Day 13- Take 2

Well, originally, day 13, started fine.  I even dealt with a CC meltdown with more grace than anticipated.  The terrible threes have finally reared their ugly head.  Poor CC.

The day progressed, I dealt well with Connor deciding to not nap.  Which was an OK choice, he had a lot of work to do.  Since he is "Star of the Week,"  He was tasked with filling a sheet out about himself, and writing a story.  I was all about a 3 or 4 sentence story, he was ready to write a novel.  That was until he actually had to write.

The story ended up as:

Iron-Man Saves Spider-Man

Iron-Man saw Spider-Man was hurt.
The Green Goblin, pushed Spider-Man.
Iron-Man saved Spider-man from the Green Goblin.
Iron-Man and Spider-Man then played with cars.
The End

My thought was, I would write out the story for him to copy it.  Easy as pie.  Connor's thought was to ask Mommy which letter was next for every word, then ask what that letter looked like, then complain how long this was taking, THEN get annoyed if I took a moment to work, then he would hit me with his pencil eraser to get my attention back.

Can you see the perfect storm brewing? Do you know how much I wanted to grab that pencil and wack him back (I know I am so mature!)?

Did I also mention I was out of vodka?

Now, don't get all upset.  I do not need alcohol in order to parent my children, in fact, I prefer sober parenting, and suggest it to all.  But, the truth is I WAS out of it. Just co-incidence, I think.

After what seemed like an eternity, in Dante's seventh level of hell, the book was written.   The pictures were illustrated (mostly by yours truly), and colored by an ANGRY Connor.

I went to get a drink of water, looked at my lovely son who finished this project from hell.  I was ready to beam in that moment of Mommy greatness. When.... I saw that little turkey, get a turquoise crayon and DREW ON MY WOOD TABLE.  The child who refused to draw in his book, drew on my kitchen table.  I viewed this with my own eyes. Caught red handed. What do I do? I ask a stupid question.

"Connor, did you just draw on the table?"

"No. CC did it."

And there folks, is where all my days of quiet Orange Rhino non-yelling went straight, the hell, outta the window.  It was not the drawing. A simple, "yes I did" would have resulted me in handing him a paper towel to clean it. No biggy.

We have discussed that telling the truth is a right and true thing.  Even if you do something wrong.  The truth is ALWAYS better than lying, and we must always tell the truth. Always.

I lost my cool. I was angry and yelling and angry.  Why would you lie to me? Don't we tell the truth? 

Luckily, as I was in the middle of losing it, Jeff walked in the door. He and Connor fixed it while I stepped away for awhile.

Unfortunately, our night went down hill from there. It was the first night in 13 days, I went to bed feeling like a crappy parent.

Since starting the Orange Rhino, I have not screaming yelled, except in the bathroom and on day 13, I have noticed I raised my voice. Not a yell, but stern Mommy voice.  Connor still considers that yelling.  If I can get him to listen, I will not have to raise my voice.  I am half tempted to start a Purple Monkey mission for Connor. I would make the Purple Monkey mission about LISTENING. Then I will Orange Rhino with no yelling. I think I might suggest this to little Connor Joe. 

Oh, and ask how was CC during all this? Yeah, she got all torqued off at bedtime and cried till she barfed.  Yesterday, pretty well just sucked.

But, to attempt to end on a positive note, check out Connor's "About Me" page. He has some of the best penmanship I ave ever seen.  And he's 4.  He has been holding a pencil the proper way since age 1.5.  It is amazing. I was telling Jeff, I wondered if this is a sign he may be a writer or something. I am blessed to be his Mom, he is one great little guy.  Even if he draws on my kitchen table...

Today, is Day 13, number 2. Hopefully, we will make it to day 14 eventually.

Who Knew Hulk Had a Special Place in my Heart

The truth as I know it.

Yesterday, day 9, the little man began pushing my buttons.  As I was prepared to go the Mommy equivalant of Ape Shit, I stopped. Ran into the bathroom and yelled into the corner.  No one was in there with me, but I HAD.TO.GET.THE.YELL.OUT.

Then Connor cried.

Crap.
Later, we discussed that Mommy did not yell AT him, she was very frustrated with him not listening when I asked him to stop.  Connor looks at me, with his sweet little face, takes my cheeks in his hands to look him in the eye and says....

"Mommy, we gotta teach you not to yell."

Thanks kid, I've been working on that one.  All in all, still a success, I did not yell at or near him, but in the bathroom.   And, I am pretty sure he will stop crashing the desk chair into the GLASS DESK making the annoying crashing metal and plastic noise.  Not to mention, keeping the desk from breaking.  It's the small things that can sometimes be the most annoying.

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I would file this one under, situations I cannot make up.

The letter of the week is V.  Connor and I have been discussing Spiderman, the Avengers, Batman, Heroes, and Villains a lot.  His favorite Villains, Green Goblin, The Vulture, Doc Oc, and Dr. Doom.  Pretty sweet he knows that, right?!

Anyway, he decided to bring Green Goblin and Spiderman to show and tell day at school.  It had to be letter "V" specific, so Green Goblin is obviously the VILLAIN, right?  Ok.  Easy. Then it turned ugly.

Back story, I allowed him to watch a cartoon of the Avengers.  In the episode, Hulk had this do-hickey implanted in his brain emitting this horrible noise.  This noise made him Hulk-out and act all out of sorts.  By the end of the episode, Captain America and gang, removed the do-hickey, Hulk was good again, and end story.  There was something about a Red Hulk in there, but I missed that story line.

ANYWAY-

Connor: "Mommy, Hulk is a bad guy."
Me: "No, Connor, he had that thingy in his head that made him act bad, but he is really a good guy."
Connor: "No Mommy, Hulk is bad."
Me: (a little more sternness in my voice): "Connor, he's a a good guy, that was all a misunderstanding."
Connor: "Nope a bad guy."
Me now yelling: "Connor. HULK. IS. A. GOOD. GUY!!! He's an Avenger! Avengers are only GOOD!"

There you have it. 10 days of going so well, and the Hulk knocks me down a peg.  Curse you Hulk, you ARE a bad guy.  Then I apologized to Connor that I should not yelled about Hulk, but he is a good guy.

Connor: "So, Hulk is good, it was just his bones in his head that made him bad?"
Me (a lot calmer after realizing the stupidity of me HAVING to be right about the damn moral compess of the freaking Hulk - curse you Bruce Banner-): "Yes, that's it."

I think the conversation is over then....

Connor: "So, Spiderman is an Avenger? The Amazing Avenger Spiderman?"

Me, not taking the bait here, "Let me call your Uncle Scotty for clarification. Because I don't think so."

Scott is our best comic book resource.  Everyone needs a comic book guy on speed dial, and I had one.  Connor needed the facts before he went to school and spread an untruth about Spiderman also being an Avenger. I will not have another kid out comic book geek my comic book geek kid, especially when I have a senior level comic book geek on speed dial.

Me: "Scott, is Spiderman an Avenger?"
Scott: " Yes, in fact in 2004, Captain America personally asked him to join...."
Me: "Awesome.  Just had to ensure Connor had his facts straight for show and tell."

Then we had a bit more comic related conversation, but y'all don't need to know about that.

Me to Connor: "Uncle Scott says Spiderman was also an Avenger."
Connor: "The Amazing Avenger Spiderman."
Me: "Yes, and who is the Villain?"

Remember this WHOLE conversation was supposed to be about V for VILLAIN.

Connor: "Green Goblin. Mommy, do you think Hulk liked Spiderman?"
Me: "I am sure they were friends.  They were both Avengers."

Thankfully we pulled up to school and it was drop off.  Connor was satisfied with his answers.  I wentback to by car, and see my phone had a message. Uncle Scott had text me a cool picture of the Avengers with Spiderman.  Connor will love to see that.  However, it was the next thing that popped up on my phone that about killed me.

Scott: "Yep, Spidey was an Avenger, but he really annoyed Hulk."

Seriously, these are the moment in my life, I cannot even make up. 

PS- I'm not telling Connor.

Connor Hulk, circa 2009