Playing Hooky

A stayed home from school today. He's not sick. He's totally fine. Well, except for the small emotional breakdown he had this morning. The one that ended with me holding him in what he termed as "the longest hug ever". The hug that I held on to for as long as he'd let me. The hug that made us late. The hug that made us so cozy and comfy. The hug that eventually made us hungry for pancakes. The hug that kept us home from school. And the office. (Don't tell husband! Monday is supposed to be my 1/2 day of work! Nobody noticed, I don't think. SSSSHHHH!)

I could tell he'd been mulling something over all weekend. He seemed a bit upset. We stayed busy though! He rode bikes at the "jumps" with his dad all day, went to a birthday party Saturday night, had a friend over after the party and got to stay up until midnight. Sunday was another day of being at the "jumps" with his dad and a friend, a visit to a lovely kid friendly winery in the area where he and a friend were able to explore and check out the farm animals. This was followed by dinner and then a visit to the arcade. Yes, my son is spoiled. He is an only child that has all the attention in the world.

But still, with all of this going on, I could just tell that something was wrong. And so this morning he finally broke. Someone told him that he was to old to have Gracie, Greenie and Bluie. (his blankets). And so this morning he cried and cried that he should get rid of them because at seven, he is too old.

Me: "Are they in your heart"?
A: "Yes".
Me: "Then it doesn't matter what anybody thinks or says. If they are in your heart, and you love them, you can keep them for as long as you'd like.
A: "But little shithead told me that I'm too old for them and that they're stupid and that I'm stupid for having them". (FYI the kids name is not actually little shithead)
Me: "But Little Shithead is not in your heart and they are. So forget what Little Shithead has to say. He is unkind and we don't waste time with people who are unkind".

And so A took Gracie and both blankets out from behind his pillow and put them in between us to include them in the longest hug ever. And we told eachother over and over that we love eachother and we told Gracie over and over that we love him and we snuggled with Greenie and Bluie and eventually the tears dried.

And finally hunger won out and we got up and ate pancakes.

I believe in innocence. I don't want my child to grow up too quickly. I want  him to want his blankets and his Gracie and I want him to be sweet and I want everything to be magical for him. That is what childhood is about and I want it to stay that way for as long as it can. The time will come soon enough when Little Shithead  and all the others like him will have complete influnce over my sweet  sweet boy. I'm keeping Little Shithead and his cohorts away as long as I can.

 My home is full of love and magic and make believe. I want it to stay that way for as long as it can. Because once it is gone, the innocence is gone. And the thought of that makes me sad. Life is long and the part of it that is childhood is so, so short. Let it be full of innocence and magic.

Balsamic Chicken in the Crockpot

This is my favorite chicken recipe right now. Its SUPER easy and really delicious. I highly recommend you make it like three times a week, at least. I got it from Skinny Crockpot, which I originally found on Pinterest but have since "Liked" on Facebook, which happens to be the link that I provided you. (That was a fat run-on sentence.) So now that I got the attributions out of the way, down to the recipe. You'll all have to excuse me, I am not a food blogger. My pictures suck. But I figure if you're not going to make the chicken because of my Iphone picture skills, well then it's your loss not mine...


Ingredients:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Currently there are only 3 in my crockpot. I don't think the world will end)
2 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
1 onion, sliced. (I only use a few slices, not an entire onion)
Salt
Pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 tblsp of olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (yum! It smells so good!)

1 tsp oregeno
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme




***I only used one can of diced tomatoes and it was very balasmic-y but I loved it! Doing it this way just didn't create enough sauce to pour over noodles. Anyway, just do it the way the recipe says, that way you won't have any complaints and I won't have to hear them.

Directions:
Pour the olive oil into the bottom on the crockpot & salt and pepper them and throw the sliced onion on top of them. Cover them in dried herbs and garlic, pour in the vinegar, top with diced tomatoes and cook on high for 4 hours.

 Serve over pasta!

 I promise it's delicious. If you don't like it then there is probably something wrong with your taste buds that you should have checked out.

Let me know what you think!

Well Bully For You

It's illegal to beat up little kids. It's probably illegal to even think about beating up little kids. In fact, beating up little kids, beside being illegal, would probably make me a big mean bully, which would make me exactly like the kids that I would want to beat up.

As a parent, there is nothing more difficult than knowing that your child is being bullied. What do you do about it? How do you react? How do you fix it? How do you console your kid?

The thing is I spent two years in a Master's program learning all about kids and bullying. I know about bullying. Playground bullying, bullying in the classroom, cyber-bullying. I know the steps to take. I know what to tell the parents. What I don't know is what to do when it is my own kid. What to do when it is happening in my own neighborhood.

I can't move. I've thought about it. Beside running away really not being the best problem solver and really not teaching my son how to  confront and deal with problems, it is an expensive solution and I don't think we'd be able to unload this house on anyone in this economy anyway.

We've tried talking to the parents. Parents who used to be great friends. Parents who don't feel that there is a problem. Parents who feel that we are the problem for even bringing up. Unfortunately, because of the circumstances, that relationship has deteriorated to nothing. It just makes me so sad.

I understand that my son is younger. I understand that we do not allow him to do certain things or play certain games. I understand that there is an age difference. And this difference may keep him from playing Call of Duty on the XBox, but it shouldn't keep him from bouncing on a trampoline. There is nothing more heartbreaking to a parent than when all the kids in the neighborhood kids make a plan with your son there, yell goodbye to your kid, and go into a backyard and play. There is nothing more heartbreaking than when your kid, who can hear the kids playing, see them bouncing up and  down over the fence, looks at you and says, "Well I guess no one likes me anymore". There is nothing more heartbreaking than when your kid is heartbroken.

I just want it to stop. I just want to restore peace. I want things to go back to the way they were when a two and a half year age difference wasn't so big. I want to go back to how it was when we were like one big family. Before my son started being excluded. Before I dreaded weekends. Before I started praying for weekend rain.

So tell me parents? What would you do? How would you handle this situation? How would you make it right for your child?