Ben is my little tricky child. Sometimes it is the wilful, sometimes it is the wild, sometimes it is the escape-artist, sometimes it is the tricky. We ran into a friend this weekend and she asked how Ben had settled into school this term. ‘Have they tamed him yet?’ she asked and I laughed because that one sentence summed up pretty much everything about him.
I love this little boy more than anything but I’m sure some of you will recognise him:
This morning he complained that his shoes were hurting. I checked them but they were fine. Then he said it was his socks. They seemed fine too although those pesky seams across the toe are always a potential crisis. So then he said it was his toenails. I cut them, making sure not to leave any sharp edges, thereby sidestepping another potential crisis.
We put on new socks and a different pair of shoes but they were still hurting his feet.
‘They’re giving me a headache Mummy,’ he wailed.
I couldn’t not hug him when I saw his crumpled little face.
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‘You know I can’t eat this pizza,’ he said accusingly at lunch. ‘It makes me cough.’
He paused to ready himself for a cough.
‘And that gives me a headache Mummy,’ he wailed.
There was even a crocodile tear.
You have to hug a boy that has crocodile tears.
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‘I can’t play with these cars anymore Mummy.’
He threw one half-heartedly at the car mat. (You know what’s coming, right?)
‘It’s giving me a headache, Mummy,’ he wailed.
There was a pause while he tried to look up at his own forehead, suddenly distracted from this latest injustice.
‘What is a headache, Mummy?’
I had to turn away so he didn’t see me laugh because, after all that complaining about headaches? I thought of the throbbing starting over my left eye after a long day stuck inside with The Complainer and I thought, yes I know exactly what is a headache.
I could say I love him despite his foibles, but actually I love him more because of his foibles.
And it’s a good thing that he’s so adorable too:
SO WHAT if I like to express myself a bit? I'm going to be a world leader with this temperament.
What do your children do that makes you love them even more?
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Ella this made me laugh because you could have been describing my daughter when she was about the same age. Wilful didn’t begin to cover it! Lovely post. x
Thank you, and glad it’s not just us then!
Love it! I could go on and on about the things my children do that make me love them more but there’s also plenty of things they do that don’t!
lol!
How’s about this from my little treasure (now age 6, but probably about 4 then).
I can’t remember now exactly what he had done. But I know he had done it several times despite my protestations. I had asked him nicely to stop, I had commanded him to stop and eventually I lost my cool completely and delivered a full volume mummy rant about why he shouldn’t do this monstrous thing.
He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said “But mummy I do love you very much, even when you are cross with me”. Stopped me right in my tracks, I can tell you
Oh! Noone could be cross after that! What a sweetie.
Love it. Love how he tries to look up at his forehead. Bless him and his cotton socks (with the annoying seams across the toes!)
lol, yes I need to get some seamless socks for the poor boy!
This is my oldest child. To a “t.” And to some extent my second. My third tries to mimic them, but luckily he is too easy-going and looses interest before long
. We’ll see how the baby turns out.
Your boy is cutie, by the way!
Thank you!
Luckily, Ben is the third so the oldest two developed their temperaments before he came along, otherwise the days might be very looonnng.
What a cutie and what a lovely description of your little one. x
Thank you x
Awwww, I have one exactly like that.
They’re keepers, aren’t they
Gorgeous post Ella! What a sweetie he is!
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