gcvmom
Here we go again!
I am SO glad that only difficult child 2 is home with easy child this week and not difficult child 1 as well. I'm slowly getting through this bronchitis bug but sleeping a lot the past two days. difficult child 2 got benched at water polo today for fooling around during warmups, so he had a lot of extra energy this afternoon. Let's see if I can recount the ways he chose to burn off that energy:
1. Decided to "bake" a potato. By wrapping it in foil and setting it on top of the gas burner on the stove and lighting the fire. I smelled the smoke from upstairs and was able to intervene and showed him a safer way to cook his spud in the microwave, sans foil, with a paper bag. Whew. That was close.
2. Dragged the weight bench out and tried bench presses with no one around. Tried to get tricky and lift the bar with his arms crossed. Said his shoulder made a loud, painful "POP." I said, I guess you won't be doing that anymore, huh? And please don't go lift weights if no one is around, okay?
3. Lifted a 5 gallon water jug up on his shoulders instead of sweeping the leaves as he was just asked to clean up. Decided to slide the jug down his back instead of lowering it from the front like he'd initially picked it up, then let it fall to the ground behind him, whereupon it cracked open on the concrete and gushed out all over the ground. I informed him he was going to have to pay me for the wasted water. Wasn't too happy about that.
4. When a neighbor calls me over to assist with a rattlesnake this afternoon, difficult child 2 is running up barefoot and attempting to get a better look while I am trying to secure the snake with my special pole. Needless to say, I had to yell at him to get back. No, you can't poke at it with the stick in your hand. Please put the carcass down, you're dripping blood all over the neighbor's driveway. No you can't cut off the rattle with the shovel. No you can't pick up the head. No... No... No...
5. I check on him in his bedroom and he has a paper plate COVERED with raw carrots (easily 2-3 cups of carrots) and the entire bottle of ranch in his room, preparing to snack. Healthy, good. Too much fiber, bad. I had visions of him stuck in the bathroom for hours like the last time he overindulged like this. You can keep about 1/3 of that, go put the rest back, and you don't need the WHOLE bottle of ranch!
6. Decides to take a shower. He's a teenager. He's a boy. He's a difficult child. 'Nuf said. I gave up and went back to bed.
7. This evening I'm in bed watching TV and I smell something burning. I ask husband to go check on difficult child 2 downstairs because, you know, I am coughing my lungs out and still sick. It's HIS turn to do the stairmaster thing like I did LAST week. husband hollers down (because of course getting up and actually going DOWN there would require him to actually get involved in this parenting thing): difficult child 2, what are you doing? ... Nothing. To which I say b.s. Nothing doesn't smell like it's burning, husband. Turns out he was in the kitchen again "baking" a potato on the stovetop, just the way I'd told him to NOT do earlier today! I went down and explained that if he couldn't follow my safety rules for the equipment in the kitchen, he would not be allowed to use any of the stuff in the kitchen. Okay mom.
He missed his 12:30pm Seroquel XR dose two days in a row, and I think this explains some of what I'm seeing. I sure hope I have more energy to deal with this tomorrow.
1. Decided to "bake" a potato. By wrapping it in foil and setting it on top of the gas burner on the stove and lighting the fire. I smelled the smoke from upstairs and was able to intervene and showed him a safer way to cook his spud in the microwave, sans foil, with a paper bag. Whew. That was close.
2. Dragged the weight bench out and tried bench presses with no one around. Tried to get tricky and lift the bar with his arms crossed. Said his shoulder made a loud, painful "POP." I said, I guess you won't be doing that anymore, huh? And please don't go lift weights if no one is around, okay?
3. Lifted a 5 gallon water jug up on his shoulders instead of sweeping the leaves as he was just asked to clean up. Decided to slide the jug down his back instead of lowering it from the front like he'd initially picked it up, then let it fall to the ground behind him, whereupon it cracked open on the concrete and gushed out all over the ground. I informed him he was going to have to pay me for the wasted water. Wasn't too happy about that.
4. When a neighbor calls me over to assist with a rattlesnake this afternoon, difficult child 2 is running up barefoot and attempting to get a better look while I am trying to secure the snake with my special pole. Needless to say, I had to yell at him to get back. No, you can't poke at it with the stick in your hand. Please put the carcass down, you're dripping blood all over the neighbor's driveway. No you can't cut off the rattle with the shovel. No you can't pick up the head. No... No... No...
5. I check on him in his bedroom and he has a paper plate COVERED with raw carrots (easily 2-3 cups of carrots) and the entire bottle of ranch in his room, preparing to snack. Healthy, good. Too much fiber, bad. I had visions of him stuck in the bathroom for hours like the last time he overindulged like this. You can keep about 1/3 of that, go put the rest back, and you don't need the WHOLE bottle of ranch!
6. Decides to take a shower. He's a teenager. He's a boy. He's a difficult child. 'Nuf said. I gave up and went back to bed.
7. This evening I'm in bed watching TV and I smell something burning. I ask husband to go check on difficult child 2 downstairs because, you know, I am coughing my lungs out and still sick. It's HIS turn to do the stairmaster thing like I did LAST week. husband hollers down (because of course getting up and actually going DOWN there would require him to actually get involved in this parenting thing): difficult child 2, what are you doing? ... Nothing. To which I say b.s. Nothing doesn't smell like it's burning, husband. Turns out he was in the kitchen again "baking" a potato on the stovetop, just the way I'd told him to NOT do earlier today! I went down and explained that if he couldn't follow my safety rules for the equipment in the kitchen, he would not be allowed to use any of the stuff in the kitchen. Okay mom.
He missed his 12:30pm Seroquel XR dose two days in a row, and I think this explains some of what I'm seeing. I sure hope I have more energy to deal with this tomorrow.
The folks in my culdesac come knocking at my door whenever they have a rattlesnake in their yards because it always takes animal control an hour or more to show up. I have a long handled floor scraper and can do their job in a few minutes.
Shredded cheese on the floor, butter wrappers stuck to the counter, leftover Chinese food glops on the counter, bits of foil scattered on the counter, dirty dishes stacked in the sink and on the counter, dirty paper plates strewn about, a dirty omlette pan on the stove top, sticky residue from spilled beverages all over the floor... I'm sure there's more.
