Friday, June 17, 2011

Nerf n Surf

The obliteration of Lego Cinderella continued late in to the evening with Carissa producing an endless stream of models and Sean's firepower growing in strength and magnitude.

Totality of destruction was his ultimate goal.

What did poor Cinderella ever do to deserve such a demise?

And...was the super huge Nerf gun really necessary?  I worried about the safety of my drywall....

Oh the joys of being a child and not a homeowner....

We did take a break to go to the local water park yesterday afternoon.  It wasn't the warmest of days and we had just under an hour before we needed to be back home so I could get ready for work.

The park is not that large and late in the afternoon it's generally only residents.  Carissa and Sean ran off together, happy to be out of mom's watchful eye.  Ashley and I hit the little kids' areas.

I always send them off with the same instructions...  No deep end.  No toilet-bowl (an inverted cone slide that dumps the kids out of the bottom).

Call me strict.  Call me overbearing.  Call me over-protective...

I don't care.

They are my kids.

They also know what time they have to check in with me.  There's a big clock on the wall of the pool house so there's no excuse.

Yesterday, as the two of them were walking past the baby pool, I heard my name being called.  I've lived in this town my whole life so knowing someone at the water park is not unusual.

I looked up to see who had summoned me only to see my son waving from the walkway.

Oh, that's right.  I forgot.

Sean calls me "Frances" in public.

It startles most people when he does that.  Whether it's at a Boy Scout event or at the grocery store, I'll hear "Frances" ring out.

Some might think I'm offended or disrespected but Sean actually has an extremely logical reason for doing so.

According to him, if he calls out "Mom" then a bunch of people turn.  "Frances" is meant only for me.

He's been doing it for as long as I can remember.

Now, is that absolutely clever or does Sean secretly believe that he's putting one over on me?

Does that make him feel cool?

I don't know but I am amused by his little habit.

After Sean called my name, we did our version of sign language to communicate that they had ten minutes left.

Which is another topic to discuss another day.... counting down so Sean knows there's a transition coming.

And then off they went... Happy to have the freedom.  Happy to have the sun out and the water be not so cold.

Would I send Sean off with his friends?  No.  But with Carissa, my future-mom-in-training, I know she'll keep him in line.

More importantly, though, is the fact that Carissa will not hesitate to nark on him should he disobey my rules.

Ahhh... my little grasshopper.  I have trained her well....

No comments:

Post a Comment