We thought we’d do a little experiment today: let our son watch TV for as long as he wants. He got up this morning at 8 a.m., and has been watching ever since. It’s now 3:45 p.m. I’d love it if this screen shot included all his day’s “viewing activity,” but with 32 episodes so far, I can’t fit it all on the screen. (Here’s a partial shot though, and the list is growing with the passage of time.) We’ve also both left the house twice: once for several hours (to go running and to Zumba), and the other just now to get some coffee.
Evidence that he has no idea how much time has passed is when we went upstairs to take him his afternoon pill. He takes the same pill in the morning, and another at 2:30 p.m. We handed it to him and he said, “I already took it.” Yep, like six hours ago…
In the meantime, we’ve cancelled Netflix, deactivated all devices, and changed the password. Turns out doing all that is not instant fix – it takes about eight hours for the system to catch up. So, in the meantime, our son is getting his last hurrah. After tonight, the TV is going into a box in the basement.
Are we horrible parents? I’m sure that in a few days after experiencing withdrawal, our son will certainly think so. But the kid has no ability to entertain himself, engage in imaginary play, or self-soothe. It’s time he develop these skills. I know adults who do nothing but watch television, and they are quite dull with no drive to live life in a meaningful way. So, horrible parents? I think the opposite.
We asked our son to hang up his bathing suit. This is what happened.
Primal crying with no apparent cause: this is a sign that our kid is completely exhausted. This happened last night. Routine tasks that normally wouldn’t be difficult for him to complete become monumental and end with crying, whining, or frustration. Examples from yesterday:
1) We say, “Daddy’s 40th birthday is on Friday.” Two seconds later, we ask, “Why is Friday special?” He has no idea. Now, I don’t need special recognition on my birthday, especially from a self-centered 10 year old (the former being implied from the latter). But it’s not a simple, “I don’t know,” but a HUGE ordeal complete with crying, sucking on his shirt, and banging on the table.
2) He wants to watch TV. That’s fine. Normally, he bounds up the stairs and turns on the television. When it’s time for bed, we call him down and all is good. Not last night. He’s whimpering in says that it’s “really dark up there” even though the lights are on. He can’t even manage to operate the remote!
The night ended with him being too tired to get into bed on his own. We had to walk him through the house, put him on the toilet, help him change into his PJs, pick him up and place him in the bed. Even then, he cried for 30 minutes, sobbing out of control.
The overall lesson here: make sure your kiddo gets enough sleep. And make sure you get enough sleep 1) to handle the “I’m too tired to function” issues that are likely to arise and 2) to appreciate how comical an overtired child can be!
I suppose there’s no way for me to relay all the amazing and irritating things that have transpired in the last several months. This is why keeping this blog up to date is so important. But parenting eats up all my time these days. Dates with my wife are spent talking about our son. Days at work are spent working to make $$$ for our son. He’s all-consuming.
Here are a few things I remember from the last week:
He loves summer camp. But when we said last night that it was his last day of camp, he said, “Yay!” So we’re not sure what that’s about.
I was heading for the bathroom the other day. He was standing in there preparing to brush his teeth. He said, “Sorry, daddy, but the bathroom is already took-en.”
We have a deal with him: he’s allowed to sit in the front seat of the car, but only if he keeps his hands off all the buttons and stuff. But the other day, he was rifling around the glove compartment. Mom reminded him of the deal, and he said, “But I’m trying to learn stuff to keep the family safe. Like what if the radio catches on fire?!”
Our family has expanded to include Angel, the police officer, and Tyler, the pirate. These are our son’s new puppets. The puppets say things that our son would never say on his own, and refer to our son in the third person. For example, a puppet said, “I hate cats!” Now, it’s evident that our son does not like cats – they take too much attention away from him – but we had to hear it from the puppet.
He wanted to purchase the song “My Girl” by Mindless Behavior. We did, and THEN listened to they lyrics. “She hit me all the time…” – does this seem appropriate for a kid who grew up with a physically abusive mother? Or any kid? Well, no worries! UrbanDictionary.com informed us that “hitting” is actually “calling” (or “phoning”).
So, those are the updates for now. Cheerio!
Our son never wants to relinquish his clothes to the laundry. Not sure why. So, the other day, he insisted that his undershirt was not dirty, when it very clearly was. (It stunk and it had miscellaneous smudges on the front.) He was adamant that I not wash it and that I let him wear it tomorrow. He basically melted down into a tantrum at the same time that I did. I took his shirt into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out the sriracha, and squirted it all over the front. I took it back to his room, tossed it to him, and said, “There, now it’s dirty.”
He got VERY angry! He stomped through four rooms to the bathroom where we keep the dirty clothes hamper. Unfortunately (for him), we had moved it for a house showing. So, he had to stomp all the way back. It was hilarious for me to watch, but it didn’t take long for me to get embarrassed of my behavior. There’s a reason he doesn’t want to give up his clothes, something related to his past, I’m sure. He’s similar with food: doesn’t want to eat it because he’s full, doesn’t like its taste, etc., but gets upset if someone else does. It’ll remain a mystery for now.
