I never did get back around to Easter. We came back from my parents on Saturday night. I took Jacob shopping at the outlets in Niagara Falls, which ended up frustrating for him. I actually found myself a fabulous Toronto Raptors shirt on clearance at the Nike store, which was perfect timing for the playoffs. I was never able to find one in Toronto last fall, so this was a big find! Jacob had a hard time finding reasonably priced clothing, and while he tried on some shoes for when he moves up another size, nothing really stuck. He ended up really wanting this $15 headband at the Nike store, but I blocked him from buying it because Mr. Big Spender needs to rein in his budget a bit. Of course, he later admitted he didn't want to spend his own money on it, but he doesn't seem to get that that should be a clue to him that I shouldn't need to spend my money on it either! More on those struggles in a minute, but suffice it to say that the stupid headband became the poster child for the rest of the weekend for everything that's frustrating me with Jacob right now. After the shopping trip, I spent a couple hours with my oldest friend Heather, just catching up on life! Amazing how much conversation you can have without two kids interrupting every five seconds! After dinner we packed up and headed home. Craig was working that night so it was pretty much just getting the kids in bed and doing a whole lot of Easter prep!
On Sunday morning we started off pretty lazy. Of course, when Jacob woke up at 8am, he had to wake up Carter so they could find their Easter baskets and eggs. The early wake-up call was not particularly welcomed (since Craig and I had both been up late--me doing the Easter stuff, him working), but we got up and let the kids do their thing.
Carter found his basket tucked under blankets under the end table, but Jacob took a bit longer to find his. He's in the middle of looking here as Carter checks out his loot.
Carter got some different candies (Robin Eggs, a chocolate-PB dinosaur from his Gertrude Hawk fundraiser, and a bag of Cadbury eggs), a Hot Wheels vehicle that looks like a toaster, a book, a Playmobil Ghostbuster to go with some stuff he got at Christmas, and some Squigz, which are suction cup-based building toys. He had begged for them when he saw them at Wegmans, because they used to have them at daycare. When I looked for them online, they were more expensive than what Wegmans had them for, and when I went again, they were on clearance! He was with me, though, so if you could have seen me trying to hide them in the cart and distracting him at the register...it was ridiculous!
Jacob finally found his in the dining room (inside a cabinet that used to house our photo albums), and he was happy with his selection of candy and a golden egg full of cash.
I had good intentions of making a fun breakfast, but I realized I didn't have what I needed so we made do with hard-boiled eggs and other easy stuff. I made a pie for our time with Craig's family later, and then it was time to get ready for church at noon. Despite that late time we still ended up getting there a minute or so late, which did not make me happy. And after church there was more rushing around and packing up and grabbing snacks to tide us over until we got to Buffalo, which got us on the road at least a half hour later than planned. I was so frustrated! Luckily, it ended up working out fine, but it's frustrating when no matter how much you plan, nothing seems to go right!
We still had a great time with Craig's family. Far too much food, as usual, but so good! The boys participated in the annual Easter egg hunt with their cousins (indoors this year, since it was cold!) and picked up a bunch more candy to fill their baskets. It was a great time, but boy were we all tired by the time we got home.
Now that we're past Easter and looking forward to Craig's job transition and the end of the school year, we've been battling Jacob on his cell phone status. He, of course, wants unlimited data, but if I can make do with a TracFone plan, so can he. He was sort of promised (not by me) Craig's phone when he gets a new one--mostly because he was supposed to get Craig's last one, but right before he was trading up it took an unexpected swim in the pool--but I'm not super comfortable with testing out his maturity with one like that. I think we've finally convinced him he'll have to deal with the TracFone plan for now, but working out the logistics of that is harder. How will he listen to music if it's not streaming? How much restraint will he have to not watch YouTube videos on the bus next year? How will we handle social media? It's all very complicated, and I don't know that I'm ready for it. But being able to communicate with his friends is important to him, and apparently we're on the losing end of his friends' parents' generosity.
Another part of this is trying to figure out the allowance situation. He is willing to do chores, but admittedly it's hard to trust him to do them--like to not break stuff in the process (like my beloved Shark vacuum or any knickknacks I'd have him clean around), or to simply do a good job without it turning into one more thing for me to nag him about. I read a blog post about an allowance setup where you pay them a significant amount (although in that case it wasn't directly tied to chores--but in our case, per the therapist, it probably needs to be), but they need to use that money to pay some of their expenses. In essence, it's taking money you'd probably spend on them anyway, and giving them the opportunity to learn to manage their own money. If they choose to get a lesser cell phone plan and save, or foolishly spend it and not afford their expenses, they'll learn valuable lessons. Jacob doesn't seem to understand budgeting or spending within your means (oh, the maddening conversations we've had), so I think he definitely needs those lessons. But handing over cash to him makes me very nervous. I have suggested a probationary period to see if he can be trusted to do chores, where the payout is lower until he proves himself, and then we'll see where it goes. We do need to figure it out soon.
Suffice it to say that I still don't feel qualified for tween parenting...but then again, I don't feel so hot with little kid parenting either right now, because Carter is turning into a serious handful. Not only does he instigate stuff with his brother, but he has a pretty smart mouth on him. On top of that, reading is still a struggle with him. No concerns from his teacher yet, but reading a book with him is painful at home. Getting him away from screens is a struggle unless he's explicitly banned. Unless you're planning on spending one-on-one time with him, getting him to just play like a normal kid is hard. Jacob wants them to be friends, in theory, but they have nothing in common and just seem to trigger one another constantly. It's hard right now.
We have a couple exciting things happening this weekend, though, so stay tuned...
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