Anonymous

For the past 3 years that I have been doing this blog I have had nothing but a good experience.  I have chosen not to make it private because I didn't see the importance. I thought, "I'm not posting anything provocative or would mind if random people read it." I know lots of people who cruise the blog sites and find interesting blogs to read.

I have just had my first encounter that has made me second guess that. I received a comment on the, Safety Net, post.  It was a post of a serious nature and while I didn't go into details, those closest to me have heard the story. The comment read that at the age of 5 Aiden shouldn't have anything that was difficult or confusing to him. And asked what I had done as a parent to make him feel that way.

My first inclination was to make my blog private. But you know what? F that. I am not going to close myself up because some jackass thinks they have enough knowledge (of what? Childhood development? My life?) to make an assumption. I wish I knew who it was, though find it cowardly that they would sign it "Anonymous" rather then with who they are. I wonder how someone could be so brazen as to make the comment they made without the maturity to take ownership of it. 

So, "Anonymous" let me clue you into something. There are lots of difficult things that happen to children all along the way with differing levels of seriousness.  There are lots of things that Aid finds difficult and confusing at 5. He finds it difficult that he has to brush his teeth before bed. He is confused as to why he isn't going to the same school as preschool friends. Or maybe, just maybe something happened that is a little bit more serious. How could you possibly pretend to know what I was talking about and if it was out of the scope of my control?  Children get cancer, children are abused, children lose parents and loved ones. The possibilities of things that could happen to a 5 year old are endless.

I just ask that anyone reading the blog be thoughtful before they post a response that may be hurtful. I'm a little shocked I have to request that.

You, "Anonymous" crossed a line.

Evil Twin

Me: "Aid, please stop talking to your brother like that. I know that you can be a nice and fun big brother and play with him. I like that Aid, where is he?"

Aid: "Uh....he's upstairs."

Perfect.

Fifth Birthday party!

Insanely large dragon jumpy castle
Blue bakugan birthday cake
Dinosaur balloons
Best friend Sam
Best School Friend (with same birthday) Bradley
Candy
Presents!

Burned cheek from trying to blow out candles prior to party
Flooded basement
Thunderstorms followed by crazy humidity
Sweating guests since AC wasn't working
Dear friends who help set up and then run home to get their cameras since ours is once again broken

It had a little bit of everything today. And he loved all of it.

Mosquito Hell

Well, we went camping.

Then we came home. Because the mosquitoes ran us out.

After they ate Grant's face off.

Now, I know that mosquitoes are inevitable when you go camping. I also know that Minnesota, in all it's beauty, has a higher then normal number of the little blood suckers. I was not prepared for the attack at this camp sight.

We got out of the car, and they swarmed us. Literally. I looked over at Grant who had at least 10 on his face. So we ate as quickly as we could and hid out in the tent. He looked like he had chicken pox by the time we left.

I can't recall much else. It may have been fun to make smores, where they only ate the marshmallows. It may have been bonding to stay up with Aid and read until the wee hours of the night. I may have even been able to tell a good story about how when we were driving home our cooler flew off the car and Bob had to collect all the food on the side of the highway he could since it had to last us the rest of the week. All good stories.

But all I can remember is the mosquitoes.

Camping Adventures

We are going camping tomorrow. It will be our first official family trip and we are all excited. But it didn't start that way...

For the last few days I have been prepping Aid. Because I know my son, I know he needs a bit of preparation time, some time to adjust to an new idea. But he has been completely anti camping. Thought it sounded "horrible" as he explained why he didn't want to go.

He got a bit more excited when we bought our new tent! But that too was fleeting when he realized that we were not just camping in our backyard, but in the woods. Which are "too spooky."

So I have been on a mission to try and sell the camping trip. We told his teacher about it at school. We bought little flashlights and lanterns just for them. We pulled out any books about camping that we could find. I even tried to explain the beauty of the smore.

Finally I tried bribery. What about a new book to bring camping with you? And you can pick out some chips! Yes! I am not above bribery and thought that as long as I got him there with relatively minimal incident he would love it as we do. No go. He picked out his camping book, but then proceeded to yell at me the entire rest of the Costco trip. I was mean, life was unfair, I am just a little bumble bee anyway (!?!). He got his new camping book taken away from him and I forgot the chips. It was a challenging store trip.

But Bob had set up the tent. So Aid walked in to see our cool new tent in the backyard. He sprinted past me and within moments had moved all of his pillows into the tent as well as his dinosaurs and books. He ran in and gave me a hug and said, "Thank you for letting us go camping mom! It's going to be a great adventure."

He can be a little difficult. I found myself hysterically laughing in the kitchen. I have spent the last few days in 5 year old hell arguing over this trip and now it's going to be a great adventure?!!!

When as a mother can you officially begin just responding with "I told you so."