An update on the terrorist…
Listen, I really hate to even type this out FOR FEAR I JINX IT.
But, for you all, I will because I owe it to you.
And because I can’t have you all thinking my kid is perpetually terrible.
I’m not saying he’s fully reformed, but I think I shall now classify him as a “happy boy with mild terroristic tendencies” (even though they can be acute at times.) <<<I typed that in a very quiet whisper.
I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what caused the change. I’d like to tell you all it’s because I was a terrific counter, and I controlled my temper, and I modeled perfect behavior. I wasn’t, I didn’t, I don’t.
I think the change in him comes from a lot of things:
From me, it was an effort on my part to cut him some slack, recognizing that he can sense my frustration and trying to eliminate unnecessarily frustrating situations (which is incredibly hard when I’m writing on a deadline and he’s home from school for summer vacation), and working REALLY HARD at rewarding his positive behavior.
From him, and this is the big one, I think it was just time and growth. The kid has grown up this summer. He has actual conversations with us. Ones that involve sentences like, “Sometimes I get really mad when I can’t play golf in the house.” Ones that we can then, in turn, explain, “I’m sorry that makes you mad, but sometimes it’s not okay to play golf in the house. We’ll have to find more time to play it outdoors when it cools off.” And it’s almost like he gets it.
But I think the biggest thing that’s lead to this change is giving him acceptable outlets to let off steam. He played t-ball this summer, and he plays Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort every. single. day. I do not feel one fraction of an ounce of guilt over that. It was 100+ for 41 days in a row here. That Wii has been a sanity-saver this summer. (It was given to me, I have to disclose that I’m a Nintendo Ambassador, but I genuinely love that thing for this very reason.)
And yes, most of the time we let him play golf in the house.
Kendall is 3 years 3.5 months and Leyna is 7.5 months old.