Responsibility

Parker was busy...being his normal self. Always getting one toy out and then another. I thought maybe this would be a good lesson in Responsibility for this soon to be 7 year old.

He had just played Wii and decided to get out his DS and play that. So I asked him to please put the Wii stuff away before getting all the DS stuff out. He put his DS and stylus on the ottoman and put the Wii stuff away. When he returned to the DS...the stylus was gone. This particular stylus was one of three that were recently purchased and he thought that his solution to the problem was going to be opening another one still in the package.

Wrong, Mom stepped in and said, "You need to find the one that you were just using." This turned into a 20 minute task. We moved couch cushions, pillows, blankets, and the ottoman. No stylus. This is when I decided to preach about putting things back where they belong so that you can find them easily. [Wasted breath, I'm sure!]

I had asked him where the flexible stylus was and he said that it was in my car. He proceeded to go out into the garage to look in my car. Meanwhile, I decided to retrace his steps and look in the cabinet with the Wii collection to see if he mistakenly left it in there and I found it.

Parker had returned with the flexible stylus and now nothing was missing. Everything had been found and all was right with the world...so we thought!

We were approaching bedtime so we decided to carry out the normal routine. Change clothes, brush teeth, etc. I usually ask Parker at bedtime what his favorite part of the day was. And while he was responding I fell asleep. I slept for 2 and a half hours and woke up to go to my own bed, all the while thinking I should let Chuck, our dog, outside so I won't have to do it again later. But I didn't and went back to sleep.

The next morning, I couldn't find Chuck anywhere. He wasn't in Parker's room. He wasn't downstairs. Then it dawned on me, he loves to ride in the car...perhaps he climbed in the car when Parker was on a stylus hunt. So I went to the garage and found Chuck in the car, the cold car. He slept in my car all night. This is not all he did, he did his business in my car!! Uhg! It took me 30 mins to clean it out.

It just so happened that this day my husband and I had to swap vehicles so that I could have his vehicle serviced. My husband and I drove to work and then later in the day I received and email:
Barry: "Did you fart in the car, it smells like shit!" Oh, Responsibility is tough lesson for us all!