Pajama Beans

Poor Gabe. We try not to have too much fun at his expense. It's just sometimes he makes it so easy.
Gabe had a baggie full of jelly beans that he was carrying around with him and picking at. He had laid that bag of beans on the living room floor near where he had been playing. Fred sat down on the floor right in front of the bag of jelly beans.
"Move," Gabe began to shout at Fred.
"No" Fred said. "I'm working on a project here." (He had his computer).
"Move!" Gabe shouted again. "You're sitting on my pajama beans!"
So hard not to laugh right out loud.

Spider web

A spider has built a large sheet web on top of the window just inside the front door. We live in the woods and get wispy little spiders that look almost like the web. Gabe has seen the web. "We have to vacuum this web!"
"We will get it in a few minutes. I am busy right now," I say.
Gabe surprises me with what he says next. "But Angel, it's her web."
"What?" I ask.
"The web belongs to Angel. She made it," Gabe says.
Angel bursts out laughing and we all laugh. "Gabe," I say, "Spiders make webs. We are going to vacuum that web and it's little spider too."

Today

I was washing dishes in the kitchen when I heard a very strange sound that must have come from the bathroom upstairs. As I headed toward the stairs Angel stated that she also had heard a worry some noise. I ran up the stairs and from Gabe standing in a puddle of water. There was water all over the floor. His bath towel was laying in the middle of the mess. He was standing there silently with the light off. I think he wanted it all to just disappear. I know I did. I was trying to hurry through dishes and now this mess.
Gabe had decided the the toilet needed plunging. That was obvious by the soaking wet plunger sitting in a puddle on the floor. Gabe wasn't talking. He just began to cry. He has been told repeatedly that if the toilet does not work right - don't not flush again - don't do anything - just tell an adult that it is not working. I let him know that he would be punished for the mess. He also had to just stand in the bathtub while I cleaned it all up. He stood there and sobbed. For once there was no arguing or blaming others. Just apparent remorse.
I think he was trying to be grown up. The trouble is - every time he decides that he is grown up enough to do something that has been forbidden a mess happens. It just never works out right! It is best to just follow the rules. There are good reasons for them.

You or Me or WHO?

I was in the kitchen cooking. Fred was in the kitchen too. Suddenly Gabe comes running into the kitchen and kicks Fred. "Hey,"  Fred says and Gabe runs back out of the kitchen laughing hysterically. "Don't kick!" Fred calls after him.
A few seconds later Gabe runs right back in and kicks Fred again. This time Fred kicks him back. It's not a hard kick, but he does connect. "Ow," Gabe whines, breathing hard through his teeth.
"I'm going to kick you every time you kick me," Fred says. With that Gabe laughs and runs back out of the room.
About 30 seconds later he's back trying to kick Fred again. Fred tries to stop him. "This is not cool," he says. "I could really hurt you." Gabe is still trying to kick Fred. Fred asks, "Who is bigger, me or you?"
"Me," Gabe responds. (Fred is almost 2 ft. taller than Gabe). Gabe runs out of the room.
"Wow, I thought that he knew the difference between big and small, " I say to Fred.
"I think he knows," Fred says. "He's just cocky." With that Gabe is right back into the kitchen, still laughing. Fred grabs a big bottle of juice and a bottle of salad dressing from the shelf and holds them out in front of himself. This stops Gabe. "Which is bigger?" Gabe points to the juice." See he knows," Fred says.
"Well I thought so," I say. Gabe has run out of the room and is now back, still laughing and trying to kick Fred again.
"Who is bigger?" Fred asks again. "ME!" Gabe says.
"Stop kicking!" I say. Gabe runs back out. I turn to Fred and say, "maybe it's cocky, but maybe it's still more of his you or me troubles. You asked the question and you are the 'me' in the question and so maybe the answer is 'me'. That's not the proper way to answer, but maybe that is what he is saying."
"Hm, could be," Fred says.

See Gabe's Story - part 2 a July 14 post. We have struggled to teach Gabe the difference of you and me and when to use each one. At this point he gets it right more than wrong, but there are still inconsistencies. He still loves rowdy play as long as he is dishing out and not receiving. He will whine or cry when it comes back his way. He does settle down or stop more quickly than he used to. Some times a short specific phrase will do it.
Some times it takes much more.