Thirteen and the birthday cake
As you know I have 3 wonderful children. I say wonderful because I love each of them very much and enjoy spending time with them, most of the time.
However, thirteen seems to be the age my children think they need to discover just how much they can push me and argue with me. I am on my third go around with this age and have come to the conclusion that thirteen is an evil age. It is no fun being thirteen, I remember, but must they be so difficult?
Lately, it seems that at some point in our conversations my thirteen year old finds something that he must disagree with about or he must prove me wrong. Then there is the always fun and exciting time he decides to out and out just say "no."
Last night he decided, as he often does, to take his time going to bed. At 10:23 pm I tell him that because he can't seem to be IN bed by 10:00 pm he would have to got to bed at 9:00 pm tonight. Here is the conversation from that point on:
Nathan: No
Mom: Excuse me?
Nathan: No
Mom: Yes. You will be in bed at 9:00 tomorrow night
Nathan: No I won't
Mom: Should we make it 8:00 then?
Nathan: No
Mom: Then you will be in bed at 9:00, and if I have to drag you into the shower, clean you myself, dress you and put you to bed physically I will. Understood?
Nathan: Sigh (rolls eyes and goes to bed)
What is the most common word in my son's vocabulary? "NO"
Don't get me wrong. I love this boy with all my heart. He has the sweetest heart and is very loving. He is creative and talented and extremely smart. And, I know he is just trying to exert some independence, which is what he is supposed to do at this age. But does it really need to go on for so long?
And then there is my lovely daughter Tara. Her best friend (and I am sure BF on some level) had a birthday yesterday. She wanted to make him a vanilla cake with strawberry flavored frosting. She also wanted the top to be a piece sign and to say happy birthday. She played with the canned frosting and tried different colored of food dye to find exactly the colors she wanted. Here is what she came up with:
However, thirteen seems to be the age my children think they need to discover just how much they can push me and argue with me. I am on my third go around with this age and have come to the conclusion that thirteen is an evil age. It is no fun being thirteen, I remember, but must they be so difficult?
Lately, it seems that at some point in our conversations my thirteen year old finds something that he must disagree with about or he must prove me wrong. Then there is the always fun and exciting time he decides to out and out just say "no."
Last night he decided, as he often does, to take his time going to bed. At 10:23 pm I tell him that because he can't seem to be IN bed by 10:00 pm he would have to got to bed at 9:00 pm tonight. Here is the conversation from that point on:
Nathan: No
Mom: Excuse me?
Nathan: No
Mom: Yes. You will be in bed at 9:00 tomorrow night
Nathan: No I won't
Mom: Should we make it 8:00 then?
Nathan: No
Mom: Then you will be in bed at 9:00, and if I have to drag you into the shower, clean you myself, dress you and put you to bed physically I will. Understood?
Nathan: Sigh (rolls eyes and goes to bed)
What is the most common word in my son's vocabulary? "NO"
Don't get me wrong. I love this boy with all my heart. He has the sweetest heart and is very loving. He is creative and talented and extremely smart. And, I know he is just trying to exert some independence, which is what he is supposed to do at this age. But does it really need to go on for so long?
And then there is my lovely daughter Tara. Her best friend (and I am sure BF on some level) had a birthday yesterday. She wanted to make him a vanilla cake with strawberry flavored frosting. She also wanted the top to be a piece sign and to say happy birthday. She played with the canned frosting and tried different colored of food dye to find exactly the colors she wanted. Here is what she came up with:
I think it came out cute (not that I am biased in any way) especially for a first try. Tara disagrees and called it the "ugliest cake ever" but Jackie of course loved it. As you can see she had some of the gel frosting left over and decided to play a little.
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