Tattletale

I am trying very hard to keep my boys from tattling on each other.  Sure I want to know if someone is in immediate danger, but some things they need to learn to handle on their own.  Noah is grasping the concept of not tattling very well.  Jonah on the other hand needs a little more work.  This was our recent conversation...

Jonah:  Momma, Noah is tattling on me.
Me:  What? Noah hasn't even said anything to me.  How is he tattling on you?
Jonah:  He told me that if I didn't stop hitting him that he was going to tell you.

...see what I mean?  I never could convince Jonah that in that instance, he was the one actually tattling.  Oh, what and exciting life I lead.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Mommy

Our kids are usually really good about bed time and going to sleep when they are told.  However, there are always exceptions to the rule!  Last night after we put the boys to bed, Joe went on to our bed and I stayed up working on lesson plans for next week.  (Home school post to come soon.) 
Anyway, I was sitting in the front room and could hear through the monitor in our bedroom (that was sitting on the nightstand beside the bed that Joe was sleeping in) Noah calling for Daddy.  He must have called for him for about five minutes.  I did not answer because he was calling for Joe and Joe was sleeping (or pretending to).  After calling for Daddy for about five minutes and getting no response, Noah then utters "Mommy" just one time.  Before Noah has even finished saying the word, Joe calls out to me "Denise, Noah wants you!"
Ugh!  Now tell me, do you believe even for a minute that Joe slept through all of the cries for Daddy, and only heard the one cry for Mommy?  I didn't think so either!

Wordless Wednesday

Of Parks, Pals, & Planes

Jonah and Austin

Micah and Ashton

Racism

I don't know where to begin.

First of all let me say that there is no way on earth to make this post politically correct, so I am not even going to attempt to try.  Let me also say that I do not consider myself or my family to be racist and I don't think that anyone else would either...well except for the two black men I met in the DMV office today.  And that is where my story begins.

I was stuck at the DMV for over two hours today with three kids (through lunch and nap time) waiting on their computer system to come back to life so that I could get the paperwork I needed for Little Joe's Trucking.  I am sure most of you remember that I took the kids to the zoo a few months ago and Jonah insisted that the monkeys were called grease monkeys.  I never even thought of anything bad associated with it and even now if he sees a picture of an ape he calls it a grease monkey.  Cute right?  Not so much today. 

Two rather large black men walked into the DMV office and Jonah looks at them, points and says LOUDLY "Look Momma, it's grease monkeys!"  Wow, how do you recover from that?  I tried to turn it into a teaching moment, but it went downhill even further and the two men were clearly insulted.

Me:  Jonah those are men sweetie.
Jonah:  But they are covered in grease.
Me: No they aren't sweetie.
Jonah: But why do they look like that?
Me: Well just like you have special polk-a-dots on your skin, God gave them special black skin.
Jonah: You mean God made them to be grease monkeys?

I gave up on talking him out of it and just started praying that he would stop saying it.  He found interest in something in the bottom of my bag and said "Momma, can I play with this?"  Figuring it would keep him occupied and hopefully mute I said sure go ahead without even looking at what he was holding. (I had two other children with me.)

Let me stop here and say also that I am not a big supporter of the Confederate flag.  If you like it, fine with me, but I personally feel that it has become more a symbol of hatred than what it was originally intended for.  I'm sure we all have different opinions on that but as for me and my house, out of respect for people who are offended by it; we do not fly, wear, or otherwise endorse the Confederate flag.  The only exception I have made to that rule is the General Lee.  The kids love the old Duke's of Hazzard shows and each have a General Lee replica.  Unfortunately, the General Lee is what Jonah had pulled out of the bottom of my bag and by the time I realized what was going on he was using it to try and "jump" the boots of the two black men that he insisted were grease monkeys, proudly showing off the confederate flag emblazoned across the top of the car.

I of course took the car from Jonah and put it away.  As I was trying to comfort Jonah from losing his car, Micah (the loving child) grabbed an empty water gun out of my bag.  Of all the people and objects in the room, he chooses those same two poor black men to stand in front of, point the gun at, and shout bow, bow,...bow, bow, bow!!

I truly could have died of embarrassment right then and there.  I know that my children did none of this with the intention of hurting anyone, but from the outside looking in, it sure did look like I was raising a house full of white supremacists.  I guess we will start working on manners and race relations soon!

Sexism

Can you see this?  This is Noah's recent masterpiece. It is a lego model of a house.  Inside the house is a kitchen complete with a stove and pans.  Outside the house is a monster truck.  Standing in the kitchen is the "boy" lego.  Driving the monster truck is the "girl" lego.  I thought it was hilarious.

 Man, I love that kid!