Seth, the hoodlum

Sunday was quite an eventful day, and most of it occurred before church even started.

I was getting Eliza ready for the day and then feeding her, and Seth was really quiet down the hall. I just thought he was really into whatever it was he was playing with in his room, and, worst-case scenario, he made a mess of his movies and books.


Well, after a few minutes he comes running into my room with a pair of scissors in each hand. No blood, but that right there just broke like 10 different mommy rules about how to raise a child. Anyways, he handed the scissors to me (which I still don't know how he reached them) and ran off. I was a bit worried, but still in a state of denial that anything went wrong and continued feeding Eliza.

When I finished, I went into the kitchen to clean out the bottle, and discovered Seth's "craft." I have these gauze curtains covering my front kitchen window, and one whole panel looked like Jaws got to it. I stared for a few seconds then left the room. I didn't know what to do because I wasn't mad...just sad and frustrated with myself that I wasn't keeping a better eye on the hoodlum. Well, I took his hand and asked him who cut the curtains. He admitted that he did it, showed me how he got the scissors (again, I don't know how he reached both pairs and left everything else in the utensil drawer alone), and then looked at me quite pleased with himself. I told him to look at me and see how sad my face was, so he then felt a little bad but promptly forgot about it all once he left the room. That was just the beginning of a really rough day that involved liquid dish soap all over the kitchen floor, toys taken away and multiple temper tantrums (not all of them from Seth).

A few minutes ago he was sounding like a freakin' banshee as he was wrestling away some cars or trucks from Brandon. As far as I know, I don't think Brandon was antagonizing him, but I wouldn't put it past the teenager. I love Seth to pieces...I just wish I didn't become them when he acts like his age. What kills me is that he does some incredibly sweet things amidst the craziness, which just melts the cockles of my heart. He saw how discouraged I was that night as I was trying to put Eliza to sleep and completely exhausted from the too long day, so he came in, crawled onto the bed with his bunny, then offered for me to give his bunny a hug (which, if anyone knows how much he values that ratty-old thing, says A LOT!) and gave me little bubba kisses. It made me feel a little better, but (as horrible as it sounds) I was tired of being around him after his antics.

I told him I loved him, said I was okay, then asked him to go back to his room and go to bed. He left, but he kept hovering around the door or in the hall to make sure that I was OK. Finally I said that he could get on the bed, and once he fell asleep after checking that I really was okay, I carried him back to his room. When Chris got off of his night shift early this morning, Seth was cuddled right next to my body pillow on the other side of me, with his hand reaching for me. Chris said it looked so sweet (which is what Seth looks like when he's asleep). I'm still recovering from the rough day, but I'm determined to make this day a better one. Wish me luck!