Make a Wish

For the weekend Elijah spent time with Rob's parents for Grandson Weekend.  Every year they take all the grandsons or all the granddaughters and do fun activities with them and let them know that they're special.  It's awesome. 

This weekend was particularly well timed because Elijah's been driving me crazy.  He's really ... active.  He'll come home from school and run around the house laughing and screaming and whistling and play fighting with his brother.  It's a lot of a lot.  (I try to pretend that he got this trait from Rob.  But Rob isn't a lot of a lot of anything other than sweet and nice and gentle.  And then, at class last week, when I was really excited and jittery for no reason, my classmates asked, "Are your kids like this, too?"  And I had to admit that Elijah was.)  Having a quiet weekend was a needed change.

Though it wasn't completely quiet.  Rob's sister came down with her 2 daughters, and we had a full weekend of fun.  We went to Newport on the Levee where the kids got balloon animals from a very nice circus performer and we walked across the purple people bridge.  Then a picnic and Cold Stone ice cream. 

Later we went to the museum center and saw the omnimax film Tornado Alley.  The movie proved that I am not meant to be a storm chaser.  My thoughts were, "That's really neat looking.  Now run away!"  I asked Tank if he liked it and he said yes.  Then I asked if he wanted to grow up and be a storm chaser.  He said no.  Smart boy.

On the way out of the museum center we stopped to look at the water fountain.  It's gorgeous and fun and, most importantly for the kids, it's water.

They all got a penny to make a wish and Miciah and the girls ran to find the perfect wishing spot.  Tank stayed with me and Rob and thought for a second.  Then he said, "I wish Elijah were dead," and threw his penny into the fountain.

Obviously that's not happiness.  Rob and I immediately started asking Tank why he would say that.  We weren't mean about it, we just wanted to know what was going on.  Tank started bawling.  I picked him up in my arms and found a good place to sit.

Me:  You don't want Elijah to die.  You like Elijah.
Tank:  No, I don't.
Me:  But you like to play with him, right?
Tank:  No.  He's mean to me.
Me:  How is he mean to you?
Tank:  He hits me.
Me:  Oh, that's not nice.  Does he do anything else?
Tank:  He's bossy.
Me:  Oh.  Well, you like playing with him when he's nice, right?
Tank:  Yeah.
Me:  So how about we change our wish to 'I wish Elijah were nicer to me'?
Tank (reluctantly):  Okay.

Guess we'll have to talk to that Elijah about being nicer.  Cause when your brother's first thought for a wish is that you would die, something's gotta change.