Tuesday morning

When I woke up this morning, I saw that the A-man wasn’t out of bed yet. This is not usual for him – he usually tries to be up and moving by 7am. When I went to get him out of bed, he complained of not feeling well – he had a sore stomach. I wasn’t too sure. I asked him to get out of bed and start moving – he might find that it felt better after having something to eat, I explained.
As he was sitting there having breakfast, he kept sitting all hunched over, holding his stomach. I asked him where, exactly, the pain was, and he indicated that it was on the lower right side of him abdomen. Hmmm.
After a bit more theatrics, I asked him to go and lie on his bed, and show me exactly where it was hurting. Again, his hand went down to the lower right side of him abdomen. I felt around on his mid-section and he would wince anytime I pressed down. I debated, and debated. Lower right abdominal pain is not something to be ignored.
I asked him if he thought he could wait 15 minutes for me to get his brother up and off, and then I would take him to the hospital.
“Hospital?!,” he said. I said, “Well, lower right abdominal pain isn’t something that can be ignored. We need to get it checked out. Or could it be that you are just exaggerating just a bit?”
Yeah, turns out he was just faking – he wanted to sleep in. Little brat. He may be good in drama class, but this Mom was a kid once too – a kid that tried just about anything! He very quickly got up and dressed and ready for school. He apologized to me about 5 times before he finally went outside to catch the bus.
Ya can’t kid a kidder, bud!

Last week, S suggested we start a “Mom Bucks” program. Generally, S is very lazy when it comes to doing his household chores. We have a weekly allowance system in place, but he rarely earns the full amount. He suggested that we start a program where he can earn his “Mom Bucks” every single time he does his chores.
He had some poker-type chips from a board game, and told me that every time he does a chore that he is asked to do, I then give him the proper ‘money’ for that job. He can then accumulate the “Mom Bucks” until he is ready to cash them in for real money. I thought, “Why not?”
We have been using the “Mom Bucks” program for just over a week now. He has just under $5 – which is his weekly allowance amount. A few times I asked him to do a certain thing for me and then I forgot to award the “Mom Bucks,” but he has never questioned me about how many ‘bucks’ he will get for things. On the weekend, when I had him sweep the front porch, and clean all the cobwebs from the walls, he was THRILLED to be given 50 cents. (Child labour, I know…)
The A-man opted not to go with the program – he likes to accumulate all of his weekly allowance on the calendar, and then cash it all in when he has larger sums of money – like $50 for a video game. That is his way of saving.
Apparently I am not allowed to take back “Mom Bucks” – once they are given, they are his to keep and cash in when needed. A form of punishment cannot be the loss of “Mom Bucks.” I could tell he had spent a fair amount of time coming up with this program. We will see how long it lasts.