When the world turns its back on you...

.....You turn your back on the world. Or put a box on your head, if one is available. After a fight with Ethan, Nate decided he wanted to put a box on his head for the night. I tried to talk to him to find out why he was doing this, but only monk-like silence came out of the box. Not a peep. Not a grunt. Even when Alex decided it must be a game and began to run around laughing and smacking the box around, he didn't move or make a sound.

Everyone was supposed to be in bed, but Nate refused to budge. So I left him in the living room while I put the rest of the kids to bed. I tried talking to him to see if I could help, but he wouldn't speak or even nod.

I entertained the thought of ripping the box off his head and dragging him to his room, but thought it might be better to just let him sit there until he either got up and went to bed or fell asleep.

After an hour had passed, I decided it was time and took my box-headed child's hand and guided him to his bed. He climbed into bed and tried to find a position which would allow him and his box to sleep together comfortably, but boxes on your head can make for a fitful nights sleep. (It was a good thing he had a box on his head though, because I could barely contain my laughter. lol)

I peeked in the handhold hole on the side of the box and said, "Nate, maybe if you got rid of your pillow, your box would lay down more flat and be more comfortable".

Nate whimpered back, "But Mom, I can't sleep without my pillow. I'll be uncomfortable".

"Hmm. How 'bout you take the box off your head then, so you can sleep comfortably on your pillow?"

"No."

After a few more minutes of trying to talk him into sleeping on feathers instead of cardboard, I said in a more stern voice, "Well, Nate, you can't keep the box on your head all night. I don't want you to suffocate."

"It doesn't smell good in here either."

"I can imagine. Let's take it off." I took the box off his head, gave him a hug and covered him up. I asked him if he was OK and he said he was, so I didn't press it. I just wanted to go relax and fall asleep. Exhausted from the day, I slowly walked out of his room, when I heard this tiny voice say, "I love you, Mom".

That's when I realized why my parents haven't killed me yet. I, too, had said little "I love you" statements after being punished for seeing a forbidden R rated movie or getting in trouble while fighting with my sister over whether the arm rest sitting between us should be up or down during the 24 hour drive from Arizona to Oregon.

The only reason I'm still here is because my parents also decided that my "I love you" voided any thought they may have had of strapping me and my sister to the top of the van so they could ride in peace. And for that same reason, Nate narrowly avoided being strung up by his toes and whipped with a wet noodle.

The Best Laid Plans...

Since I was working from home this summer, I thought it would be great to blog all the time, have the kids write penpal letters, turn them into prodigy NASA scientists, go on a vacation, take tons of pictures of all the fun things we were going to do, finally file all those papers stacked in the corner, get the kids swim lessons, learn a new language, run a marathon, and I'm sure a million other things were on my list of "What I Want to Do This Summer". But what I REALLY did all summer was stare at the wall in a daze while the kids stared at the Wii. (5-6 hours of sleep a night and 100+ degree heat with only a swamp cooler will do that to ya. lol)

So, though my plans went awry, I still happened to take a couple of pictures here and there. Here are a few from when Mom came down to visit. After much "convincing" (she pretty much had to smack me upside the head to wake me up from my sleep deprived stare), we took the kids swimming. Daddy even got to come along!

Since I failed to get the kids swim lessons, this outting was most interesting. Nathan had a few scares where his head went under water for a few seconds or a Katie-induced wave crashed into his face. Though grandma helped him stand up or wipe the water from his face within a few seconds, he made it more difficult by thrashing around like a shark had hold of his leg, which can be a difficult feat in 3 feet of water. ;-)

Later, in true Willie fashion, he recounted his near-death experiences by saying, "The water consumed my whole head for like 20 minutes! I couldn't breathe. I almost died. Whew!"

Then there's our fearless Katiebug.

We had lots of fun while grandma was visiting! And though I haven't learned a new language, the kids brilliant studies this summer haven't prompted a call from NASA or Matt Lauer, and the papers are still sitting in the corner waiting to be filed, I'm thinking I should at least fulfill the "go on a vacation" plan. Maybe the last weekend before we head back to school, we can come up to Cali for a visit. Here's to hopin'! ;-)