This is what Curran has decided he is.
Curran and I spend nights alone because Nate has to work the crummy second shift. During the winter/school year our week nights seem to run together with sports, homework, dinner, tub time, and bed. Friday nights are usually fun because we actually get to play games and enjoy our time together. This past Friday is when Curran, at the ripe age of 8 (9 in two months but if you ask him he’s almost ten – he could care less about being 9) was snowboarding in our back yard. For those of you that know our back yard you are probably asking how in the world he manages to do that. Well we shovel the snow off the deck and a good half of the driveway into a huge mound in the back yard that has proven to be hours of fun for Curran and the neighbor kids. Friday night was no different. He spent about an hour and a half perfecting his standing and stopping techniques on his snowboard, and while he did this I cleaned my car – yes I cleaned it – not Nate!! When it was time to go inside I got all the snow brushed off of him and as I turned to open the door to go inside he ran across the driveway and dove into the neighbors snow hill……ugh. He realized what he had done mid air because before he even landed in the snow he was yelling “Oh Crap”. Now I like to think the oh crap was because I had just brushed him off and he thought I would yell at him but as I sit here and type I am thinking maybe he realized that he wasn’t going to “land the jump” like he wanted to. He stood up – turned around and said “don’t worry mom I am really good at brushing myself off”. I told him I hope so and I went inside and downstairs to do a load of laundry. Curran is very good about going right downstairs to take his snow clothes off and if there is nothing in the dryer he will even throw his clothes in there, he does not turn it on but it is nice that he puts them in there and we are not stepping our toasty warm toes (who am I kidding – no toes in our house are ever toasty warm) I mean dry toes on his wet snow clothes. While he was taking his snow pants off he said that he really wanted to learn how to do the dryer so that he could dry his snow clothes himself. My first thought was we better double check our home owners insurance to make sure we have fire coverage. I showed him how to clean the lint tray and explained why that is the most important thing to remember when using the dryer and I think I might have scared him a bit about it starting a fire. After we went through all that he looked at me and said “well ya know, I would really like to learn how to use the washing machine too”. Part of me was thinking this is great – I never have to do laundry again, and the other part of me was thinking that this will probably be the only time that Curran does laundry! I showed him how to use the washing machine and as we were walking back upstairs he said to me “Mom. I think that I am a parent-kid, like part parent and part kid. I know how to do everything in the house, except the dishwasher – hey why don’t you show me how to do that too”. I know what you all are thinking – what a mean, horrible, slave driving mother but hey he wanted to learn so why not teach him, and again he probably will never do it again. After I showed him that he looked at me and said “all this new stuff, these are all my favorite chores now. I can do everything at home. I clean my room and make my bed, I pick up the dog poop, and now I can do laundry and dishes”. I looked at him and said the only time you clean your room and make your bed is after we have asked you ten times and you have not picked up dog poop since the first time it snowed in November. He told me that the next time dad asks for help he is going to say “what do you want me to do dad, make the dirty clothes clean?” What lucky parents we are!!
