Temper Tantrums...

When we last left this poor lonely blog we had announced the matching up of a child with our family...since then we've not only visited this child but have permanently moved him into our home...and it has been all drama all the time folks!! Some days even the dogs start looking at him wondering if he's for real!

Several summers ago we babysat our friend's Bichon Frise for the summer...we used to walk around the neighborhood with our two puppies (aka miniature ponies) and hers and laugh about how the neighbors were probably scratching their heads wondering "what the F*&K?"...which led us down the path to the following nicknames for the dogs...Knuck (short for knucklehead), Chuck (short for chucklehead) and F*&k...so we thought that a new nickname was in order for the latest addition to the family...anyone out there seen the movie Jarheads? Well we are now embracing The Suck! And while it sounds pretty miserable of us to have given such a nickname, I'm sure those out there that have adopted an older child might also fondly remember this phase...the testing...the defiance...the temper tantrums....the generalized horrid behavior...and think to themselves how fitting.

Nanny 911 and the World's Strictest Parents would probably be out of their league...and the amusing part is that despite all of the talking amongst yourselves, we as parents have to find our own niche in parenting and go with it...this role for me really hasn't changed much...before the hierarchy of the house was something like this according to the big dog...Jack, his master, the pesky, upbeat other dog in the house and the lady that feeds us while the master works....now the hierarchy stands at...Jack, his master, the pesky, upbeat other dog in the house, the kid who throws temper tantrums every few minutes but still gives us treats and the lady that feeds us while the master works and when the treat kid forgets to. It's all about knowing your place...and let me tell you, if I forget, sooner (like within the next millisecond) the kid that throws temper tantrums every few minutes but still gives us treats will remind me of it when he blissfully ignores or downright says "No" to any and all requests made by the lady that feeds us while the master is away.

Over the weekend I thought it might be fun to do a little science experiment...one in which I tally how many times I get told "I don't want to" (51), "why" (7), "I'm not" (12), "I don't like" (12), "I can't" (11), "hate" (5), "No" (8) or just blissfully ignored (18)...in six hours folks...six hours...if I had only known that my research paper should have been on such a topic instead of the use of radio-frequency detection systems for sponge counting in surgery in an effort to reduce retained sponges following procedures I would not only have written my paper but I'd have collected my data and probably gotten a "A+"...for the paper....not my parenting skillz...and been on the fast tract to a PhD! Oh and just for fun (and so you know that I still believe in being fair) I had did have a category for cooperation...you know, giving him the benefit of the doubt...sadly, there wasn't a doubt, much like there wasn't even 1 single tally mark next to the category....embrace The Suck Coleybear....embrace The Suck!

Well it's obvious...if you haven't figured out already by reading this blog...I'm not totally the warm fuzzy type but I did look at the skinned knee and offer a band-aid the other day as well as made a really nice ice bag for the "sprained" wrist, so I'm not totally heartless...and while this experience so far has definitely required me to channel my inner psychological warfare tactics I am going to give it a thumbs in the middle so far...you know....well at least they tell me so...it does get better...hopefully I'll be able to change that thumb in the middle...but in the mean time I'll continue to video tape the temper tantrums and embrace The Suck...as long as he figures out one of these days that I will win or die trying!