We Don't Negotiate with Terrorists

Sometimes the array of emotions displayed in this house astound me. A few of the kids can go from slappy happy to tearin' up the place angry in a time span counted in minutes. The problem is, sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get. On Saturday Drama Boy and Sparky were total pooters. They whined, they wrestled, they argued, called Ana names, slammed doors and complained. On Sunday we stayed home from church. We didn't think we could reconcile the bad behaviors with the long car trip. They were pretty good all day long. Today is Drama Boy's 11th birthday. It's putting it mildly to say that Sparky does not handle other people's birthdays well. He acted like a complete stinkweed on The Boss' birthday even though we didn't do much and and he didn't get any big presents. He thinks that other people always get something better than he has even if the other person hasn't gotten anything yet, as is the case today. He told Ana that everyone else got good presents and he got "sucky" ones. So Ana took all his sucky presents back and locked them in a closet until he decides to be grateful and writes thank-you notes.

He has been storming around the house all day opening and slamming doors and cabinets and the washing machine lid. He slammed the door to his own room enough times that it stuck fast trapping him inside and freaking him out. Good laugh for us though. He has pounded on my bedroom door where I am working trying to annoy me. He popped the screen out of his second-story window and threatened to climb out. He was spotted standing on the handrail to the stairs, jumping on the couch, and walking on the coffee table.

What's really funny is that somehow in his mind he thinks that this will get him what we wants. Of course, now that you act like a spoiled little urchin, let me give you a tv and dvd player for you room and let you play video games and eat candy all night and get it stuck in the carpet, and choose the best seat in the car and eat with your fingers and chew with your mouth open at dinner. By all means. The three middlers like to use not only bad behavior but the threat of bad behavior to try to manipulate situtations and get what they want. I realize they haven't been with us from the time they were little but you would think by now they would know that they will end up with the exact opposite of what they are trying to get.