The Pinch Heard 'round the World

OK, every family has a dirty little secret, some little bad habit that goes on behind closed doors. Some may burp at the table, some may fart at will, others like to walk around in their underwear. What is ours you ask? We pinch each others buns. Dad pinches Mom's, Mom pinches Son's, everyone pinches Baby Girl's and Baby Girl pinches Dad. Well, you get the idea.

Yesterday our Dirty little secret was exposed. Buster Brown pinched one of his classmate's buns. As a Mom this is when I know a bad habit has gone too far. I just kept thinking of his poor kindergarten classmate who may not be used to bun pinching and doesn't know that in the eyes of Buster Brown this means I like you and you are officially my buddy.

The teacher told me what had happened and I wanted to blurt out, "I don't know where he learned that! Probably his father." But I kept my mouth shut and shoved my pinchers in my pockets.

So, last night at dinner we made a conscience decision to lay our pinchers to rest. There will be no more red buns in our home.

Even Superman had his Cryptonite

I have made an observation lately. When I get into my bed in the evening I am exhausted. I collapse into the comfort of my covers and easily fall into a deep sleep. Now, I remember when I was in High school or even college. I would go to sleep because it was time for bed and I was a bit tired. A far cry from barely able to move your extemities exhausted after you hit the sheets.

I have come to the conclusion that children suck the energy right out of you. They don't have to do much, juat merely have to be in your presence and they will channel all their energy right out of your body and into theirs. This is mostly done through the whining method. I find that whining for more than a minute is the most effective way render me exhausted. Whining is like my cryptonite. Just as Superman would, I begin to curl up into the fetal position on the floor and wince in pain when they break out the dreaded whining.

The second energy sucker is the asking for something multiple times. They use this method in the hopes that I will a.) eventually give in or b.) tune them out (as occasionally happens) and agree without fully knowing what I just agreed to. I am bound and determined to be consistant with them, so if I tell them no that is the way it is going to be. I use my consistancy as a sheild that I hold up whenever I feel a no coming up my throat and out of my mouth. It turns out, however, that my shield is weak and has may holes and will not protect me from losing my most valuable commodity, my energy.

Unfortunately, just because I recognize what is depleting me of my energy there is nothing I can do about it. If I am going to look on the bright side, I should be happy for now that I can fall asleep so easily. I imagine when they are teenagers whatever they are doing is going to be keeping me up all night.