Wednesday, August 13, 2008

His Confidence is Peekin'

Boys.

Yesterday Griffin got into a fight with me because he wanted a movie. He said I said he could watch a movie and I did. But when the time came he saw a cartoon he wanted to watch. Okay, fine. But when that cartoon was over he wanted to watch another cartoon too. AND THAT'S WHEN I TOLD HIM TO DECIDE: MOVE OR CARTOONS. He choose cartoons. And he ended up watching cartoons for two hours.

And then he wanted a movie too.

Um, no. No movie. You chose cartoons.

He tried fighting with me, but I didn't relent. So then he got out his art supplies.


"Mom. I'm very upset with you. See this? Read it."

"Um.... so bad mom? Movie time?"

"No, sound it out."

"So..."

"No. The two o's together make the oo sound. Like smooth."

"Sooobm?"

"No, sound it out."

"I'm sounding it out, Griffin"

"Stooooooo B D"

"What?"

"Stooooooo B D."

"Stupid?"

"Well, that is what it says, Mom."

"I'm a stupid mom for not letting you have movie time?"

"Exactly."

Alrighty, then. I sent him to his room. In our home, "stupid" is a bad word. As is dumb.

Now, I wasn't mad -- this is what kids do. I vividly remember being eight and writing on my bulletin board that my "mom" was a bitch and in my defense my stepmonster was a total bitch. I just didn't realize this would start so early. I mean, he's told me he doesn't like me and I've always handled that well ("You don't have to like me, that's the charming part of this relationship, Griffin!"), but the writing nasty things about me, ouch. And I most certainly didn't expect it to start before he even knew how to write it properly.

Crap.

But, I was more proud of him for sitting down and writing out his feelings. That's good. Even if he has nasty things to say, at least he's sorting them out.

Once he realized that he called me stupid and I was going to show it to Daddy he became very upset and wanted the note back. Because he wanted to make it prettier. Great. Every mommy wants her name with stupid next to it with starts and hearts in glitter. That sounds fabulous.

I gave him another piece of paper and here's what he did with it.


Now, I'm not sure he wrote that more because I am good or because he was trying to prevent Aaron from threatening to spank his butt but he figured out to make me an apology all on his own.

Somehow we've gone from a nursing baby to a child writing me notes. Next up: teen years and how Laura goes bald prematurely.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so funny. I just sent a link to your blog to my mom, so she can read this post, because sometimes, she is SooBD. FYI- I don't think you are a SooBD mom, I think you are F'n AWESOME!

Anonymous said...

That's funny. You can tell that the nice note was a lot harder to write. I'm not getting bad notes yet, but I'm sure I will as soon as my kids think of it. This has been a difficult week.

Chickenbells said...

Oh...hee hee...I used to always tell my mom, "...but, I'll be your very best friend..." When I wanted to get her to do something, and she would reply, "I don't need a best friend." I remember that making me very angry at the time...but I don't remember giving her a note that told her exactly what I thought of her response...He's a very brave boy.

LA said...

We used to write awful notes like that to our parents, make them into paper airplanes, and send them down the stairs while they were watching TV. My mom saved them.

I do love how he is working things out. You are giving him good coping skills. Good mama!

futuregirl said...

I remember when my father and stepmom found the legos I put away (but didn't take apart ... how soobd!) on which I dropped the f-bomb. It was on one of those large green lawn pieces, which was pretty big. I got a spanking, which didn't hurt at all, but I cried anyway to make Dad feel like he was doing a good job.

I love Griffin's creative spelling. I also love that he breaks out the art supplies to help him express his deep anger at you. Perhaps you can teach him to break dance when he's older and you guys can have break dance fights to resolve your teen-parent strife.

Anonymous said...

He's quite the prodigy.

Honestly, I'd take SooBD over most of the things my younger teen has screamed at me in the past two years.

Anonymous said...

I thought it said so bad mom. And tell him he had it right the first time, "mom is god!" :D
its good to know that my kid's not the only one who doesn't like his mom. He always tells me that I should go to work so his dad can stay with him, because he likes him better. 17 hours of labor and that's the appreciation I get!

PamKittyMorning said...

I'm not going to lie to you, its going to get worse before it gets better!!! But you'll miss it when its over!

Me and Him said...

Oh but the stoobd mom with glitter and hearts would have looked lovely framed and hanging on your wall. I think you're a great mum.

Anonymous said...

I laughed. A lot.

I wish JP would write me a nastygram. It's really awesome that that's how Griff deals with his anger. Way to go, Mom!

Happy First Day of School tomorrow, BTW!

Suzie Sews At DOTTY RED said...

BOYS INDEED!!! Love this soooooo (OH no thats as in smooth) much...we also feel the word stupid is not a good word, I can tolerate the odd swear word from my kids but stupid, well thats different

Andrea said...

I dunno if I should laugh cause it's happenening to you or cry cause I know one day it will happen to me. My son is still in the yelling mean things phase from him room during punishment. I can pretend I did not hear them, but a written profession of their anger and disappointment in us? Ouchie!

sltbee69 said...

How funny! What a smart little dude. My girl, as creative as she is, never broke out her art supplies to write me a nasty gram. She just got it over with by screaming at me. Now that she's 11, the eye-rolling has commenced.

~Kat~ said...

oh... that smart kid!
Sage got sent to his room once and when I went to relieve him of his punishment I saw that he wrote in pencil on his door, "Mom is FORBIDDEN from coming in because she is UNFAIR!"
Nice...

Renee said...

I didn't get it at first either. I must be sooobd too!

Angelina said...

you know, I really loved it when Max started writing me notes. It is seriously one of the best things ever. Even when they're trying to illustrate how bad you are as a parent. The whole urge to make it more official by writing it on paper is so funny. We try not to laugh at Max's notes or to cry because they are so cute. We try to take them very seriously publicly and collapse on the floor AFTER he's gone to bed.

I love this post. Griffin's coming of age.

Hey, at least you won't lose all your teeth like I will. You can always wear a hat.

Mia said...

But ya gotta admit it was cute :)

Ali said...

Our nasty notes get hurled down the stairs when a certain someone is sent to his room.

The red is a very emphatic colour choice - your guy has style.

misschris said...

Laughing...

I used to call my mom an M.O.W. for mean ool' witch. Isn't that lovely? I'd put the initials on paper when I was mad. ha.

Anonymous said...

On my fridge is a card made by my son when he was approx the age of yours - in it he says "I love my mom evn when she has alerges" & includes a drawing of me with green snot running out of my nose. what a way to remember our early years. (he's now 24)

Erin M said...

this smile today

and the comment with the green snot portrait? PRICELESS

Soo said...

you'll definitely have to keep those...they're priceless!

Anonymous said...

that is too funny! my mom would actually yell at me from outside my room to stop sticking tongue at her from behind the wall. How did she know??

Anonymous said...

God, I love your blog.

I think you are 'kewl'. That's how the hipsters spell cool now dontcha ya know. :)

Anonymous said...

God, I love your blog.

I think you are 'kewl'. That's how the hipsters spell cool now dontcha ya know. :)