Rough Start

Most mornings at our household are acceptable. A few are good. Occasionally we have a great start to the day--which is remarkable given that there are three preschoolers and a night owl mommy in the household. Once in a while we have a very rough start to the day.

Like this morning. I was in my bedroom typing up a blog post. I could hear some minor dissension coming from the children's bedroom. They were getting dressed. I ignored the static. It continued. Then it radically escalated.

I, and soon after Kara, arrived in the bedroom to discover a half-dressed, crying five year old male, a naked three year old male, and a still-in-bed three year old female. According to the girl, the younger boy had pushed the older boy and he'd fallen and hit his head on the wood corner of her trundle bed. Ouch.

Why did the three year old male attack the five year old male?! Uh...because they are boys? I grew up with two brothers close in age and there was a lot of pushing and shoving and fighting. Not every minute of the day, but certainly most days involved a tussle or two. I think it's a sign of affection between brothers when they beat on each other.

In this particular case, there was a precipitating event. The older brother did something with the younger brother's underwear. The details were not clear from my investigation. The stories, something about a pair of Wally underwear, did not mesh. The bottom line is that the older brother was teasing the younger brother (again) and finally the younger brother reacted. Predictably. Violently.

Both boys got lectures. (Like that's going to change their future behavior.) No major damage was done to the five year old's skull. Incidentally, the three year old claims he did NOT push the five year old into the bed frame. (In his reality he might have pushed him, but falling on the corner of the bed frame wasn't connected. Can he be blamed if his brother is clumsy?)

Kara went back in to talk to the boys again because there was more static. She told Jake if he was going to be difficult today (he's been easily upset lately) that he could just stay in the craft room on his own all day. His response? "Oh no, don't you talk to me. I'll throw a book at you." It's going to be long day. I think I'll go buy some chocolate. And ear plugs. And shin guards. And a hair net. (Jake likes to smear his tears and snot on my face and in my hair. YUCK! It makes him giggle, but it makes me...wet, sticky, and snotty. Not my favorite experience.)