Last week I was up in my room doing something when I heard a VERY loud crash downstairs. The boys had been down there playing and chasing each other around the circle making their usual ruckus so after hearing the crash I cautiously came downstairs afraid of what I might find. It didn't take me long to spot my favorite roman numeral wall clock (that I've had for years) busted to pieces on the floor. I looked across the room to see my 7 year old son holding a long piece of racetrack (which the boys frequently use as a "light saber") in his hand. Now Jacob is not usually the one who breaks things in our house and so I thought, (given his proximity to the clock), that it was possible that this was just a crazy coincidence and it fell off the wall on its own. I was so upset though, I didn't know what to say or do. I really didn't think that he had done it (because it really is so unlike him) but feeling the need to blame someone I said in a very threatening way, "I am seriously going to freak out if I find out you were swinging that thing around and knocked my clock off the wall! Did you do it?!!" I felt my blood starting to boil and whether he did it or not I was in real danger of losing it.....Then, like a bucket of water poured on a fire he looked at me and said cautiously, "Yes, I did it." The anger went away and I was filled with respect and admiration at his honesty. I am still so sad and upset about my clock though!
Earlier this week I heard Benjamin putting something in the kitchen trash (his pull-up from the night before) and getting mad because the lid would not open. It has a motion activated sensor that usually makes it open on its own but the battery is low, and I haven't taken the time to replace them so it's been wigging out. Anyway, I heard him grumbling about it and then heard him smack the lid. I didn't think much of it until later in the day when I walked past the trash and noticed that the lid was open. I tried to close it manually but it was jammed. When I looked closer I discovered that a plastic hinge on a roller had been cracked and busted off -definitely not something that can be fixed. So now I guess I can scratch changing the batteries off my to-do list since either way the lid will never open on its own again.......any guesses on who broke that one?
Last night I'm in the other room when I hear Aaron say..... "What are you doing!?!" When I ran in to see what had happened I found the lamp knocked on the floor and the shade bent and busted. Benjamin appeared from the corner with a sheet tied around his neck like a cape. Apparently he had jumped out from his hiding place under the lamp table and when he emerged his extra long "cape" caught on the cord and pulled the lamp right off the table. Aaron managed to "fix" it for the time but told me not to touch it or it would fall apart. Nice. Actually this didn't bother me that much because I've been wanting to replace the shades on the lamps in that room anyway. Still,.....chalk up another one for Ben.
Also this week, Aaron and I came upstairs to go to bed and when we pulled back the blankets to climb in what did we see? Black permanent marker graffiti of a race car on our ivory sheets! Now if these were any other sheets I would not have been so upset but I had just that day put on our ONLY pair of really nice sheets. Aaron saw it before I did and looking down at the cute little picture of a race car he suppressed a smile as he knew that would probably be the straw that would break my camel's back. I guess after everything else that had been shattered, broken and destroyed from the week all I could do was laugh and breath a heavy "I give up!" sigh.
I don't know why I'm posting this other than to vent my frustration over the many things that have been broken this week. I know in my heart that these are just "things" but it still rips me up inside when I see my nice things damaged or destroyed. Maybe I place too much importance on these things,I don't know.....
I wish that I could add a little lesson at the end here about what I have learned or some spiritual perspective I have gained from this but all I can think of right now is how frustrating this is! I am grateful however to have such sweet, active, imaginative and thriving boys and believe me I do know things could be a lot worse. The reason I'm blogging this is because it is such a rare occurrence for me to have to deal with these things. As a mother of 3 boys I count myself very lucky to have limited experience with dealing with broken things .
Still though, I will miss my clock and automatic trash can lid and will look back on the memory of a time when I didn't have to wake up in the morning and see a race car drawn on my sheet.
7 comments:
I remember how much I freaked when one of the girls drew with marker on our really expensive sectional sofa, and it caused me to seriously wonder if it was worthwhile having anything valuable in my home while my children are young. We buy super cheap furniture for our family room, because I know it will get trashed, but I wanted to have one room in the house that was nice....
At least your boys were breaking things accidentally. When Danna was about 9, she went through a period of deliberately breaking things. She took a broomstick and smacked down the compact florescent bulbs in the playroom (I read much later that they emit a poison gas when broken--don't know if that's true or not.) About that same time, she took a baseball bat and swung it into the wall of the guest bedroom (which is now Ben's and my room) and put four holes in the wall. I remember being mystified more than angry. I kept questioning her trying to understand what made her do those things: she wasn't even in tantrum mode or anything. Definitely not that kind of thing I did as a kid.
These things seem to come all at once, eh? Abe went through destructo mode for a little while but nothing was permanently damaged that couldn't be repainted. Yeah, it's hard to want a nice home, at least a decent one, and see it laid waste by childhood antics. I guess the secret is to just let it go or buy plexiglass cabinets to put valuables behind or come down super hard on less than perfectly quiet, calm behavior, thus permanently damaging your children. My sister just blogged about her five year old throwing a rock at the landlord's biggest window, costing her the $450 she was saving for her new couch to replace the one the kids had already worn to shreds. It's life, as frustrating as it sometimes can be.
We have a nice dent in the upstairs hallway where Sully threw a baseball. I am happy he has a good arm but geez, my wall!
Ana's worst event was burning a whole in the couch. She was building a fort and I was upstairs putting Sully down for a nap, he was a baby and I smelled smoke. She turned the fireplace switch on and the pillow was against it and burnt it was. Still there too just covered up with some throw pillows. I am sorry for the loss of your cute things, it plain STINKS!
I don't have too many destruction stories YET! Madelyn was so good about being careful but Jackson...he will be another story. My time is coming...I can just feel it. I would have cried about the sheets by the way!!!
I'm glad someone feels my pain about the sheets. They were 800 thread count sateen cotton. I got them on overstock.com but they were still pretty pricey. I certainly won't be replacing those anytime soon....):
This all sounds oh so familiar. Isn't it nice to know that your own children are not the only ones who do these things. My children recently wrote with permanent marker on my dining room table? How they got ahold of the marker I will never know.....
Post a Comment