Chicken Wire Canoe

Today, I did not feel good. I was nauseous from the new supplement Alyson told me to take (it's for iron, so super important, but it's so nasty), and contracting, and just exhausted because I couldn't sleep very well last night. I napped on and off for most of the day.

Once, when I was awake, and Thak was out doing something, I heard the ice cream truck, and the kids had been very good, so I thought, why not? I had $5 in my wallet, and I thought it would be nice to get them some ice cream. They're always asking for it, and seldom get it, and they are very good kids. I gathered up Orren off the swing in the backyard, and we went running out the front door. We called for Erin, who was playing in a vacant lot one block over, and she came zipping over on her scooter, totally thrilled that she was going to get an ice cream.

While we were standing in line at the ice cream truck, Urkle came over, barged in front of me on his scooter, got right in my face, and said, "CAN I HAVE ONE?!!!" I said, "You have parents. Ask them." He persisted, and I said, "Go away. You're not my kid. If you're buying something, you can get in line, but I'm not buying you anything." After a couple more minutes, we finally got him to go away, and I was able to figure out what Erin and Orren wanted, get it for them, and start making our way back. Erin was asking me if she could continue to play, and I told her that she could, but she was riding back across the street with me and Orren as we were going back to our house. Urkle wedges himself between me and Erin, and interrupted our conversation. He was hitting Erin up to share her ice cream with him. She started explaining to him how saliva has germs in it, and you shouldn't share food unless it's with your brother or sister and you're sure they're not sick. (A testament to Mr. M's great science program, I think! Seriously, she totally shut this kid up with that.)

I finally got back inside with Orren, and we went out to the backyard where he ate his ice cream. I was telling Thak what happened, and he said that he sees that the kid's stepdad, who's actually a very decent guy, tries to discipline the kid, but the kid just laughs at him. He said that leads him to believe the mom just laughs at him when he tries to get anything done around there, that he actually carries little to no authority in their home, which is why this kid runs around being the neighborhood pain in the ass. It seems about right from what I've seen. Granted, nobody knows 100% of any story unless they're living it, but from what I can see, Thak's assessment of the situation was not wrong.

I can't wait until they move. I can't handle that kid. It's like, I literally can't leave my house in peace anymore. If my kids acted like that, I would be so embarrassed. We have to tell Erin all the time that in this family, we DO NOT do [insert thing that kid does]. She understands. She doesn't like him either, honestly. It is just a constant thing to make sure THAT behavior doesn't make its way home. I couldn't handle it if my kid was like that. I don't know how these people live.