Thank you very much for the nice anniversary wishes. The actual anniversary celebrating, however, was decidedly NOT nice. Not because Mike fell down on the husband job, or because we have babysitting trouble (like we do every year, but I’m not going to go there now or ever, at least not here), but because my son decided it would be a good time to pretend to be Rocky Balboa and lay Apollo Creed, a.k.a. the little girl sitting next to him in art class, out. Well, not really out. He didn’t knock her cold, but he did punch her in the face. I got a very serious phone call from the principal around lunchtime on Friday and it put me in a strange place for the rest of the afternoon. I swung between frustrated, appalled, horrified, unable to focus, and frankly inept for the rest of the day. I probably owe my employer money back for my lack of progress that afternoon.
It’s been sorted out. The little girl teased him about his art page looking bad, and they jawed at each other a bit. My son got his feelings hurt and was so mad he didn’t know how to handle the eruption of emotions, so he took a swing. I’m not condoning in any way what he did, but he’s not the swinging away type, typically. So the little girl provoked him, and while I’m definitely not saying Son shouldn’t be punished, I’m hopeful that the little girl he struck will get a lesson from the teachers about insulting her peers. I have done all I can to make sure that Son knows if he gets that mad in the future, he’s to tell a teacher or trusted adult instead of taking matters literally into his own hands. I have also had him write lines (my brilliant way of having him practice his handwriting as well as dealing him punishment) about not hitting; he’s been confined to his room for the last few days; he wasn’t allowed to play in two basketball games; and Friday night’s sleepover was canceled, which is what canceled our anniversary plans. Being a responsible parent sucks. But he will also write the girl a letter of apology and his confinement to his room may continue for the rest of the week. We haven’t decided just yet.
Have I mentioned a child confined to their room can bring the apocalypse of misery onto a household? No? Between the, “I’m thirsty,” or “I have to potty,” stalling tactics, little kids know right where to strike to the heart of the punisher, specifically with this ditty, “Mama, I can’t go to bed without my hug and kiss.” So I let him out to come downstairs from his room and give him a minute of hugs and kisses. While I was hugging him, he whispered, “Mama, I’m gonna miss this tonight.” See, normally, after I get the baby to sleep, I let Son stay up half an hour or so later, so we spend that time in my bed reading a book or snuggling, or I knit while he talks to me. It’s one of my favorite times of the day. Lately, we’ve included Daughter in the mix, though she’s still a little firecracker and the supposedly quiet minutes before bedtime often devolve into a trampoline expedition on my bed. But we’ll get her trained yet.
It’s in the quiet moments though that I take in their smell, their freshly bathed bodies and their pajama clad edibility. They are great to tickle right now, and while I try to keep from riling them up, a little tickling is good for the soul. Some hearty giggles do a body good. But in the wake of the grounding, Son has been instructed that he must put himself to sleep. He is not to con me into letting him into my bed, and thus, I’m missing the favorite part of my day too. Am thinking of lifting the moratorium though after tonight, though Mike disagrees with me.
In the meantime, I dyed my first skein of yarn on Saturday. It did not go as planned, namely because I was over-dying atop an already dyed (yellow) skein and the red I was going for didn’t materialize. It turned out terracotta with little bits of yellow peeking through. It’s lovely even if it isn’t what I was hoping for. I will, however, continue to expand my dyeing attempts to hand painting (using squirt bottles to put the dye right where I want it as opposed to submerging the whole skein) or selectively dipping. But in an effort to document my first attempt (no pictures – sorry, husband took the camera with him and I didn’t think my only option, the camera phone, would work to convey the colors properly) I will spell it out here.
I have Wilton’s icing dyes already from previous cake making adventures, and so I got out the red and mixed it with nearly boiling water on the stove (about a cup and a half). It wasn’t dark red enough, so I put in a smidge of black and got a nice black cherry color. Perfect. I soaked my yarn in cold water and dish soap in the sink and then rinsed it. I added the dye to the crock pot, added enough water to cover the yarn (though yarn was not yet immersed) and waited for water to cool enough to add yarn. At room temperature water, I added about a cup of white vinegar (acid for the yarn to soak up the dye) and the yarn and submerged it as best it could. Turning the crock pot on high, I let it go until the water cleared. It was about an hour and I went back to find clear water and burnt orange yarn. Not what I was going for. So I got some more red, the last of it, and a bit of burgundy and repeated the process. After another couple hours, I had an orange brick color, much like a sunset. It was nice. I rinsed the yarn, rewound it around my fireplace screen, and left it to dry. The next day, I took the skein off the screen and twisted it into a hank, replacing the original label on it so I’d have the care instructions and put it away. Now, I have a hankering to try again. I need some more undyed yarn and some more red dye. Then I’m all set.
Conniption Knit 