Kill him with kindness & The other side of the camera

Kill Him With Kindness

Today I worked at the boys' school which means that we can not be late. Jack was having a rough morning but we were in the home stretch. Just socks and shoes and out to the car. But, of course, there was some sort of meltdown regarding these final tasks before leaving. So I did what I always do...I told him that I was going to leave without him.

You've said this to your kids, right? I'm not the only heartless mama threatening to abandon her kids when the going gets tough and well, when it's time to go. Right?

I knew the day would come. And today was the day...

Jack called my bluff.

"Jack, come here and let me put your shoes on or you are staying here while Logan and I go to school!"

"That's okay. I'll stay."

"I mean it...I'm leaving and you will be home all by yourself," I said sternly.

"Okay."

"Logan, head out to the car. Your brother isn't coming with us."

"Bye Logan!"

"Jack, we'll be gone for...about 5 hours. That's a really long time." I'm still all business at this point.

"Okay."

"I mean a really, really long time. Like 3 movies long."

"Okay."

"Don't go poop while I'm gone, okay? Because I won't be here to wipe you."

"Okay."

"And you might get hungry while I'm gone but the food is hard to reach so you'll just have to wait...5 hours before you can eat."

"Okay."

"And don't forget to put yourself down for a nap."

"All right."

"I'm really leaving."

"Bye Mama!" Great...now what?

"Ummm...Marley will be in the backyard in case there is a problem."

"Okay."

"But dogs can't really help out too much so you are really on your own."

"Okay Mama."

At this point, I shut and locked the sliding glass door. I was outside heading to the car and Jack was on the other side looking like he had not a care in the world. He happily waved at me.

I opened the car and put my bag in. I climbed in and buckled up Logan. I opened the garage door. I snuck a peek back at the sliding glass door. Jack was sitting on the sofa playing with some Lego people.

Tough love was not working. Hmmm...what's a mama to do?

I headed back to the house and opened the door. I decided to try the old softie approach.

"Jack, I'm going to miss you today. Won't you please come with us?," I said in a sweet sing-song voice.

"Nope...I'm going to stay here."

At that point, I took a deep sigh entered the house and began doing what any defeated self-respecting mama would do. I killed him with kindness...I tickled him. I smothered him with kisses. He was laughing so hard that I was able to pick up his socks and shoes, tuck him under my arm, turn on the alarm and lock up the house.

Once in the car and finally on our way, Jack told me the reason he was going to stay at home today.

"I didn't think you could handle two of us."

"Huh?"

"The two of us boys. I didn't think you could handle both boys today."

"Oh, gee. Thanks, I guess."

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The Other Side of the Camera - Dessert

Part 2 of this post is my weekly pic with the boys as part of Carin at Forever in Blue Jeans's challenge.

These are kind of random photos but it was kind of a random night. After dinner the boys went out to run an errand with Scott. It was getting late when they got back so I quickly got them in PJs and told them they could have a little dessert on my bed. (Of course, I decided if they were in PJs I wanted to be too.)

Here they are having strawberries, bananas, whipped cream and a couple mini chocolate chips.
"Jack, how about a little bite for your mama?"
"Lady, quit looking at my dessert!"
Notice they neither of them would look at the camera. They were a bit preoccupied, I guess.