Banana Christmas

The kids were determined to get an early start on Christmas this year. As they went to bed, they repeatedly asked "how EARLY can we get up!?!?!" Knowing that they have never woken before 7am on Christmas in their lives and that most years we've had to wake THEM up, Murray felt safe telling them they couldn't wake us up before 5. I wasn't quite as confident on them sleeping in but was quite sure we wouldn't be seeing them at 5!

I shouldn't have doubted them! I woke up to use the facilities between 2 & 3am and found Lovey & Sweetie playing on their iPods in the living room. I told them to get back to bed! They were surprised that it wasn't as close to morning as they'd thought. They figured it would be light out pretty soon. I fell back asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow until......

brrrrrrrrttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!! brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttt! Ahhhhh the 5am whistle start for Christmas. A lovely new tradition that I will ensure never repeats itself by hiding this whistle next December!!!!!!!

As is our custom, everyone ran down to grab their stocking and check it out. Santa had also left each of them a box of junky cereal that they love but only get twice a year (Christmas & birthday). They raced back upstairs with their stash of Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp and Cocoa Puffs (actually they're called Nestlé Quik or something now but I'm too old to change haha!) and belted down  a bowl each and moved on to the fruit round, where things came to a screeching/grinding halt. Sweetie & Honey chose grapes, they can be washed quickly and they don't hate them so they're quickly consumed.

Lovey chose an alternate and unfortunate path. The banana. She is ridiculously fussy about the state of ripeness of her bananas in the first place. They can't be eaten on the day they're bought. She won't even look at one if it came home from the store that day. They can't have ANY green on them whatsoever. They must be very yellow but not squishy at all. They must have brown spots on them, buuuuuuuut not toooooooooo many and again, the banana must retain some firmness to be an acceptable candidate into the Lovey Breakfast Program. (all of which is enough to push me over the edge on a regular day!)

She managed to find one that met all her criteria. The problem is that at 9½ years of age, the girl still doesn't know how to sit in a chair at the table. While sitting side saddle and goofing around, she managed to drop her banana on the floor. No big deal, it being Christmas and all, I actually swept and mopped in the not too distant past. Five second rule and we're good to..... not so fast.

*insert wailing indignation here*
Lovey: "I can't eat this banana."
Me: are you kidding me? get that into you!
Lovey: No!!!!!!!!!! I won't. I can't. I'm not eating it!
Murray: you're not going to open any presents until you eat that
Lovey: I caaaaaaaaaaaaaan't! Nooooooooooooo!
Me: (after peeking at the offending item, seeing NOTHING wrong with it) just rinse it off then if you're worried about it.
Lovey: eww! then it'll be all gross and slimey!
Me: well if there's anything on it, just scrape it off and move on.
Lovey: (real tears flowing) I cannnnnnnnnnnnnnn't eat THAT!!!!!!!
Me: your call. We're going to go downstairs once I've cleared the dishes.
Lovey: (screaming and crying now) NOOOOOOOOOO! I'm not eating it. Give me something else!!!!
Me: (the not so patient one who has dealt with way too many of her tirades and demands and manipulations lately and who was woken up at 5am with a whistle blast!) No, we're not wasting that banana because you're being unreasonable. (I take the banana and rinse it, figuring she's probably got at least another 20 minutes of fight left in her which should be sufficient time for the banana to air dry if I pat it with a paper towel first, might as well get this show on the road)
Lovey: (five alarm freak out mode) NOOOOOOOOO! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?!?!? IT'S RUINED. I'm NOT eating that banana! Ewwwww! Yuck! IT'S GROSS. I won't eat it, I cannnnnnnnnnnnnn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents exit stage left and head downstairs...



We told Honey & Sweetie to start opening their gifts over the wailing protests coming from upstairs. After a couple of presents I go up and tell her she can bring her banana downstairs and join us while we open gifts only if she is quiet. She then comes downstairs. Somehow while she's sitting on the couch, she manages to drop the banana a couple more times and again starts with the "I can't...". We ignore her and Sweetie and Honey are through most of their gifts now and are waiting on her to open the gifts for all 3 of them. Finally, she decides she wants in on this Christmas deal after all and the banana is gone in less than a minute. The battle of wills is over and Christmas is on. Once she began, it was like nothing had ever happened. Her gears change fast!




Yes, bananas are just about the cheapest fruit. Yes, it was Christmas Day. Yes, there was other fruit in the house. Yes, we did hold her presents hostage. Admittedly, it was rather awful having such a wild scene on Christmas morning. However, it wasn't really the fruit that was the problem, it's the attitude that has been an issue too many times lately and we weren't willing to overlook any more of it. The stubbornness is out of control! And besides, we'll have the Banana Christmas to remember long after th e popcorn maker is broken and they've outgrown those rainbow looms!

Appreciation

My gym has a party each year for the members and we always have a lot of fun with the kids. We bowl, we play lazer tag, try out a few games, collect some tickets for prizes, eat pizza and so on. We look forward to this free & fun family event.

The afternoon of the party, they all had to get one chore done and Lovey had to practice her violin to be able to go. The chores were finished in short order (surprise surprise!).

Lovey went in to practice her violin and became enraged when she saw a piece of sheet music on her stand that she felt was out of date and came yelling into the kitchen to tear a strip off me.

MOM! WHY did you PUT THIS music on my STAND??? IT'S so OLD and I haven't USED IT in forever and IT DOESN"T belong THERE!!!!!!!!!! WHY would you PUT IT THERE????

The shock left me stunned and speechless. I laughed in incredulity. Who did she think she was? Where did she get the idea that she could speak to her mother like that? This must be our fault for being so indulgent and accommodating with them all the time. THE END.

I somehow fought the urge to slap her silly and told her a thing or two. I was livid but couldn't decide what the consequences should be. I stormed out into the backyard to calm down and wait for Murray to come home to rant at. I certainly didn't feel like taking her out for a night of fun and games! An appreciation party when she wasn't showing us any at home seemed completely wrong.  I couldn't even remember picking up the sheet of music in the first place, but if I had it was probably because she'd left it on the floor in the first place! She was completely out of line and out of control.

Unfortunately that meant one of us couldn't go to the only Christmas party I get and well, obviously it wasn't going to be me. Murray had to take one for the team and stay home with her. When I told her about it she was very stoic and showed no emotion. She quietly slipped away though and I could hear heavy sobbing from behind her closed door. It actually made me feel bad and a twinge of guilt started to seep in but I stood my ground. This type of thing is getting more common with all 3 of them seeming a little big for their britches lately.

So I went off with the other two and we did have a good time and they seemed to take their sister's punishment as a warning because the expressions of thankfulness were effusive and they seemed to try extra hard to use their manners!


During the party, I used some of my tokens to play air hockey with each of them. They were baffled. That game didn't spit out tickets at the end to cash in for junk at the prize desk. I said I just liked the game and wanted to play. "but. it doesn't give any tickets!" I said I knew that, I just wanted to play because it's fun. "but.... no tickets?!?!?" Once they tried it they really enjoyed though. I don't think they'll "waste" any of their tokens on it though haha!

When we got home and got them to bed, Murray said he'd talked to Lovey about her words and tone and she agreed she shouldn't have reacted the way she did. Maybe it'll sink in!