Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Run Away

I still need to post about my NYC trip last weekend, but this is fresh, doesn't involve photos, and I need to remember this moment: the first time my own child threatened to run away. I clearly remember many, many plots to run away, but did any of them occur this young, mom? Five???

After a very fun evening playdate that involved dinner with friends, we came home to get ready for bed when the wailing began. Can you believe that Mom said "No" when Nick started begging to watch Polar Express at bedtime after our fun evening out? After about thirty minutes of crying (who needs a girl anyway with this kind of drama?), he began listing all of the people who are mean to him: different friends and their offenses and everyone in the family except for Gavin. The plan was hatched: he decided he was going to get a tent and hike to Charlie's neighborhood to spend the night. He dressed himself in jeans and his favorite red polo and started to pack the PJs but got distracted as I read a book to Ryan. As I explained to him how much I loved him and how cold and lonely and scary it would be to run away, the crying began again as he wailed "But GOD will be with me!"

Oh dear. It took everything to not laugh out loud. I finally convinced him to get under the covers and he fell asleep, still mumbling that he was going to pack in the morning so he could run away....

9 comments:

Shae said...

Too funny! Next time he threatens to run away tell him to come down to visit us!! We promise to let him watch polar express!

Lea said...

Oh my! He is such a sweet and creative little boy. I love that he said that God will be with him. You'll have to let him know that he can always run away to our house, but then again he may feel that it is still too close to home. :)

Anonymous said...

Christmas time is so much fun, but it seems like the added sugar makes my little brood want to run away quite often....what to do?

We did have fun last week acting out the nativity. I just downloaded an mp3 of the story read from Luke with music. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! No trying to get them to say lines, with a growing group of cousins this really was the perfect solution.

You can download the Nativity Audio from www.fastfamilyfun.com

Merry Christmas and hopefully no more runaways.

Jenny said...

I'm glad Emma isn't the only one with such a mean mom. That seems to be her quote of the day lately. I'm glad to hear it's the age and not just that I am so mean.
I'm mean and everything, EVERYTHING is my fault. The other day I got so fed up with it I told her it was MY fault that she was even born in this world, if it weren't for me she wouldn't be here so she just better lean to deal with the fact that she has a mean mom and to be happy. That kept her quiet, for about 2 seconds. Oh my, the stages they go through.

Anonymous said...

We had a similar moment last night, although Ethan's plan was a bit less sophisticated. He seemed to think that he could just camp out in our basement, and skip the whole packing part. It was all good until he smelled dinner and heard us having a nice dinner!~

If this is 5, what happens at 13? No wait, I don't want to know!!
---Jodi

Lisa said...

Wow! You are such a mean mom! :) When I used to threaten to run away, my mom would always wish me luck and then pull out the luggage to help me pack. This always threw me for a loop because it wasn't the dramatic reaction that I expected. (Although my younger brothers and sisters usually provided the tears and begging that I thought I deserved.)

[M] said...

Oh man, I'm so not ready for the running away stage. I'm still not sure if I'll survive the two's. And why do kids like the polar express so much? I'd never seen it until this week (I think the characters look like spooky zombies). Both of my kids are soooo mesmerized by it. I don't get it.

Andrea said...

yes the two favorite phrases in our house right now are "mean mom" (Nick) and "poo poo butt" (Ryan). i really think nick and emma were BFFs before they came to earth - definitely from the same personality mold!

Shellie said...

Your boys are too funny!