testing the limits

rhys is a good kid. a really good kid. one would think that when he gets himself into a bit of trouble, that we'd be concerned... instead, we find it comical.

case #1:
when I pick rhys up after school from the sitter's, we always chat about his day on the way home. on tuesday, he didn't share any unusual news with me, so we went about our evening as usual. after the kids were all tucked in, c asked me what I thought about what had happened at school today. I was perplexed... until she shared with me that he had to spend some time at the quiet table at lunch for potty talk. I immediately got him out of bed and had him explain to me exactly what had happened at lunch that day. he swallowed hard, and told me that he had said the word, 'fart' at the lunch table, so he had to go to the quiet table. I told him that it wasn't kind to use words like that at all, let alone while people were eating, and that he was supposed to be working towards making hearts happy and healthy by being a sweetheart, and when he used ugly words like that, he was not being sweet at all. ... I asked him how he was going to fix this, and he said that he wouldn't use potty talk again, and that he was going to apologize to the lunch lady. I told him that, since he didn't demonstrate what a sweetheart should be like, that he was not permitted to take part in some jump for hearts the following day, and that he was excused to go back to bed. I looked over at c, who was wiping her own tears away... sigh... so, after five minutes, I beckoned the boy child to come back out... when his sweet little tear-stained face, complete with puffy, red eyes, appeared, I told him that I rethought my stance on the jump for heart... that I thought that he should definitely take part in it to practice helping to heal hearts and not to hurt hearts. ... I asked him if he needed a hug before going back to bed, and he fell into my arms, still crying. sweet mother of pearl.

case #2:
since c had an eye appointment today, I picked the girls up before picking rhys up. as we were getting the girls ready, one of their teacher's made a comment about rhys getting in trouble... I laughed and asked how she knew about the quiet table, and she looked perplexed. she then told me that c had told her that rhys had tried sneaking his robotic dinosaur to school the previous day... now... when I picked him up yesterday, the dinosaur was out in the open- and it was me who carried it to the car and into the house after school... I figured that c had let him take it to the sitter's in the morning to play with... well, it turns out that yesterday morning, rhys offered... no, insisted... that he carry his own backpack. c thought that he was practicing using his sweet heart, because he usually doesn't make such an offer... it turns out, he SNUCK the dinosaur into his backpack... he didn't take it to school, but he knows that he isn't supposed to take it anywhere without permission. cue the boy child is now in trouble. after his sitter explained that he had left it at her house, I looked at him (because he isn't supposed to take it anywhere), and told him that he is going to have a comin' to mama party. after we got into the car, I thought that I was surely missing a piece of this story, so I called c, and, sure enough, that's what happened, but she had forgotten to tell me about it. after we got home, and everyone was inside, I started my daily after school chores... unload dishwasher, clean out lunchboxes, let the dogs out, etc. well, as I turned around from letting the dogs out, rhys was standing there, hands in his pockets, looking up at me... " are we gonna have my comin' to mama party now?" it took everything I had not to laugh at him... I took a deep breath, and explained to him that we trusted him to do the right thing, and that when he sneaks to do things, it makes us not trust him, and that not having people trust you is not a good thing, blah, blah, blah... he shook his head and said that he understood, and all is right in our world once again.