Mother's Day Fun

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Thank you to Anthony, my most beloved husband, and yes my beautiful children.

I was working on an event until 1 am so in the morning, I was slow to move. But (horns playing - dit, dit, dit, dittttttt) Anthony made my favorite breakfast, Eggs Benedict. Yummmm! Next, the children presented me with their gifts. This year was the first year that all of my kids made their own gift and were able to sign their own name. Sun shining and angels singing!!! That was the best Mother's Day present of all. Anthony and Audrey also decorated a watering can with pictures of all the kids. It is really cute.

In the afternoon, Anthony packed a lunch and with my Mom and her husband Jack, we all went to the park for an afternoon picnic. The weather was perfect and the kids ran out their energy. We returned home to plant some garden items that my mom had given me. Thanks, Mom and Jack.

Finally, off we went to Anthony's parents for BBQ to celebrate Grannie's birthday. It was a relaxing evening with the family. And, like I said the weather was gorgeous. Thank you, Mother Nature.

Carson's Addiction

My son Carson is a pistol. In fact, my Dad gave me a book on raising a strong-willed child when Carson was only about 18 months old. Bad sign! As you can see from his photos, he is a wee-bit of a kid with his daddy's auburn hair, and eyes, in particular, eyelashes to die for. All of this is a disaster...he can flirt his way out of every jam and yes, it even works on me!

Well a few months ago, he has developed a new skill (don't think he will want this on his resume). He is stealing! Had he been born in the Middle East both his hands and possibly his feet would have been cut off by now. It all started when we were doing our cookie sales for Audrey. We were at a school friend's house getting an order and when we got home, we discovered Carson had stuffed his pockets will all kinds of stuff; marbles, puzzle pieces, a plastic bird and some other little items. I took this opportunity to lecture Carson about not taking our friend's things when we go home and returned the items back to the rightful owners the next morning. I quickly chucked this one to him being 4 and not realizing that they were in his pocket and so on. Then the following week he loaded his pockets with matchbox cars at preschool, and I mean loaded, 11 little cars in all. I don't know how he even keep his pants up. After I discovered his thievery, I marched him straight back to his classroom. I thought that would be embarrassing enough to end this behavior. But NO! The next incident, we are having brunch at our friend's, Leah and Adrian and Audrey tells us that Carson has packed his pockets full of marbles...you know the ones that you use in floral arrangement or to decorate candles. UGH!!! So we quickly had him empty his pockets and had him put them back. As a result, Carson is now frisked upon leaving the Herrera's house.

And then it continues, this morning I caught Carson removing all the cash from Audrey wallet (her tooth-fairy money) and stuffed it in his piggy bank. I can't remove the money without breaking his bank. And then, I got a call from my Mom this morning about him taking a skull and crossbones key chain from the thrift store after she said she wouldn't buy it for him.

I am at wits end. I spoke with one of my friends who I get together with weekly for play dates and she said that she just read an article about this very thing in one of her parenting mags. She promises me that it is phase but that it needs to be resolved before it becomes a habit. Okay, so I have tried all the love and logic ways to no avail. I am thinking that I am going make him wear pants that have no pockets. But also, why is he doing this? She says stress or maybe a change in his life. I can't figure out what is so stressful in this 4 year-old and yes, over-privileged life. How will he handle real adversity? Rob Banks! Okay, so that discussion is a whole other blog.

Do you have any stealing wisdom to share? Or any stories of your own?