Let me introduce you to the greatest joy and biggest pain in my life, Foster. Foster is my first-born whom we affectionately call, The Bugaboo. I’m convinced that behind those big brown eyes, he is actually the Devil. The day after tomorrow he turns 4 years old. It’s hard to believe. I really don’t know where the last 4 years have gone but I wouldn’t repeat them. The bigger he gets, the better, and less laundry I have to do all by myself. Buga, (because we’re efficient people) is such a good combination of his daddy and I. Unfortunately, I think he has a little too much of mommy though, hence the Devil. He’s really a good kid but the most obstinate thing I’ve ever tried to teach. Mike and I have absolutely zero control over him. He’s a good listener when he wants to be and a horrible listener when he wants to be. He likes to press our buttons. The thing is, I didn’t have children to have my buttons pressed. If I wanted my buttons pushed to the brink of insanity, I would walk into Wal-mart any day of the week and hang out for 5 minutes. No, I’m a smart girl – I had children to help clean my house, maintain the yard and do the laundry. It worked for my great-grand parents and who am I to break tradition? The problem is, trying to survive the ages that pass before they are old enough to manage a lawn mower is just about enough to kill you. Foster is in a phase. Or is he? This phase has been going on now for about a year and a half. The – I will not listen, I don’t care what you threaten me with – phase. To put it simply, it sucks. What are we doing wrong? We feel we’ve tried everything, even corporal punishment – gasp!-
That’s right, I’m so good that out of desperation one time, I popped Buga’s hand. He popped me right back and followed up with “why’d you hit me?” What? What do I do with that? So yeah, I do think there is something to hitting teaches hitting and that was the end of corporal punishment in our house.
Then there are times when he’s the sweetest, most loving angel you’ve ever seen. Times when he’s polite, uses manners, listens and even rubs my feet. He’s a loving big brother and jovial friend to all of our neighbors. Even when he prays at night, he asks for blessings on “all of the people in the whole world.” I think somewhere in the last 4 years, he’s learned something good. Perhaps we’ve built some sort of foundation that houses solid humanity inside this little creature. Time will tell…I sure hope it slows down.
Happy Birthday Buga, Mommy’s so proud of you.
What up
Strawberries & Collard Greens 