Thursday, January 13, 2011

Boys At War

I am not really a mom. I am just a referee. Any other parents out there feel they have the same role?

Hunter and Cavan are constantly in attack mode. Cavan even yells, "ATTACK" and then leaps on top of his brother. I am at a loss as to how to deal with them. Most of the day I am pulling them off of one another, talking sternly to them, full-out yelling at them, smacking bums, smacking hands, putting them into their rooms, putting them into corners.... it just never ends. I have a nagging suspicion this is never going to change.

While in Ross River the boys took advantage of cushions that were able to come off the furniture to make landing pads for leaps off of the backs of the now cushion-less furniture. Cavan tried to make off with one of the cushions and Hunter retaliated with a chop to the arm. I was so mad! Hunter hasn't bit in ages and Cavan finally seemed to be getting past the biting stage. Hunter ended up with a smack on the butt and about 15 minutes in his room. Then just two days later Hunter did it again because Cavan wouldn't take the ice-cream cone (a hat with his stuffed squirrel inside) that he was offering. I was fuming!

I thought that a couple of days apart would do them well. Matt took Hunter into Whitehorse with him overnight to have the truck serviced. All Cavan did was ask for Hunter. And Hunter definitely missed his little brother. While Matt was getting his hair cut, the hair dresser gave Hunter two candies. I guess he ate one and then told everyone he was saving the other candy for Cavan! Matt said he told so many people about it- even an employee at Canadian Tire. He kept taking it out of his pocket to check that it was safe and then sadly he lost it somewhere and was pretty devastated. However, Hunter wasn't even in the house for two minutes before the fists were flying and both boys were in full on attack mode.

Gahh. How am I going to survive raising boys?

CHOMP!

Sad little boy.
Yet, he kept asking me to let Hunter out of his time-out. I just don't get it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow - Hunter got a good bite into Cavan .. you could probably make a mold of his teeth from that!

Holly said...

Ahh! The joy of boys. I've just come to the conclusion that boys are rough and tumble & you're never going to change it. Good luck. Just remember - boys fight & bad feelings / anger are usually over. Girls carry grudges forever!!!!

Meandering Michael said...

The trick is to leave the room.

Tammy said...

Wow, I guess it's not all cuteness huh? haha That must be really hard on you :( I guess the saying boys will be boys doesn't come out of nowhere though. Wait till they are 10 and 12 and REALLY able to give each other a go haha

dogsled_stacie said...

What Kennie said, holy cow that's a good teeth impression! So weird that Cavan was asking for Hunter after that... maybe for revenge??!

Dogs are much easier!

Carole said...

Holy Crow! "What big teeth you have!" lol I can't get over those bite marks. I don't envy you, but it is a great photo for his wedding day. Oh wait, maybe not. It might scare off his bride.

Allmycke said...

I think the trick here is to limit "collateral damages" as best as possible...
I have no fast and fail-safe tricks to offer (I only had one to raise) but time-out and few hours every now and then, playing with other kids than Bro seem like good ideas to me. No doubt they love each other dearly (hard to imagine when they're doing their level best to at least hurt each other). Once they grow up, they are sure to have each other's back - but for now maybe you should follow Micahel's advice and leave the room.

Morena said...

OMG! That's a crazy bite. At least he doesn't carry a grudge if he was asking for Hunter to be let out. Very cute about the candy...

Aida said...

yikes, that is a good bite. my kids fight.all.the.time. but when its time to get something like a treat or whatever, they always remember the other and when they are *reunited* again, one will say, i have a surprise for you. its soo cute!