Berry Bush Conference Calls

Bad Mom Alert:
Sometimes Bo comes downstairs and plays on the computer or watches tv while I'm still asleep in the morning.

The kid is painfully trustworthy. He comes and asks me if he can have some rootbeer if he promises to drink a lot of water right after. This strange request comes after a day last week when he kept just popping open cans of soda whenever he felt like it and went a couple of days with no other form of hydration. (the reason he went so soda happy is because we rarely have soda in the house, and he's an opportunistic little fella) Then, we went to the park on a hot day and he got sick from playing so hard and not being hydrated. Yakked all over himself on the drive home. I took the opportunity, as we drove, him with tids and bits of previous meals all over him, to teach him about the importance of water in our bodies.

When he came and asked "Can I have some rootbeer and a lot of water right after it?" I heard, "Can I have a granola bar and a lot of water with it?" I was so very tired. I thought it strange he was asking permission for a granola bar, but I thought the whole water part was more strange. But of course, I mumbled "yes, of course" and rolled over, back to sleep.

Then a few minutes later he showed up with a water bottle full of brown carbonation goodness, asking me to fix the lid so none would spill. More proof that the kid is painfully trustworthy. In our house, drinks stay in the kitchen. However, sometimes I let them have a drink in the living room if it's in a spill-proof bottle, like a sippy cup or a water bottle. He obviously wasn't going to sit in the kitchen by himself, and even though there was no mean mommy around to enforce it, he played by the rules. He is so his father's son.

I said, "Why do you have rootbeer at 6:30 am Bo?" And he said, "You told me I could!" Realizing that I was not coherent or entirely sober, I took his word for it and went back to sleep.

Please don't call DFS on me. But if you must---have them come in the afternoon. So that I can be sure that I'm awake.

And done beating my children.

So yesterday morning Bo was next to my bed bright and early, asking me if it was 8:30 yet. When I told him it was a long ways from 8:30, he said, "Oh good, I don't want to miss 8:30, I'm meeting Caleb!" I thought that was adorable and precious, and I went back to sleep.

At 8:45 he asked again. I told him that it was 8:30. Figuring that he was asking about a cartoon that started at 8:30. I've made the mistake in the past of saying that 8:30 had already passed and then there's a huge meltdown because he's missed 15 minutes of something completely meaningless. And I am a fast learner, if I'm anything. So I don't make that mistake and at our house, it can be any time of the day for any number of reasons, at any given moment.

He grabs his purple light saber (his choice, not mine!) and heads for the front door. He calls out, "All right! I'll see you later mom! I have to go meet Caleb at the berry bush!"

This made me burst out laughing for several reasons. First, he actually thought that at 5 years old, he could just head out the door and call out, "See you later" and that wouldn't be a problem.

Second, "berry bush". That just makes me laugh.

And thirdly, that he and Caleb had a predetermined time and place set up. Do 5 year old kids really do that?

I laughed, told him he couldn't go, calmed down his concerns about standing up his friend, and promised to call his house to make sure another 5 year old kid wasn't standing around some berry bush "at the bottom of the hill" waiting.

I called Caleb's mom and we had a good laugh.

Nice cute story, eh?

Later at about 2:30 Caleb came and knocked on our door. Bo was napping (because he gets up before God intended man to get up, and when I tell him that he says, "I get up when my body has all the rest it needs") so I told Caleb, "Bo's asleep, but as soon as he's awake, I'll tell him to come and get you to play."

Caleb nodded. He was okay with this arrangement. He hopped down the steps and about 3 feet away, turned around scrambled back to the front door.

"You'll have to have him call my mom to call me because I will be at the berry bush!"

I so wish I could be a fly on the wall for their conversations.

"Okay, after my nap, and after you finish all your vegetables, lets totally get together at the berry bush and we'll have a quarterly reconciliation meeting and go over the profit plan for fiscal year '09."