The Hude Family Circus

You know, I love my kids. I think they are awesome. They do amazing things. Have great personalities.  They are eveything a mother could ever hope for.

But if you were ever to be in a restaurant with us at the same time, you may be just be fortunate enough to witness The Hude Family Circus.

Although their fear of bugs hasn't gotten much worse, neither has it improved. And I still find myself shocked that my 11 year old girl and 9 year old boy could be reduced to toddler age over.....a fly. Yep. A little old stinkin' fly.

Today while at the IHOP for breakfast - a restaurant we don't have at home - the patrons saw an awesome spectacle. My son, with chocolate milk in hand, was the first to see the *monster fly*. The chocolate milk almost coloured the booth fabric a beautiful light brown. Rescuing the chocolate milk (and my son from a most UNcomfortable form of discipline should he have sent the milk flying), the chaos only continued. For my lovely daughter caught sight of the offensive varmint. What resulted over the next five minutes was something like this:

Hannah: Teensy scream....and a duck down in the booth.

Mom: "Hannah! Sit up now!" in a LOUD, urgent whisper.

Seth: At this point, crouching as well says a loud, "Aaahh!"

Dad: "Seth David! Get up now and calm yourself!" in a much louder whisper (he isn't quite as concerned about making a spectacle of himself as I am).

This process was repeated several times, almost verbatim, over the next five or so minutes, except that Seth actually lay down in the booth and Hannah almost slid under the table. This is not even a slight exaggeration.

I was sure the restaurant patrons were expecting to see a bird.....or something like it.....swooping down on my kids trying to make a nest in their hair, based on their behaviour. And if they didn't see the kids, or hear their minor wail, they just may have heard their parents' sharp rebuke and wanted to call Child Protective Services.

We are on vacation. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing. On vacations a family tends to eat out more than usual. I think I will fast the remainder of this trip if this is any indication of what our next time eating out will be. 

Here is hoping The Hude Family Circus has packed up and left town.

Confession Is Good For The Soul

It's been so long I almost forgot my password. And how to type. Or how to make a half decent sentence.

 

But I'm going to try.

 

Today I had a phone call from my eldest sister, letting me in on a little insider information about some behaviour she witnessed from my precious, darling, sweet little lamb of a.....son. Apparently he pushed a boy (who is five years younger) for no obvious reason, resulting in the boy falling. As well, my lil-ol'-sweetie-pie ignored her when she instructed him to apologize.

 

According to my charming lad, this boy was coming toward him to *bug* him. Bug him? BUG HIM? Imagine my surprise that my son doesn't like to be....bugged. The biggest pest of our household (and about half of the city's too, I'm sure) doesn't enjoy the favour being returned to him. I told him I would have a talk with dad when he came home tonight.

 

I didn't forget, as I'm sure he hoped I would. While he was eating a bedtime snack in the kitchen, I relayed the conversation to his dad, and we talked about suitable consequences. The whole time I knew Seth was in the kitchen, but I wasn't entirely certain he was listening to us because we weren't talking really loud and sometimes he reads while eating. So, I was surprised when dad went on the hunt for Seth, only to find him......curled up in bed for the night with the light off.

 

He was, umm, a little concerned. And I held back this ripple of laughter trying to come out of me.

 

He walked tentatively out of his room for a good old chat with mama and papa.

 

Now, the chat went really well, actually. He explained his position again - that he was just defending himself from being bugged. We explained that it was really too bad what he thought, and that if the worst thing this boy was going to do was be a pest, he should be able to take it very easily since he was the King of the Pest Kingdom. We also said that under no circumstance is it acceptable to push, or hit him. Then we discussed what his consequence would be.

 

A good 20 minutes into the conversation, he decided it was a good time to come clean on the fact that he disobeyed his grandma while at her house by jumping on the rocker when she said not to.

 

Scandalous!  As if it was the only thing he ever disobeyed her for! But, it was cute.

 

It was the kind of confession that I had to turn my head away from him to hide my smirk. He was so earnest. So we very seriously told him that he needed to obey his grandma.

 

Later, after he was in bed for a while, this was obviously weighing on his mind. He called me into the bedroom.

 

"Mom, is it alright if I tell __________ (the older brother and his best friend) that my mom and dad said to stay away from ___________ (the younger brother who was victim of Seth's push), because he is such a pest?"

 

I said that he absolutely could NOT say that since that isn't what we said. We told him that if he got so annoyed by the younger brother that he needed to remove himself from his presence until he could learn how to react properly. I told him that if he felt a need to explain this to is best bud, then he needed to make sure his friend understood that he (himself) had the problem. Not his parents. 

 

A little later, while kissing Hannah good night, she had a little confession of her own.

 

"Mom, sometimes _________ (oldest sister, and her best friend) and I grab ____________ (the little pest, and brother) and hold him until he stops being a pest. I heard your discussion with Seth. I probably shouldn't do that, should I?"

 

And I sit here tonight smiling. Smiling because I have two kids with a super-duper conscience. Seth confessed something totally unrelated to our discussion. And Hannah confessed something as a result of our conversation. Neither one had to, we wouldn't have known the difference.

 

But, confession is good for the soul. And my kids sleep in peace tonight. And I sit here with a smile.