I can hear it already! Sigh!

This post is totally dedicated to Sir B who is now also known as UB to the next generation.

Yesterday was my belated birthday celebration. At 42 years and 10 days old, it is more a celebration of people in my life. Sir B was kind enough to partake in the festivities. Every time I see him, I want to pick his brain and find out what he thinks of this blog. But then I realized yesterday that it is more important to find out what he thinks about how the boys are being brought up! Here is why!

Hans was totally in his element. He forgot all his manners except for when he said "Thank you Jeffrey" to Sir B when the latter handed him a lamb burger fully loaded with tzatziki sauce, sautéed mushrooms and lettuce. Instead of apologizing for my child's rude remark, I start explaining it. Hans fancies himself Batman some days and I am Alfred, the butler. There are days Hans is Fresh Prince of Belair, and anyone "serving" him is Jeffrey, the butler. ‎Since Sir B was kind enough to build Hans' burger for him, Sir B became Jeffrey!

After explaining that, I was also (belatedly) conscious enough to mention that any anomalies in my children's behaviour could be attributed to me. As one "mom friend" once remarked to me ‎that I cannot complain about my children's behaviour if I let them get away with it in the first place! So, it is my fault!

Sir B wondered if I was doing something about it?! As in "righting these identified faults"?! Of course, since I love talking about my parenting and since I also love defending it, I set off on another explanation. Why can I not stop myself from being such a Momley?!

Anyways, I started by telling Sir B that I would never want the boys' future partners to complain about their upbringing. So even if I let some things go‎, I am good at reminding them as they get older. At that point in time, ASid walks by and I pointed him to Sir B as a shining example of my parenting. I proudly proclaimed how ASid is well mannered and how Hans will get to this level of sophistication one of these days. As if to prove my point, ASid stopped by us, smiled and let one rip. The rumbling was so loud, I am sure even his future partner heard it.

I looked at Sir B and had to acknowledge that there will be complaints in the future. I can hear them already! Sigh!

 

When you can't, then please don't!

Last Sunday, we were invited to a dinner at a friend's home. There were 6 boys between the 3 sets of parents, and the boys had the opportunity to either throw hoops or swim. The 2 boys who were Hans' age chose to swim, and Hans chose to throw hoops with the other boys.

It was going well till Hans decided to sit by the pool. I had all sorts of "support equipment" for him if he wanted to swim. He, however, assured me that he will only dangle his feet in the water. Hans is a chatty kid and I guess he wanted to chat with his friends. A few minutes later, I saw Hans in the pool and struggling. I immediately rushed to him and tried to offer my hand. It took Hans a few seconds to reach my hand, and by then, I had extended myself as much as I could. As Hans grabbed my hand, I almost fell into the pool.

- Dramatic pause and a "side bar" follow -

‎I cannot swim. Even as I was trying to "save" Hans, I knew I wasn't the right person for the rescue mission!

I screamed for Craigley to come and help me. Craigley saunters over like he is reaching for a cocktail. When he did reach my side, I was still holding on to Hans’ hand - he was trying to keep afloat and I was trying not to fall into the pool.

Once Hans was out, I could breathe. All Craigley could say was that I should have allowed Hans to struggle for at least a minute...what was the rush? I looked at him like he had gone insane, but I was more interested in finding out how Hans fell into the deep end?!

Apparently, ASid pushed him!! I looked at my first born like what's wrong with you?! He defended himself by saying that he didn't realize Hans still couldn't swim. Hans had swimming lessons from when he was almost 3 to when he turned 7 - that is a good 4 years of private lessons and group lessons‎, and a lot of time plus a crazy amount of money spent! Last year, I decided to give the kid a break. It was more like he had other classes that kept him busy, and swimming took a back seat. The whole point to this background information on swimming is that in spite of all that time, Hans hasn't learned to swim yet!

I want both the boys to know how to swim. We tried to teach ASid swimming at 18 months of age and at 5 years; both the times, Craigley was the designated parent in the pool and he declared that swimming wasn't really that important. Then, when ASid turned 9, I got him a private instructor; a couple of lessons later, ASid was swimming! I was so happy to have provided my child with this lifesaving skill. I am hoping 9 is the magic age for Hans as well to finally learn how to swim.

To get back to the story now...ASid felt very badly and apologized to his younger brother. Hans wasn't too scarred by the experience. Me? I pulled a couple of muscles in my body, and was in a bit of pain. Craigley, on the other hand, was the only one who didn't understand what the fuss was about!