Prater Points...I bet you're wondering what those are huh? Well they are our version of Colbert Coins an amazing idea I'm stealing from my mommy friend Elizabeth. So Elizabeth THANK YOU!! It's a new chart in our house for all of the kids. They can earn Prater Points for helping around the house and for getting good behavior at school, for using nice language in the home, especially to siblings, and for showing respect to others. This is our first full week of using Prater Points so we will see how this goes. I'm hoping it works and that it works well!
I've thought about documenting Magnus in a blog solely dedicated to him as he seems to be the most inventive child I've ever run across when it comes to creatively getting in trouble. I want you to picture my kitchen. It's shaped like the L piece in the game Tetris. On one side of the long L shape there's the pantry and a long counter on the other side stretching almost to the end of the long L side is the sink, dishwasher, stove, and refrigerator and it opens up at the bottom of the L into the french doors and dining area. Have you got that picture in your head?? Ok, now picture a 10lb bag of sugar sitting on the counter next to the pantry and next to the sugar is the coffee pot, toaster, and our mail holder. Seems harmless enough right? Now imagine that you are three years old, your mom has been at work all day leaving you at home with your dad and no other kids to play with thereby leaving you to your own devices to entertain yourself. Now how does that kitchen look to you? Does it look rife with possibilities of endless fun? Does it appear to hold the secrets to Transformers Rescue Bots? Have you ever in your childhood wondered if you could re-create Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs how awesome that would be?! What if you hated taking a shower but you loved sugar..would a sugar shower be cooler than a plain ole' water shower? I imagine as a three year old all of these things go through your mind and plus more stuff that I can only guess at, which is why when I came home from work yesterday to find Magnus hiding behind the t.v. stand I instantly knew something was up. First and foremost this is my 'babydoll' who runs to greet me at the door everyday for hugs and kisses so when I walked inside and was not immediately accosted for hugs and kisses I began to worry.
I'm going to take a break from this story to tell you a little bit about what goes on in my head when confronted by a situation like this. First and foremost I think, why is it so quiet? This thought is immediately followed by, are the kids outside? Downstairs? or backyard? When these possibilities have been checked out my next thought is, What's broken, ripped, burnt, painted, glued, or destroyed in some other random matter. I should tell you that I'm rarely wrong in assuming that, once again the children's father has lost control of the home situation and something is indeed destroyed. This ladies is why women are meant to be caregivers..because we care, about our homes, our children, chores, meals, school, all of these things we care enough about to make them priorities. Men, or at least my man, have only two maybe three priorities and they are as follows: Food, Money, and Sex. Everything else appears to be white noise to them. For instance last night my husband is recounting how our oldest son was almost late to school because he missed the bus. His exact words were "can you believe he was almost late to school because he missed the bus? I mean that little jerk told me "Dad I missed the bus why didn't you wake me up?" To which I replied "why did you not waking him up for school make him the little jerk? You're the adult you should have been the one to get him up and ready if anything that makes you the jerk". To which my husband replied "well isn't it obvious that I didn't wake him up because I was asleep? So you know you ask a stupid question...." Really that's level of intellect I'm married to. I know it's astounding but this is seriously how my husband processes parental information. When it comes to business and cars he's awesome, when it comes to home, school, or kids he's hopeless. It's like his ability to think in that arena is biologically retarded at the age of nine. I say that with all the love in my heart.
Now back to my Magnus story. I come home and am not greeted by my baby doll, after checking all areas of the house I find him hiding behind the t.v. Our conversation goes thusly:
"Magnus why are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding"
"Ok then why are you behind the t.v. stand?"
"Because I'm hiding"
Deep breath in and chant serenity now.
"O.k. soooo who are you hiding from?"
"I'm hiding from daddy"
"why are you hiding from daddy?"
"because he's gonna be mad at me"
"What's he gonna be mad at you for?"
You can never just come out and ask Magnus what's going on because as you can see he's a master at avoidance.
"He's gonna be mad because I took a shower".
"Is that why you're naked?"
"No I was already naked".
"O.k. so why did you take a shower?"
uncontrollable giggling ensues.
Here comes Gavin who speaks fluent Magnus.
"Magnus what did you take a shower in?"
"I took a sugar shower!"
I look into the kitchen and see the 10lb bag of sugar on the edge of the kitchen counter with multiple stab wounds and leaking sugar all over the kitchen floor. At this point there is only one thing to do. Send the miscreant to take an actual shower and wash off all the sugar, sweep up the kitchen floor, and pour the remainder of the sugar into a canister. I like to think that as a seasoned working mom I can handle most things with grace and calm. I also like to think that I wouldn't flip my lid over some spilled sugar. I like to think those things..and sometimes I even succeed in them but yesterday there just wasn't a hole deep enough for me to crawl into. It took four sweepings to get all the sugar off the floor, 10 minutes to wash the kidlet, and five minutes to vacuum up the carpet where said kidlet had been hiding and shedding sugar all over the place. I would like to be angry with the kidlet but I just can't find it in myself to be angry with him. He's three there are two older people in that house one is almost 16 and the other one is 40 freaking years old!!! These are the two I'm mad at. These are the two that I'd like to take outside and lock all the doors and not let back in. Where are the older people responsible while I'm work? Outside on the back porch not minding a single thing! This is when I lose it. This is when I flip my lid and after cleaning everything up and saying my peace I get back in my car and drive to Walmart. Not because I want to but because as the sole responsible adult in my family I need to pick up two new sweatshirts for Gavin and a winter coat.
