Knife Wielding Boy

 

Bliss!

I slept reasonably well but woke fairly early - somewhere around 5am - with intentions to sleep in until 6am. I fought hard to get back to sleep up until about 540am. I didn’t wake again until 620am. Figures! I wasn’t too worried. I started coffee then exercised completing sit-ups, push-ups, and windmills. By then coffee was ready. I was really happy to see clear skies. Still can’t seem to string together a run of sunny days. Hopefully they’ll be coming soon.

Despite sleeping later than desired, I opted not to rush. Instead, I methodically went about my morning routine. In turn, I didn’t get out the door for my run until almost 730am. I ran the full 4.1 miles with little effort. Can tell a big difference having taken Naproxen almost daily for the past week. And even thought I was taking it to combat the temporary crown, it was helping with neck and shoulder stiffness too.

Our recycling can was emptied by the time I got back home. I moved to the top of the driveway. It was 810am. I started breakfast and packed my lunch. Enjoyed two fried eggs along with some OJ and fruit. Finished breakfast then delivered Mindy’s coffee. Bella let Eiknarf out of her room about the same time. I left the pug follow me into our room. I wasn’t about to stop my momentum to walk her right then.

Mindy agreed to get up and out of bed and have some coffee with me. We walked the pug, too. Mindy said she didn’t sleep well once again. Having a lot of trouble falling asleep. I didn’t want to hang around too long. I left for the office near 9am. Like most work days in Hilliard, I headed north on Wilson towards the Roberts Rd. 270 ramp. Traffic was at a complete standstill all the way back to Trabue. Uh-oh! Thinking fast, I opted to turn right onto Trabue thinking I would take the back way. Nope! Forgot that Trabue was closed at the railroad tracks. Crap! Plan C was to take Hague south to Fisher then jump on 70/270 at Wilson. Nope! Two CMH police cruisers had it temporarily barricaded off. Great! I celled Mindy to share my frustration. Three strikes! You’re out! Instead of playing around in traffic, I decided to head right back home and work from there. Mindy found it somewhat comical.

The kids were still in bed asleep while I got set-up for my work day. I wasn’t working too long when Mindy invited me to join her on the deck. I really couldn’t. I needed to stay busy. Right out of the shoot I needed to join a planned 10am call. Someone sent me an escalation via email too. Damn! My blood pressure was soaring and I’d only just gotten started. I have to admit, I let my frustration out on one of the call participants who also happened to be the culprit of the email escalation. I wasn’t rude but very, very direct and bitchy. Another peer on the same call pinged me later to share that she’d never heard me so frustrated. Yeah, I wished I hadn’t been so emotional. Oh well.

After my call, went to the kitchen for more coffee. Mindy gave me the look after hearing me on that call. She was surprised too. Joined yet another call at 11am. That call went much better – longer though. The kids were up by then, but not much of a problem for me and my conference calls. I did ask that they leave the deck door cracked open to prevent the security chime from sounding each and every time someone went in and out.

I was very busy until almost 1pm. About that same time, Mindy agreed to run Jacob and some of his friends to the Spindler soccer fields for an unorganized practice. Rocky was initially going to go but Jacob rallied against such a move citing his pronesss for whining. He had a good point, and frankly, I worried that Jacob might bully him anyway. Either he or Mindy talked him out of it. He ran off to see if he could find Evan instead.

Around 1pm, I took lunch and headed out to the yard to put down my 2nd application of fertilizer. It was hot and steamy. Broke into a sweat almost instantaneously. It took nor more than 20 minutes. I found it odd that Rocky came running out wanting badly to help me just about the time I was finishing up. He asked if I knew where the garden gloves went that I let him borrow a few weeks ago. I assured that I didn’t know and told him too that I was all but done. He ran off to the garage to look for them anyway.

While putting the spreader away, Rocky came running out again asking if he could keep and play with some ‘extra’ keys he found. ??? What extra keys? Minutes later when I headed inside through the garage I found him in a panic and the keys to my tool box swinging from the chest lock. I asked if those were the keys he was referring to. Yes. There began a series of lies which really ticked me off. I gave him numerous chances to tell me the truth before sending him inside for a 30 minute time out. Tried to tell me he found the keys lying in the garage when they’ve been in the stand-up tool chest lock for more than five years. When asked how then he knew where they went he had no reply.

His time out was being served in one of the living room recliners just behind my work center. Once he knew I meant business and after about 10 minutes of the time out, he finally confessed to lying. I turned and had a good heart to heart with him about the damage lying does. And in this case for no apparent reason. I would not have cared had he simply told me the truth.

Bella and Makayla called for my help in the kitchen to assist in making grape Koolaid. I gave them a quick lesson on how to make perfect Koolaid. Prior attempts have produced some horrible results.  I had them add the sugar and flavor packet to no more than a pint of water before adding the rest of the water. They seemed to enjoy the process. As soon as the Koolaid was made, Bella said she needed to talk to me privately. Uh-oh! She pulled me aside to share that Rocky was chasing she and Makayla around while I was outside fertilizing with a steak knife. What????? I calmly headed back to my office chair then turned to ask rocky about this huge problem. Suddenly the lying about my tool chest keys seemed petty. He denied it at first but then said that both the girls were chasing him with one too. Oh boy!

I asked that he sit tight while I went for just one of the girls who were enjoying their Koolaid from the deck. Had Makayla come in first and then asked Rocky to share what he told me in front of her. His story changed abruptly to only Bella – not Makayla. But Makayla adamantly denied that she or Bella even touched a knife. I then went for Bella.

Same drill. I asked Rocky to share what he just told me. Bella calmly listened but then shared the full details. Rocky kept invading their space in her room and eventually the girls swatted him away with some scarves they tied together. And somewhere along the line they showed him a plastic fork. He in turn went to the kitchen and grabbed the steak knife from the counter that I used earlier to slice cheese. He then proceeded to chase them up the stairs with it. He knew I was pissed. I thanked the girls then sent them off to play.

I let him steep in his sorrow for a while without saying a word. After a few minutes he asked if I would talk to him. I only shared that what he had done was a crime and that I was thinking of calling the police to let them deal with him. He flipped out. Lots of tears and pleading ensued. He asked if I still loved him. I told him I did but that didn’t change the fact that he committed a crime and that if the police got involved that he might even get hauled away to ‘juvie’. He was notably frightened and pleaded with me to let him apologize to Bella. He begged and hugged her sharing how much he loved her and that he would never do anything like that gain. Sad really. I chose to let him stew on it for a while longer sharing that I would consult with Mindy once she returned home which was supposed to be anytime.

When Mindy came in I had Rocky share his story with Mindy. Like me, she was appalled. He pleaded with Mindy not to call the police and let them take him away. More than once he asked if his mother would always love him. Mindy opted to play the kinder, good cop role, but not before having Bella come in and share the whole story beginning to end without leaving out any details however insignificant.

Rocky agreed with Bella’s story then pleaded more for leniency. Rocky was in tears again and for the first time ever that I can recall put together a very clear action plan along with citing exactly what he had done wrong. He went as far as sharing that he would never disappoint Mindy or I ever again. You’ll see, he said. He then went and hugged Bella again while also apologizing. I think and hope we scared him straight. With Lindsey he always seems to get his way and the last word. He shared with us the story of the boy who cried wolf. He clearly understands the ill effects of lying. We assured him the proof is in his behavior moving forward. Mindy eventually put his mind at ease and shared that we weren’t going to call the police. I only added that if I ever see anything closely resembling knife wielding that I will spank him silly and that he won’t be welcome in our home.

Now about 4pm, it wasn’t but a few minutes later that Lindsey called to share that she was on her way to pick up Rocky. In the meantime, we let Rocky, Bella and Makayla head out front to fish from the bridge. Of course they were all on their best behavior. Before Lindsey even got in the door, Rocky apparently already briefed his mother about the ordeal. Of course he left out many of the details. Mindy made sure that Lindsey got the full scoop, for whatever good that’ll do. My honest opinion is that she’s not equipped to raise well-behaved boys, especially a challenging one like Rocky. Mindy and I seem to make significant progress in major behavioral areas whenever we have him away from his mother.

Soon after Lindsey and Rocky left, Mindy left to fetch Jacob and his peeps from the soccer field, but not before Bella asked if she could go with Makayla to Emily’s baseball game. Yes. I spent the rest of my time working. Worked until 530pm or shortly after Mindy and Jacob’s return.

We were having leftover subs for dinner. I suggested a garden salad too. Haven’t had one of those for a while. Mindy thought that sounded good. Mindy made arrangements to have Olivia overnight and planned to watch her on Tuesday. Apparently her summer babysitter fell through the cracks. Sadly, Stephen’s mom. To paraphrase Mindy, Ashley rarely asks us for anything. Stephen dropped Olivia a little earlier than we expected, but we didn’t mind. In fact, I was tickled to have her. Stephen stuck around for a few minutes, too.

After dinner, Olivia and I headed out back to play on the tree swing. At the same time, Mindy & Jacob left to fetch a prescription at CVS. Olivia and I played for 30 minutes or more and eventually made our way over to Chrissy’s yard where Olivia was playing with all the dogs, including Eiknarf. Chrissy eventually came out to see Olivia. Olivia loves Chrissy! We talked for a while, including the teen girls that were smoking in our yard the evening before. It was relevant because Chrissy’s son Jake was making out with one of them in our tree house. Mindy soon got back home and walked down to join the conversation. While we talked, Olivia swung in the tree hammock. All the kids love that thing.

We headed home shortly thereafter. Olivia and I headed out to water the front yard flowers. I watered all the backyard flowers earlier that afternoon. Olivia insisted on helping and as expected, squirted me with the hose every opportunity she got. We had a lot of fun, though I wasn’t too thrilled with her fits when I advised that it was time to wrap it up. I largely ignored her mini tantrum. Thankfully, it’s still fairly easy to move her attention elsewhere. We soon headed in. We all headed to bed fairly early, well before 10pm. Olivia was sleeping with Bella in her room. Didn't hear another peep.