November 27th, 2007 by Atomictumor
Through an odd twist of fate, tonight saw PigpenJuicebox and I alone for the evening. MastaG went out with Realtorchick (with whom some, um, business transactions are rolling) to some Christmas parade way the hell up in Kingston, and the Lady had to work.
When he got off the bus today, he said “I had a hard day”. He’s been an interesting nut lately, and I’ve felt like he and I are reaching a crossroads of sorts, where he’s growing, or evolving, or something, and I’m not 100% sure which way the whole things going. Not that I think he’s going rotten or something, hell, he’s 5, and the sweetest boy who ever walked the earth, but of the two kids, it was always MastaG that I related to more, Juicebox is a Mama’s boy. I think, if thought patterns are hereditary (and hell, they probably are, being that its mostly caused by fatty tissue and a tangled up christmas light knot mess of nerves), then my oldest inherited mine, and my youngest inherited GAC’s.
Which kinda puts a bit of a crimp on me, for obvious reasons.
But I’m digressing.
Hes gotten to the whole “being sneaky and doing what it takes to get what you want” point, and in his case, what he frequently don’t want is
a) to go to bed
b) to go to school
c) to do anything that, well, he doesn’t want to do
and the way he’s been achieving that needful has been by pulling the old “dad’s screwing up his youngest son’s childhood card”. It can be something like crying at bedtime because he’s afraid to be on his bunkbed. The same bunkbed that he spent the previous 3 hours playing on prior to bedtime, without a problem. Or that he needs a light on in his rather well lit room, when he never needed it before (this one started prior to moving, for all those who think they’ve got it figured out).
Sometimes its hitting us with the old “everybody at school calls me names” trick. When I press him for names, tho, I just get “everybody”. He didn’t have a problem giving me names of who was, say, the leader, or who sat beside him and across from him at lunch, or who was behind him in line, or all the kids that he’s tickled to see outside when he heads into school. Nope, I’m convinced that the boy’s trying to snow us.
I haven’t had a chance in a while to get some good one on one time with the boy lately, so tonight I had a good opportunity for that.
(now that I’ve wrangled myself back to the point)
We left Realtorchicks house, and the boy was hungry. I suprised him with some “Old Mcdonalds”, which is that evil place with the big ass yellow M of doom. The kid loves the place, he’s five, give him a break. We had supper, and then we had ice cream, and then we played on the playground. Spent a good 2 hours in that place, and had a great time.
After that, as we were going over to the petstore, the boy called me all sorts of interesting names and tried to steal my hat from the backseat. Now, this is after, lest I forget, his insistence that he drive, which ultimately had me outside the drivers door holding the keys while he sat in the drivers seat and went “broom broom broom”.
Interesting names:
- Donkey
- Reindeer Donkey
- White Hippopotamus
- Snowflake Hippopotamus
- Reindeer Hippopotamus
- Snowflake Reindeer
I’m sure there were more, but it was a short drive.
So, we got to the petstore to see the Ladyfriend, and he wandered all up and down looking at the lizards and toads and ferrets and all the little critters that completely captivate the imagination of my imaginative 5 year old boy. He got to touch the snakes. He got to watch the fiddler crabs fight over a dead fish. He did not, alas, get to watch the snake eat a rat (a highlight of his day, seriously), because they had already been fed. Bummer.
After that, the coup de grace, a trip to Walmart to buy Shrek 3, which was the plan since being at McDonalds, where the evil little nazi happy meal toy was a Shrek toy. They weave a tight little web, they do.
So, par for the course, we left Walmart with Ratatouille, because it was on the shelf right next to Shrek, and we both agreed that it’d be more fun to watch tonight while waiting for MastaG to get home (where the hell IS that kid anyway???)
We were doing so well, so well, until we got to the thrice damned gumball machine on the way out the door, which ate my last quarter. As I was walking out explaining that sometimes machines break, and don’t do what we want them to do, he was already getting into a little bummed out mood. Not fussy, mind you, but the sullen little pouty Juicebox that comes out when life just doesn’t give him what he wants.
By the time I pulled up at the house, 5 minutes later, he was asleep.
Still is.

November 27th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I wanna squeeze on that boy! Squeeze him for me, okay?
November 27th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
What a little sweetheart. There’s no one in this world like ol’ Juicebox, bless his heart. AT, have I told you before that I think you’re an amazing dad? ‘Cause I do.
Give that little sleepy bratty boy a kiss on the cheek for me. And make sure to tell him who it’s from. I sure love you guys!
November 27th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Man, that little turd’s getting big!!!!
November 27th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Children are one of God’s ways of humbling us. I have been trying to figure them out for 32 years. Every time I think I have it figured out…another surprise…and more humility. Enjoy the journey and all the learning experiences (for you and them). I’m still looking for an instruction book to download.
Your children are precious.
November 27th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
You have several faithful readers way the hell up here in Kingston. Glad to know G was part of our “huge” celebration this year. As the mother of three boys I can say with experience that Juicebox is going through what I like to call a spell and he’ll eventually get over it and you’ll all be happier for it.
You have the patience of Job to spend two hours in that place…
November 28th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Hmmm. We’ve got the “everyone calls me names” thing going on here, too.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:35 am
The pic looks a lot like a little G….I guess that would be spelled g. (Prior to the haircut)
November 28th, 2007 at 8:09 am
What a cutiepie! I just want to eat him up!