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I Just Want To Be On the Same Team

After spending a relaxing weekend away, you would think I’d come back all patient and have some stress-free time with the boys.  This especially because the younger boys are visiting Grandma (and doing school with her) this week. Nope. Today hasn’t been...

Dare I Accuse Him of Maturing?

Now that TechnoBoy and The Mercenary are nearly teens, they’ve been working hard to perfect some of the more famous adolescent behaviors. Grunts, mood swings, sleeping late, eating at odd hours, and ohhhhh, the angry glares are all part of the repertoire. It started...

Adolescent Anger is Flaring Up

Today was a day filled with conflict, yet I sit here feeling mighty peaceful. The Mercenary has been getting angry with me on a daily basis, and his disrespectful behavior has been on the increase for some time. I actually understand the anger; between the hormones...

Limiting Choice Can Improve Sanity

I’m going to come right out and admit that I had a meltdown on Saturday. I had just picked up the older boys from a friend’s birthday party and was relating to them how their father and I had taken apart the trailer in their absence. We were expecting to...

Raising an Alpha Male Has its Challenges

When TechnoBoy and The Mercenary were little we refused to tell them who was older. This wasn’t intended as any kind of sociological experiment; we were just trying to keep the playing field balanced. TechnoBoy, who was born first by 5 minutes, was smaller...

We Need A Plan

A battle that the older boys and I keep returning to is pretty straightforward: I think they should work. They disagree. Early in school, we struggled (A LOT) over learning issues. They’ve definitely grown past those, but somewhere along the line the picked up the...