Shopping at Target

Raleigh's birthday is Friday. He'll be five. When I picked up Austin from camp today and asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to get a secret gift for Raleigh. He's just like me and my mother before me. Once a gift is in hand it is all we can do to prevent giving it to the other person right away. The word "secret" was key. 

We discussed what a great gift might be and his thoughts were profound. 

"Well I do know one thing. I shouldn't get him something that I want. It's easy when it's for a friend but when it's your brother he's there every second of your life." Soooo truuuue. (Spoken from the girl with two younger brothers of her own who learned to divide everything into thirds as a result.) He thought a little more. 

We made our way to Target and into the dress department for me (as if I needed an excuse to fuel my raging maxi skirt addiction) and he begged me to let him go to the toy department to pick out a present while I finished shopping. I conceded and (I thought) told him I'd meet him there. Just as I was rounding the Legos into the Littlest Pet Shop and thinking that it was way too quiet back there I heard, "ERIN JOHNSON. PLEASE MEET YOUR PARTY AT GUEST SERVICES." Yes folks. I'm that mother. The one who let her kid roam wild in Target and had no meet-up plan. 

He was calm as I approached him, and had picked out a ROCKIN' birthday present for his brother (a Zombie Attack Nerf gun,) but confessed, "I started to get a little worried." I reassured him, "You know I would never leave you. Why didn't you just come back to the dresses?" He whispered, "All the clothing looks the same to me." 

As we left the checkout line I circled back to the "secret" and asked, "So, what's your plan for keeping that gift a secret from your brother? How are we going to hide it?" He thought only momentarily before responding, "Um, bury it?" 

Ok. 

If we're ever on the lam I've got the right kid. 

The Cove: Week 1 Pokémon is Ubiquitous

Insane drop off with 8000 other local kids and moms.

I feel lucky to see a good friend in the parking lot, but 20 minutes into the check in line and 20 people deep ABJ has buried his face in my back and is pouting, "I don't want to go here." I don't give an inch, but insist, you'll love it here. Just give it a chance.

Thirty seconds later he darts from around me and taps the kid in front of me on the shoulder. I gasp and hold my breath. 

"What's your most powerful?"

Ahhh Pokémon. The great equalizer. 

Just after noon my mom picks him up from a teenager corralling a sea of tiny children in black t-shirts. Unfortunately, she learns that he'd used some ugly language ("I hate you") and decked a kid just prior to sitting on him. I'm guessing that particular kid won't be sharing his Pokèmon cards anytime soon. 

The rest of the week goes as follows: phone call from a teacher day two. He was upset because he lost while playing a water balloon toss. Full on meltdown. I met with the director, and discussing placing him with another adolescent boy, close to his age, but older. I told her the peer pressure seemed to work well. It worked! 

Matthew was a seventh grader leading a kindergarten group and told Austin he needed his help with his group. It worked like a charm. I told the director she was my hero. 

I asked her for advice for the following week's camp: 

My lesson for Austin:

It's ok to LOSE! In this case losing was the fun part! It meant you would get wet!! You're going to play a lot of games this summer and you're going to lose sometimes. How will you handle it the next time you lose?

Lesson for Myself:

This won't go as simply as I'd hoped, but I can build on what we learn each week to hopefully make the next week easier. All along I've wanted opportunities for Austin to learn to adapt to other people in real world situations. This is like summer school for social skills. Compact, intense, and not a lot of help from the instructor. Either you adapt or you fail the class. My role is to provide the Mommy Cliff's notes.