Kids -- aka "Why Lions Eat Their Young"

It's been an interesting few days in the Brady household. Our kids have done some pretty amazingly odd, weird, ill-advised, and leave-you-speechless-in-amazement things as of late. Let's go from oldest to youngest, shall we?

Austin: Probably the most well behaved of the three children as of late, apparently due to some weird cosmic event. He had a major meltdown Sunday over having to mow the lawn since it wasn't "his house". This was quickly countered with a "We can have you live somewhere else if you like" from his mother and a "I guess it isn't your food, or your PlayStation, or your computer either". Attitude adjusted: lawn mowed.

Marissa: Recipient of a new Giant Boulder bicycle from the LBS as I was sick of repairing the Walmart special hand me down. In an attempt to be a "big girl" she pulled Carson to church in the kid cart. On the way home, riding alongside her mother, she got goofy and started swerving. Yeah, cart tipped and somehow Carson was actually ejected and scraped up his arm pretty bad (thank goodness for helmets or I think another ER trip could have been a possiblity!). At home was the "If you want to be a big girl you must be responsible for others well-being" talk. That and the overall attitude of a nine year old going on sixteen is about more than Laura or I can take at this point. Oh sure, you laugh...but you know EXACTLY where I'm coming from, don't you!

Carson: Dad's toothbrush is for cleaning mud off Carson's shoes! Mental picture = accurate description.
We've said it before and we are saying it again: I'll take the terrible two's over the whatever-you-want-to-call-it-four-year-old-attitude. He suddenly knows EVERYTHING and will argue with you relentlessly. He will push you to the absolute max on every little thing before backing down. His selective hearing is at an all time high. His ability to go to bed at 8:30 is at an all time low. By the time you actually get him to bed, you are so exhausted that you just go to bed too.

Let's throw in the milk jug for good measure -- aka, my personal pet peeve. Breakfast brings everything to the table; cereal, bowls, spoons, milk, etc. The unfortunate part of this adventure is that the milk jug NEVER, and I do mean NEVER, gets put away. It finally took a drastic measure to end the problem. Everyone is now required to put milk on the cereal before going to the table and then putting the milk right back in the fridge. This was met with resistance, but you know what??? The milk jug has stayed cold, in the fridge, where it should be, ever since.

I could go on I'm sure, but you get the picture. I'm thinking I better get back into serious training soon or there might be a trip to the liquor store in the very near future.

Closing thought: God Bless all you parents out there. It has to be the craziest job out there, one you can't quit, but one where sanity is only temporary (it helps to be crazy actually). As Red Green always closes with: Keep your stick on the ice.