One of THOSE Days

To say the past few weeks have been trying in our house would be an understatement. We were never blessed with the Terrible Two's, the Three's were also pretty smooth, and the Four's? I would hesitate to say a cake walk, but still pretty easy.

But the Five's? Calgon, take me away!

It seems that almost overnight, our sweet, charming, polite, no-trouble-at-all, perfect specimen of a child has turned into a mouthy, can't-keep-his-hands-to-himself, rude child. All I have to say is that when he acts like that, he is not my son!

We have scratched our heads and wondered is it the upcoming changes? Kindergarten? New baby? Those are things that are all six plus months away! Regardless, this is the exchange that took place on Brookside Circle at 6:45A.M. on Friday morning.

Me: "Tyler, please come into the bathroom and brush your teeth."
Tyler (sitting on the floor, playing with his Legos): "NO! I want to finish this first!"
Me: "You know the rule. No playing with toys until you are all dressed in the morning."
Tyler: " I don't care."
Me: "I am going to count the three, and then I will take away your Legos if you are not in the bathroom."
Tyler: "Fine! But I am bringing my plane with me."

At this point I am not going to argue anymore and accept the compromise. He comes into the bathroom, carrying his Lego plane that he has been building. I now have to remind him that he needs to brush his teeth. He then half-heartedly swings at me, knowing that will be cause for more trouble on his end...

Tyler: "Stupid mommy." and "I hate you." and "Stupid dummy mommy." and "You are really a stupid dummy."

At this point, I wanted to wring his neck and bust out laughing. So what did I do? I took a page from the parent of the year book that I authored and said:

"It's really too bad that I am so stupid because you are my son and that must make you stupid too."

Guess what? He brushed his teeth and we made it to school without any more incidents! That is, until we got to school and I realized I forgot to bring in something for Show and Tell. I went over to where Tyler was hanging his jacket and apologized for forgetting. You know what he told me (the same kid who was a monster from an hour earlier)?

"That's okay mommy, we had a really rough morning."

And with that simple exchange, I knew that the cranky monster from earlier was gone, at least for a little while. I also knew I needed to give hugs and kisses and leave quickly so I could go cry at the sweetness of the moment.

P.S. I said for a little while.