Hyde and Happenings

Poor E had a rough evening. I thought I had a meeting at the church this evening so instead of going home after work, I went to the church early where Steve was to meet us to pick them up. Thirty seconds after I told Jack and Elliot not to go up the cement stairs, Elliot was at the top. When I told him to come down, he started down, then turned to look behind him, lost his balance and fell. In slow motion, I saw him loose his footing, fall to his knees on one step and slide head first to the step three down from that. By a miracle he didn't go any further, I caught him lying face down on the stairs, propped up by one hand. He scrapped both shins and one arm from wrist to elbow. I picked him up and cuddled him, worried about twisted ankles or a broken arm. He cried hard for about 43 seconds, then squirmed away and resumed his running game with Jack and Paxten.

Twenty minutes later at roughly 5:55, no one had shown up for the meeting and we were still locked outside (turns out, the minutes I received by email stated the next meeting is end of August but I didn't read that part). The kids were running back and forth in a small section of sidewalk, enjoying themselves and behaving. I had rung the doorbell intermittently, letting the kids each take a turn. I was going to ring it once more and asked the boys whose turn it was... while they were trying to decide, I had to physically move Elliot away from pushing it without permission three times. On the third time I announced he had lost his chance to do it, it was Jack's turn by default and Elliot freaked out. He screamed, cried, kicked, slammed his hands down, for the next hour and a half. We moved from the parking lot to the car, to a time out spot in the house. With the exception of 10 seconds in our drive when, while I moved Jack from the back row with the Screaming Monster to the middle row with Tink, Elliot looked at me with wet but wide, clear eyes and a serious expression on his tear streaked face and said the pennies he had just found and given to Jack were still shiny even though they were found in a dusty spot - they must be magic. I was able to tell him he was very kind to give the pennies to Jack and agreed they must be magic before he started screaming again.

Throughout this rampage, he was given warnings of extended time outs and eventually early bedtime so after supper I took him up to get into pjs, washed his scrapes and applied polysporn, brushed his teeth and laid down with him. I asked him what happened and he tearfully recounted all his transgressions, gave me a big hug and fell asleep. I must say the boy has endurance... maybe instead of soccer or tball we should be nudging him towards marathon training. Perhaps I should have been warned of an imminent appearance of the Dark Side on the way to the church. I heard whining and felt the car shift so I asked the boys what was going on. Jack tattled "Elliot just pulled on my legs and then kicked me!" I always ask for both sides, and usually get very differing responses so Jack and I were both shocked when Elliot responded to my request for his side by saying "I pulled on Jack's legs and then kicked him". As an afterthought, he added a few moments later, "But he started it".

As an infant, Elliot was a terror. He didn't CRY a lot, but he did require soothing a lot of his waking hours to keep him from crying. In desparation, I went to Chapters to find books that would provide solutions. In the foreward of one book it said (roughly quoted) "Children with colick have strong personalities. They will grow up to be either world leaders or criminals, and how we parent them in these formative days will make that distinction". That was way too much pressure for my sleep deprived, frustrated, post partum self, so I stopped reading and returned the book. However, four years later, I see truth in that statement. Elliot is destined for greatness... I just hope he uses his powers for good.

As for the happenings, I had the opportunity to chat a few minutes with our adoption coordinator last night as she hosted a workshop we attended. She confirmed that we will be travelling in September, and today added it will likely be the first or second week leaving the 4th or the 11th. We'll be gone 14-16 days, which is less than I thought but easier for childcare of the Munsters. Two months. That actually sounds like a long way off. I prefer to think of it as "month after next". Summer always goes by fast, I'm sure Sept will be here before we know it.

N