I'm not ready for this.

Tuesday 7 pm:
Abby, Connie and Jack had pulled out a puzzle and were hard at work. (I had helped them put together the outer border of the puzzle, but once that was done, they cranked it out.) Wyatt was on the floor tearing pages out of a super-sized coloring book and Devlyn had been sent to her room (I don't remember why now) where she proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs "Mommy!" and "I will behave next time! I will!" until I couldn't take it any more. I told her repeatedly that she had to calm down. Once she managed to be calm for 5 minutes, I went in and told her I was proud of her for staying calm and that if she cold continue to be calm then her mom would come up and read when it was time for Abby & Connie to go to bed too. I didn't hear another peep out of that girl until her sisters came upstairs for bed.

Before everyone headed up to bed though, we had to clean up our big ole mess. I asked Abby to go do her eye exercises with her mother. I asked Jack & Connie to put away the various games they had pulled out and I told Wy to pick up his coloring book mess. Abby & Connie jumped right up and got to business. Jack and Wy ignored me. Three times those boys ignored me. I told Jack he could go to his room since he wasn't going to help out. He stood still. I told him again that he needed to go to his room. He just looked at me in defiance. I looked at him and said "Mr. you go to your room right now. Move!" I set him on the stairs, he turned, looked at me and yelled "I HATE (pause)"

OK - I think this was the longest pause of my life. That boy looked me in the eye and I knew right then it was coming. I thought "No, no, no, no. He's only 4. I'm NOT ready for this. What am I going to say?" and then he said "moving."

What? What did he say? I had to process for a moment - "I HATE...moving." Had he been about to say he hated me? Had he changed his mind? Had he seen the panic in my eyes? Had he smelled the fear? I don't know, but I can deal with "I HATE...moving."

He sat in time out for being so sassy. Then I asked him what he had been thinking about while he sat there. "Um. I was finking when I could go to a movie wiff you." "Oh? I was thinking you might apologize for being so sassy." Jack apologized and we made friends again.

As he slipped upstairs to put on his jammies, my mom said "You know what to say when he finally says that, right? You say 'Well I love you." I remember Mom saying that to us girls when we were younger. Each time we hurled that hateful comment her way she responded with an "I love you" until we stopped.

Then there was Devon. "I love you" didn't work on Devon. She just kept on and kept on hurling "I hate you!" at Mom until one day Mom looked back at her and said "Oh yeah? Well I'm not too fond of you right now either." And Devon never said it to Mama again.