Living With a Fifth Grade Boy

or

Why There's Always Chocolate in the Pantry

On the way home from school yesterday I was informed that I had done the following;

1) Forgotten to pack Coop's library book in his backpack that morning

2) Neglected to refill his water bottle for at least two days in a row and...

3) Did not understand how much work he had to do!

I managed to not say anything too horrible although the words "Bursting the Fantasy Bubble You Live In" did come out of my mouth.  I told him to go to his room to relax and "decompress" and we would talk in ONE hour.  I then hid in my new pantry and ate three chocolate truffles, pausing between each to see if I felt less like I needed to pull my hair out and better yet, Cooper's hair out. When that didn't help, I called my mother.  Nana is always my voice of reason.  I want to be her when I grow up.  I'm turning 40 this year.  I'm hoping growing up will happen soon.

She told me to take a deep breath and reminded me he was a good kid.  Sometimes that can be very helpful to hear.  She also thought I might need a fourth truffle.

In an hour, we talked( I didn't say anything snarky at all) and I think Cooper now understands that his library books are his reponsibility not mine.  I think he also understands that I have no problem refilling his water bottle as long as it makes it to the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes that I do every night.  And since the water bottle can not get to the sink by it's lonesome, that also falls under his reponsibility.

If these are the tween' years and we haven't even officially hit puberty yet, I think I had better go buy some more chocolate.