Weekend Clean Slate

He's back, my sweet boy is back!

The evening did not start off in promising fashion as he greeted me with "Mrs Meanie" but I quickly said , in a non threatening manner :-), "I'm not being mean to you...why are you being mean to me?"

Suddenly, from the most unlikely quarter a knight rode to my defence. It was No 2 Son, our salesman, ex dreadlock boy and skate park deadbeat!!!!! "SB," he admonished, "If you're mean to anyone in this house tonight our deal is off." My interest was piqued.

Apparently, SB has brought over a Playstation game and the Playstation is downstairs in 'The Pit'. Big Bro had agreed that if Small Boy was nice to him (aaand everybody else it transpires), he would bring the Playstation upstairs so that SB can join him and play on it. This seems to be working a treat!

All bribery aside, it is my darling husband's birthday today and as we made preparations for a family meal and handed over presents...it seemed the Little Un' thawed somewhat. The baby voice vanished, the dagger looks eased and he responded quickly to a number of things he was asked to do. He also went to his bedroom unprompted and brought out a box of toys to play with in front of the fire. This in itself was amazing because he rarely does imaginary play without adult or other child input.

(A small aside here. My daughter spent most of her early years building dens/cubbies...don't know the US equivalent....so I was shocked to hear SB, when prompted to build one last summer, exclaim that he didn't know HOW to build a cubby. I had to take old blankets outside and pull patio chairs together and demonstrate. I blame the X Box)

Over dinner (which he ate) he was subdued but civil and when I suggested a game of cards afterwards he agreed. We play a form of multi handed patience called 'Racing Demons' where there are several packs in use all at once and there are no 'turns'. Its great fun and SB is very good at it! I have been trying to teach the same game to my year 8 support maths class and they are finding it very hard to pick up!

We giggled all through the game, sang snatches of Monty Python songs and used funny voices to 'put the other players off'. Everyone won a hand except Dad (who is pathetic when he loses) and SB agreed to bedtime with no fuss. We did prayers and had hugs and hopefully, re-established a bit of our relationship.

I am so relieved.

The test will come again when he doesn't co-operate. I had a small taste this morning. He took his cereal bowl through to the kitchen and put it on the bench top. "Dishwasher," I sang through from the other room. Well, you would think I had asked him to chop off his right hand.
"Noooooooo," in high pitched, whiney squeal, underpinned with tears.

I let it go because it was 7.45am and he was on his way to football, reluctantly. I'm not going to put it in though. He can do that when he gets back.