2-5-09

My son and I argued all the time. Now, Wii get along just fine

I have included my son, Ethan, in many of the stories of my trials and tribulations that I have written about.
My wife says that we are just alike. Stubborn, set in our ways, have a temper and are the angriest SOB’s when we are hungry.
We, Ethen and I, have been known to argue ‘til we are both blue in the face... over very simple things.
I hold strong to not talking back, please and thank you, no hitting, and treating Mommy with respect. If I can get him to do just one of these during the course of a week, I feel like I have won the battle. The only problem is that I am fighting a war.
There was a time that I was taking Ethan to day care before I went into work. Leigh was going to school to finish her teaching degree. She was commuting to ECU from Kenansville everyday and having to leave at 5 a.m. Ethan’s day care wasn’t even open at that time.
I would go in his room to wake him up and he would start to cuss me from the start. I would struggle to get him dressed, socks on, teeth brushed and set him in front of the TV so that he would stay still so that I could quickly get myself ready and maybe shave.
Most of the time, I would get ready and walk back out to the den and not see him anywhere. He had taken his clothes off and gone back to bed.
Son of a ....Gun!
I found out quick that he was not a morning person, just like his old man.
Apple trees make apples!
We would battle from the time I tried to drag him out of bed to the time I pushed him through the door at his day care. By this time, I was usually running about 20 minutes late for the start of my day. Those ladies at his day care must have known what a struggle I just had because there were a few times that they said, “Mr. Pinkey, why don’t you sit down for a minute.” Or “We made sausage for the children and have some left over, why don’t you get yourself a bite before you go to work.”
Was it that obvious?
Yup.
My boss knew! At least once a week he caught me on my way in and pulled me aside to let me know that he understood my situation with Ethan in the morning, “But could you please try to make it into work only fifteen minutes late... please?”
It was a tough time.
Everything is better now. Leigh takes him to school in the morning.
Ethan and I have been getting along a lot better these days. I like to think that it is because he is older and all of my lessons and lectures have sunk in or my patience has become stronger. But I am just fooling myself.
We just bought a Wii.
For those of you who don’t know what a Wii is, it is a video game system. Unlike the older systems that use a joystick, this one works off of motion. If you ar playing a bowling game, you have to hold the controller and move your arm in the same way you would if you were rolling a real bowling ball.
The rule is, Ethan can’t play until he takes a bath, eats his dinner, picks up his toys and his sister is in bed.
What a change. He comes home and takes his clothes off, jumps into the bathtub and washes off. He then gets his PJs on and gets to the dinner table to shovel in his food. After dinner, he asks if it is time for Nash to go to bed. “No, son, it is only 6 p.m.” He usually lets out a long, “Awwww Maaann.”
As soon as I come out of Nash’s room from putting her down, he knows it’s on. It’s time to battle in the world of Mario Kart, a race car game that makes us laugh, stomp our feet, and makes Mommy shush us and say, ”If you boys don’t quiet down, I’m going to turn it off.”
We giggle and keep on racing!
I’m going to soak this up as long as it lasts. I know that as soon as the game system gets old to him, we will be back to the same old routine.
My feeling is that as long as he remembers this brief moment of Ethan and Daddy laughing and stomping our feet, it’s OK with me. I will just wait for the next great bonding hobby between father and son.
Bryan Pinkey can be reached at bpinkey@nccox.com or now all of my stories are archived at www.jbryanpinkey.blogspot.com.