Turning On Light Switches

So here I am … amazingly. I have a story about me and a story about Younger Boy. Let me start with the story about Younger Boy.

When we put the boys in time out we usually say something or mention what it is they’re not supposed to be doing. It’s usually a question.

“Are you supposed to be body slamming your brothers?” “Is it OK to hit your brother when you’re angry?” “Is it OK to try and shove Nasty Cat’s head through that little loop?”

The boy in question usually answers and goes to sit in time out for a couple of minutes. Usually pending on the severity of what Said Boy has done how old Said Boy is. After the time is up we call Said Boy over and ask him why he was put in time out. Now Older Boy and Middle Boy usually have a pretty good idea why they’ve been put in time out. Younger Boy has consistently played the “I don’t know” card. Now, I know that he’s three years old but he knows that hitting his brothers is not OK.

And really, I’ve been grasping as the end of some ropes here. My frustration with the “I Don’t Know” card is does he really not know? The kid is smart! He knows his colors, he knows numbers 1 through 6, and he knows how to wipe his own butt! I’ve tried to make sure to use simple words and direct words to make sure he understood. But hearing “I don’t know” again and again and again is maddening.

So I’m sure you could only imagine my surprise last Tuesday when he told me exactly what he had done wrong.

Me: And why were you in time out?
YB: Because I was playing with the closet.

Shocked, surprised, almost speechless…those are all fine words that could explain the look on my face that I had to hide behind authority.

Me: And is it OK to play in the closet?
YB: No.
Me: OK. Please don’t play in the closet anymore. You could get hurt. Go play.

He’s done it about three other times since. In fact, all other occurrences of him landing in time out have resulted in a clear answer of understanding what he did wrong as well as the acknowledgment that he did something wrong. I mentioned it to my fiancé who also recognized this new found amazement.

It was like a light switch was turned on and suddenly he was processing things. It was proof that he has been listening to us, right? Maybe? I hope that it continues.

And now, on to me and my story.

I would like a comfy bed, a strong drink and some time off. Let me start off with last weekend. You already know about the birthday party I went to for Allison’s daughters and how I got to show off my mothering skills to Jane’s mom and grandmother. Well, the night before the birthday party we went camping. It was just for one night. My cousins had sent up a family camping trip. It was a lot of fun but apparently one night was enough to do some damage myself. I woke up and put on my glasses and the vision in my right eye was smudged. I don’t mean it was just blurry I mean that it looked like there was a dirty fingerprint smudged on my contact … except that I had my glasses on. I must have cleaned them a couple of times before I realized it was my vision that was the problem. I figured that maybe my eyes were just tired and exhausted from the crazy weekend. So I slept half the day away trying to rest up. Except that by Tuesday the smudge was still there and my eyes were still feeling tight and tired.

I decided to make an appointment at the optometrist and luckily they were able to bring me in that day. My doctor couldn’t figure it out at first. He thought that all the stress from the weekend had done something to my retina. About five eyedrops later and as I was sure that I was going to be blinded from all the lights he was shining in my eyes he must have had his own light switch flipped on. I say this because he turned the bright light off and jumped up out of his chair as if he had just thought up how to create fire. He put something else in my eye and then switched the color of the light. A great “A ha!” came out.

Turns out I have dirty eyes. By dirty eyes I mean that between the smoke and bug sprays camping something got into my eye and dirtied up my corneas. In other words it’s like I’m looking through a dirty windshield. It’s pretty nasty and uncomfortable – much less inconvenient. I kind of need both of my eyes to do things, and since only one eye is sort of working it’s a pain in the butt to stare at anything since my vision is lop sided.

On top of that I’m now sick with some sinus flu like thing. I say sinus because my sinus feel like they’re about to explode. I want to drill holes in my cheek bones to release the pressure. And I say flu because I’m achy and I have a nasty cough and I feel nausea and just like yuck! I could do with a nice nap … maybe I’ll sneak one in later tonight.

But it is times like these that I’m thankful that my fiancé is capable of cooking dinner, doing laundry, handling the kids, feeding the cats and taking care of me. Because if he was one of those guys that just sat on the couch when I was sick and feeling like yuck … oh boy. That situation would not be a fun place to be.