Bossy Boy

So as I mentioned, we had Ben with us again yesterday. In the morning, Easton (and Ben) had school so Dalton and I continued with our Thursday traditions of breakfast out followed by AussieRoo and usually a bit of shopping. This time we went to a really cool school supply store that I had no idea was right by us. I went to find Easton a pencil grip to try to encourage him to hold his writing utensils properly. I think he's the only kid in his class that still holds them wrong. Anyway...

When the time came, we went to pick up the bigger boys. Ben's class was dismissd before Easton's class had even come in from outside! So, Ben and Dalton hung in the hall with me while we waited. Mrs. L, the assistant teacher, came out to let me know that Easton had gotten some sand thrown in his eye and she thought she'd washed all of it out with running water but to keep an eye on it. Great.

I got a little more scoop from Easton later that he was trying to make sand castles with Lily but Brock was trying to ruin them and threw sand at him. I'm not sure what other part Easton might have had in it, and he's not telling me much about how it all went down but you could see little marks around his eye from where some sand had likely hit and his eye just looked irritated but he said he never cried, that Mrs. L helped him, that Brock had to say sorry and couldn't play in the sandbox any more but that Brock is still his best friend and they like to do puzzles together. :(

Mostly Easton was just too excited that Ben was going to be hanging out with us. I loaded all three boys into the car...rather easily, I might add. Ben's booster seat fit just fine in with the other two seats. Whew. So, we decided to head to McDonald's where I got to practice keeping track of 3 running boys who didn't do much of the same things at the same time. It wasn't bad at all, though...whew! Ben was the hardest one because he has a different idea of appropriate personal space and would just stand and stare at other tables from time to time...or squeeze in between two tables when he should just go around. If it was my own boys I would've said something like, "Maybe you should walk around this way" but whatever. He wasn't hurting anyone. Just different than what I'm used to, you know?

After playing for awhile we packed back up into the car to drive through the drive through. I thought that would be much easier than having the 3 kids running around the place while I waited to order and receive food. Ben asked for a 9 piece nuggets. He's barely 6! I'm lucky if Easton can eat 2 nuggets so I just got Ben the 6 piece Mighty Kids meal (which he ate 4.5). He asked for a Diet Coke to go with it! I had to call his mom to see if that would be okay...and it was. All parents are different, eh? :)

Easton asked for nuggets as well and (strangely) I'm always happy to give my kids McDonald's if they want it. And Easton ate two nuggets with no promise of a reward or treat or coaxing or anything! Impressive! This was back at home where we brought the food to eat. After lunch I got Dalton down for his nap and the bigger boys and I tried to find some things to do.

Ben asked to do an art project so we got one out...some foamie animals The Alabamaws had sent once upon a time. Ben must not do a lot of projects...he doesn't seem to have quite the same abilities or attention span for certain things as Easton. So, Easton and I did these (E's is the giraffe, mine is the monkey):


And this was as far as Ben got on his elephant:


Instead he wandered in to watch some TV and he rinsed out an empty jug of milk to put back in the milk box on the porch where he found a package he wanted to open and he mostly just did other random things. Again, not bad or wrong, just very different from what I'm used to.


He came back over and decided he needed to help Easton with his giraffe and said, "Okay Easton, do you want small, medium, or large dots?" To which Easton thoughtfully considered, "I think small would be nice" (which I just thought was so cute of him to say it like that) and then Bossy Ben said, "No, no one looking at your project will be able to see that, you want the bigger ones." :( I felt bad for E even though he was just like, "Oh, okay." I asked Ben if he wanted to make his own giraffe so that they could each make theirs just how they wanted. He said yes and put one sticker on before moving along to something else again.

Well then Ben wanted to play Mario Kart on the Wii...Easton didn't really want to but again went along with it. But, Ben cannot get the hang of it and would say, "I don't want to play anymore" so Easton would take over for him then Ben would see how easy it seemed to be for Easton and say, "I can do it now!" and reach for the controller which every time Easton would let him have back only for it to happen again and again. I don't want E to be a pushover at all, but I also liked how polite he was being to our guest.

Then, Ben wanted to go outside and play ball with me. I tossed around the football with him and he might not have mad skillz on the Wii or foam crafts but dude can throw a football like I couldn't believe. I was seriously impressed. But again, felt bad for Easton who wanted to play with his friend. Easton was suggesting all kinds of games and Ben was like, "I'm hot, I just want to sit in the shade":


Easton trying to get Ben to chase him :(


Just look at my sweet boy:


Then it was back inside for some board games. We kept playing what Ben wanted to play since he was our guest. I'd say something like, "How 'bout we let Ben go first since he's our guest?" and then Ben picked up on it and would use it to get his way like, "I get to pick since I'm the guest." Grrrrr. But still, Easton continued to be a great sport so I started changing the rules to "Easton you get to go first this time since Ben went first last time" just so he didn't feel completely trampled on by our "guest".

It really wasn't all bad like I'm sure I'm making it sound...Easton did have fun and hopefully didn't feel too bossed around or anything. He never acted put out. Those were just things I noticed that made my heart both sad and proud. I was pretty glad when his mom walked over to get him, though...but Ben didn't want to leave! :)

Man, I was a bossy bossy kid so I like how I'm getting a taste of what I must've been like. Yikes! I want my kids to be able to stand up for themselves when it matters but also be willing to be good natured about other people insisting on being a little more assertive than they are. But I certainly don't want them being bullied...what a fine line this is. Figuring it out as I go, I guess.

For dinner, Jason wasn't going to be home, and Easton wanted to eat outside. It was fine with me. I've been looking on Craigslist for a little tot picnic table for them but for the prices many people are asking I'd rather just buy them a brand new one! Oh well. They were happy to sit on the porch in the meantime:


Then came the evening's entertainment of watching the ants hard at work dragging the boys' crumbs back to their homes. Soooooooooo fun to bug watch!!! Daddy came home just in time for a few ants, games, baths, and bed.

And this morning the boys ate their breakfast outside again:


Then we rushed off to my appointment with the ENT. My hearing has been improving but the last few days I could hear fluid in my ear so the family practice doctor decided to refer me to the ENT. Jason came to watch the boys in the waiting room for a bit but had to run off to a meeting so I had to bring the boys in with me while they did an audiology test. Sure enough...my hearing is diminished in the left ear and I can't hear the higher frequencies with that ear at all...but there is no evidence of nerve damage or inner ear damage which she was wanting to check for since I'd had a pretty bad infection. Unfortunately, in adults she said the fluid can take a long time to completely drain away in there...like up to a month! So, I'm just going to have to live with it for a month (if it lasts that long) and then go back. However, it's already improved a lot, thank goodness!

We met back up with Jason after awhile to grab smoothies before driving home for nap and Q.T. Friday is "textile day" for laundry and normally I'll pull sheets off a bed to wash them and then I put them right back on...saves filling up the baskets with dirty sheets from 3 beds and also saves on trying to wrestle with attempting to fold a fitted sheet... But anyway, since it's getting so warm it was time to be done with E's flannel sheets and just put on his regular sheets...but since I didn't have to wash the flannel right away Easton and I made him a little flannel sheet fort for his quiet time:


From the sounds of it, he's really enjoying it up there...quietly. :) Perhaps I should go play too!