of the family, 5) just the 4 of us, 6) Christmas night hodgepodge at my aunt and uncle’s and 7) my Mom’s side of the family. And we still have one more celebration to go!

ChristmasTree_2012

> Taken over 300 new pictures.

> Celebrated my brother’s engagement!

> Gone through 3 rolls of wrapping paper and 3 rolls of tape.

> Unwrapped all those hard-wrapped presents in under 20 minutes each time we’ve exchanged gifts.

Bean_Xmas2012

> Eaten more food in one week then I have in months- and enjoyed every bite of it.

> Spent 2+ hours sledding.

Sledding_122412

> Driven well over 400 miles doing round trips to various family members homes.

reflection

> Gone on one date night, had one breakfast with friends from high school and had one girl’s night out with my sister and mom.

> Watched Scorch put together 7 lego sets and meltdown approximately 100 times when said lego sets fall apart when moving them around.

> Had a billion lightsaber fights since we are now the proud owners of 7 lightsabers (you can never have too many, you know).

> Watched 4 movies with the Hubs- only one of which I’d recommend (Trouble with the Curve).

> Enjoyed each and every day of this vacation as both the Hubs and I have been off since the 24th!

All in all? This has been one amazing holiday!

 

 

Dec13

Code Red! Code Red!

Posted on by
Standard

So tonight started out like any other night. In fact, tonight was better then a lot of other nights. We went to the library and I hit the motherload of books. And not only did I find books I can’t wait to read, I even found a new Mo Willems book for the kids. If that doesn’t make for an awesome night, I don’t know what does.

Books

Then we went to swim class where the kids had a freaking ball and we came home so we could all relax at home and life was good.  That is, until Scorch got out of bed to ask me a question.  That is when life went south. Quickly.

“Mom, June told me something today. She told me that there is no Santa Claus. Or Tooth Fairy. She said it’s really our parents giving us toys or money.”

Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me?!?!  He’s 6 years old- I figured we had at least 2 more years before we had to deal with this!  So I did what any other parent would do- I plead poverty and squeamishness then I plain old lied.

“Bud- do you think we have the money to buy you all those toys ourselves? And your teeth? I wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole. Do you remember how grossed out I was after you lost your tooth? Do you really think I’d get up in the middle of the night just so I could go fish your tooth out from  under your pillow and touch it?! Are you kidding me?”

He considered that for a while and agreed that I was, in fact, completely disgusted by teeth. But he still wasn’t too sure about the whole Santa thing. So I pulled out the big guns.

“Alright, if there is no Santa, where does Buddy the Elf go at night? He’s not here any of the times I get up to use the bathroom- he must be at the North Pole.”

Thankfully that seemed to have stumped him for the time being- evidently I’m a very convincing actress at 6 am when I pretend not to know where Buddy is hiding.

*sigh* I think (hope/pray) we dodged the bullet this time around.  The Hubs and I synched up when he got home, so we have our stories straight. Let’s just hope we still have more power over Scorch then his friends.

Nov27

30 Days of Thanks: The Flash

Posted on by
Standard

Ever since Scorch was a wee baby, he sucked at sleeping. And now that Scorch is a big kid, he still sucks at sleeping. He’s programmed to wake up at 6 am, so 99% of the time- regardless of how late he went to bed- he’s up at the crack of dawn.  That I can deal with.

What I struggle with is all his issues falling asleep. It’s all tied into his anxiety and it doesn’t make any sense to me at all- but we do try to roll with it. For a good 6 months we had to sit on his floor while he fell asleep but gradually we started moving further and further away- first to his doorway, then to the hallway, then to my doorway where he could still see me, then I could be fully in my room where he didn’t need to see me.  I was hoping that soon I could actually be in other areas of the house and not be held captive until he fell asleep.

Well, about 2 weeks ago his anxiety really started to crank up so we’ve regressed to sitting in my doorway where he can see me while he falls asleep. It’s maddening– but it’s something we have to deal with. The rule is when you go to bed, you have to lay there with your eyes and mouth shut for 5 minutes. You are only allowed to get up during those 5 minutes if you’re 1) bleeding, 2) going to puke or 3)  have a broken bone.

Tonight, Scorch wasn’t following those rules at all and my temper was thisclose to exploding as he darted out of bed time and time again. This last time was different though- he got out of bed and streaked down the hall. When he streaked back into his bed again without stopping to pester me, I got up to investigate.

Dude- what are you doing?

Wait- you saw me?!

Yup- you ran right past my room.

Aww man! I joined the running team at school and I figured that I was so fast that you wouldn’t be able to see me. Since I couldn’t sleep, I wanted to test it out.

*sigh* It’s very, very hard to be mad at a kid who thinks he’s got superhero speed, no matter how many times he gets out of bed.

Nov6

30 Days of Thanks: A List

Posted on by
Standard

After 5 minutes of sitting here, thinking about what I want to be thankful for, I still can’t pick one. So I’m going to share them all.

-> Obviously democracy and our ability to vote- along with the sweet, elderly poll workers who made such a fuss over the kids tonight as we waited in line. Such a great fuss, in fact, that the Bean cried when she realized we could only vote once.

-> I’m thankful for kids who think breakfast for dinner is the best thing ever and don’t realize that eggs and pancakes = a mommy who didn’t plan ahead.

-> Scorch and I had a morning where he wasn’t happy and I wasn’t happy with him. While I think I handled things as well as I could have, I was still beating myself up while he was at school for not having all the answers for my kid and not being able to make all his worries disappear. Hearing Scorch say during prayers tonight that he was thankful that God gave him the best Mom in the world made me so very thankful for the resilience of youth.

-> I was so thankful to see the sun out today. It had been 11 days- ELEVEN DAYS, PEOPLE- since we saw the sun. Even though it was only 38 degrees out, I wanted to take a blanket outside and lay on it to soak up the rays.

-> I’m thankful that it’s 7:52 pm and both my kids are asleep, leaving the Hubs and I all night to obsess over the election results without having to answer a million questions from the kids.

Nov1

30 Days of Thanks

Posted on by
Standard

Time fo 30 Days of Thanks- my most favorite thing to do on this blog! It brings out my inner Pollyanna and really forces me to think about all the blessings in my life.

Today I’m thankful for progress- specifically, Scorch’s progress.  I don’t know if I’ve ever written about this, but last year Scorch started to struggle with some moderate anxiety. It wasn’t debilitating, but it was frequent enough to be bothersome to Scorch (and the Hubs and me). His anxiety made getting to school every single day a struggle and it made bedtime a challenge every single night.  After a lot of back and forth, the Hubs and I finally decided to find a therapist for Scorch to talk to. We had no idea if his anxiety was even bad enough to warrant seeing a professional, but we figured we had nothing to lose.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Last Friday, Scorch had a crappy day at school. He got in a spat with a friend and it spiraled into a Big Deal like only a 1st grade argument can. All weekend long I was dreading the return to school on Monday- all I could think about was how nervous Scorch was going to be that morning. But you know what? He didn’t say a peep. Not a single complaint of a stomach ache, no tears, nothing.  I was shocked- and so freaking proud of that  kid.  The progress he has made in the past few months is astounding and I couldn’t be happier.