Comstock Chronicles: A New Year

A new year has begun and like always I have made no resolutions. But I have enjoyed getting rid of things. I sort through the children's things in secret or else they object. Today Rose objected to me throwing away one of her socks with a hole in it.

Last night Phil and I watched the first episode of a Netflix Show based on the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Maria Kondo. And I was inspired. I'm always inspired to throwing things out, but a show about it served as a little extra oomph. After all, doing much of anything with three children these days has felt challenging. Thank God school started back up.

In the three week Christmas Break, Lee dumped a 1.5-liter-bottle of mouthwash down the drain. He stole my chocolate and Phil's chocolate and chocolate-covered granola bars and his own stash of chocolate that we thought we'd put out of reach. I've found food wrappers in the garage, under the bed, in the laundry room, and stuffed into the stroller. If he'd just thrown away his trash, I never would've known he'd been stealing candy, but he's not a very clever criminal, which I realize is good.

He painted Rose's doll's face pink and snipped her new dolly's hair. He graffitied on his bed and his new IKEA lockers with his own name. He took all his outdoor plastic trucks and dropped bricks onto them in the backyard. And when he ran out of plastic trucks, he started on his Hotwheel cars. He took fistfuls of oatmeal—I don't really get this one—and climbed into an empty cardboard box for some secret eating. Raw unrolled oats. With no water. All I had to do was follow the trail of oats that he left from the cupboard to the extra boxes to find out where he was and what he was doing.

Finally, he hid the spanking spoon. I found it the other day under the bed. Yeah, he's not very good at hiding things either.

Like I was saying, thank God school has started back up. Sometimes I can't believe I live in a country that will educate my child for free! Yes, I know its not free. But it feels like it sometimes. God bless the kindergarten teachers who not only discipline but teach 30 or so five-and-six-year-olds. If I had some extra time, I'd buy them all flowers and Starbucks gift cards.

Comments

Patty said…
Well, you certainly have your hands full with Lee! But I had to smile...someday he will love to hear these stories! Or his kids will!!
Haha! I hope someone will, Patty.