Wake Up Call

It's Sunday, and we missed church. Why? *sigh* Well....... the short version is that Tommy has been installing new walls, floor, and shower after ripping out the old from our bathroom. We've been bathing out of the sink for about a MONTH now and he's desperately trying to finish it for us...and his back is charging him overtime for every minute he puts into it. So this morning, he couldn't stand up straight to walk to the bathroom. This also contributes to another problem,... Morgan is a pre-teen....he NEEDS a bath! (I think I'm going to ship him off to Mesa's for a bath later today!) Add to that a little problem with Jared who has battled a stomach bug for a few days and still feels a little nauseated....and then Manti got hurt at work and suffers residual symptoms from a concussion,.... so this mom is worn out and is just gonna stay home.

After I got done putting my "lotions and potions" on Tommy's back and informing the boys what they could make themselves for breakfast, I finally got to go back to sleep. It was nice...until about 11am.

That's when it started....
the yelling....
the smoke...
the child jumping onto my bed and getting in my face so I'd wake up....

Let me stop right here and say,... I do love my boys.

The story goes like this:
Jared got on my bed to tell on Morgan. Last week, we had a rather pronounced ice storm and a lot of trees and branches have come down because of it. We even had an earthquake because of it! Well, we've cleaned up most of the branches on our property, but the boys wanted to leave one because the branch fell right against the tree and made a perfect lean-to shape. Jared desperately wants to build upon it to make himself a play house. He had talked Morgan into helping, but Morgan wasn't helping. He was actually having a shouting match with Manti in the kitchen where the smoke was happening...but I'll get to that in a minute.
Jared is upset and he tells me all about the limb he wants to build a lean-to on and how he got that promise out of Morgan but Morgan wasn't keeping his word and Jared was devastated because his brother had "betraited him." He doesn't like having a "betraitor" for a brother!

He wasn't happy when I laughed, so he left my room and went to the livingroom to cry about my insensitivity, I guess.

The next noise to get my attention is Morgan, who keeps chanting "EXPLAIN - GUIDE - DEMONSTRATE - EXAMPLE!" followed by Manti who says "You're right, but I'm NOT DOING IT!" The giggles started forming in my mind and then bubbled out of my mouth till I had to call Morgan in for a talk. I asked him to tell me what the EDGE method was. So he repeated it "explain - guide - demonstrate - example." I laughed again and told him he was a little mixed up, he switched the d and g and used the wrong word for the last e. "Explain - Demonstrate - Guide - Enable." That started Morgan yelling at Manti again for telling him he was spelling it right when it was wrong.

Now stop here for a moment,.... this is not a true fight. These kids keep laughing in the middle of their screams and yes, occasionally somebody got smacked or something thrown at them, but they were playing as much as arguing----everybody but Jared. He's genuinely "betraited."

Back to the story:
I was really proud of Morgan, because the EDGE method is a scout term. It is a tried and true guide to teach anyone anything. In the boy scout handbook, one of the requirements is to teach another person a skill using the EDGE method. It's something I learned when I went to Woodbadge, and I find opportunities to incorporate it into things I do quite often now. It works! So my kids have been picking up on it and incorporating it also. *PROUD MAMA*

I had to call Morgan back from his shouting match with Manti and ask him what he was badgering Manti about. He tells me that Jared asked him to help build the lean-to, but Morgan has never done that before and isn't sure what to do. Manti has built lots of them and KNOWS what to do. He's a scout, and a scout is "helpful, courteous and kind." [insert another motherly laugh at the expense of my oldest son] That means Manti needs to go outside and EXPLAIN - DEMONSTRATE - GUIDE - and ENABLE his two younger brothers so they can build the lean-to and Morgan can keep his word.

Manti is cooking. I yell across the hallway to him "what's burning?" Manti says "I HAVE NO IDEA! Morgan keeps pestering me!" Who knows.... probably some cleanser on the burner wasn't rinsed off well yesterday when the stovetop got wiped down. I don't know, but no fire. It stopped too.

If you know Morgan, you know he can't stand still for 2 seconds, not even when he's going to the toilet, so he had left the room by now even though we were still talking. He yelled back at Manti his EDGE method definition and then told Manti it was his fault that Jared was crying. Manti yelled back that it was Morgan's fault because HE'D made a promise and not fulfilled it. Manti said "YOU are the one who betraited him!" I had to fall back on my pillow laughing all over again.

I know I'm the responsible adult in this situation, and that I should step in and find a compromise and utilize a teaching moment.... don't judge me.... you would have laughed too.

So now, my 2 little boys are outside trying to lean pine limbs against a tree so they can have a cone shaped lean-to playhouse, Manti is in his room stringing beads and trying to rest, Tommy is STILL in bed and I'm thinking I sure hope the crazy house I get put into has some hot pink furniture and soft stuffed fox toys for me to curl up with when I get there.