Let it never be said that I am overconfident in parenting.
If anything, I’m quite the opposite. Since Bryan and I married, there has been a shift in our family; The Boy had a few adjustment issues. The kicker was that the issues were NOT in our household. They only happened at BioMom’s house, which presented a significant problem in OUR house. We often had to continue a punishment for a crime which we did not witness.
And yes, this has been happening since October. And oddly enough, he only seems to be under restriction during our weekends.
Subsequently, I have been dreading our weekends with The Boy. Which is, might I say, retarded. He is still a perfect little boy, with those deep belly laughs, and smiles wider than the Mississippi. But I am always fearful that he will begin the tantrums he has been throwing at BioMom’s house. And I will have to kill him.
But this weekend.. this weekend was perfect. Let me just share some of the ways that this weekend filled a void I was scared would never be whole again:
- Friday night, we played a long round of “Questions.” Questions, as you may have guessed, is a game where The Boy can ask us questions. As many as he fancies, and he keeps score. The winner, he determined, for Friday night’s game would be allowed to read his new chapter book. When I won, I asked that he read it with me.. we alternated pages. Then Bryan sat on the other side of him, and we all three read pages. And then.. are you sitting down?.. The Boy said, “Can we turn the tv off? I’m having trouble reading.” OHMYGOD.
- Saturday morning was rehearsal for Pinocchio, and The Boy was going to have to sit still for THREE. WHOLE. HOURS. So I packed a bag of books, coloring books, pencils, etc to keep him occupied. He sat and watched every scene, laughing his signature belly laughs whenever Bryan or I was onstage. Afterwards, as he read Bryan’s script, he said, “I’ve already told my mom I want to do something like this.” OHMYGOD.
- Then we went and watched Bridge to Terabithia. OHMYGOD.
- Scout’s first birthday party was this weekend (see pics at my Flickr site), and The Boy was SOOOOO sweet to the younger kids. He really took a shine to Helen, and kept taking her hand to see if she wanted to come play. He and Mikey had a blast too, getting all good and muddy like boys should. (No OHMYGOD necessary.)
All in all, we had a great weekend. Cause all in all, we’re a pretty great family.

Restrictions? For someone elses house? Not here. If the kids are grounded here they’re grounded with the parent that punished them. That is, except for school related punishments.
It doesn’t make sense any other way.
Well, we’re trying to show a good-faith effort for consistency between the two houses, in hopes that should WE ever declare a punishment, it is followed through at the other house. That’s the thought there.
However, we’ve NEVER had to punish him for any length of time (we’ve had time outs and temporary restrictions), so it’s really just sucky.