Our Eighth Annual Trip to Cortland
From a gaming perspective, it was somewhat of a disappointment. Rick's oldest two nephews are 13 and 14 now, so I'm not competing just with the TV and the computer, but also their girlfriends, who seemed nice enough but uninterested in playing games. And it seemed Rick was always out at his mom's, or shooting the breeze with his siblings or Robin.
We stayed as always with Rick's friend Robin.... her two older girls are both 15, and they were great on all accounts, and we might have had more good three-player games if not for the chaos generated by the 5 year old son and 9 year old daughter of Robin's new.... interest. In adult company, the girl would be just fine except for the constant need for attention... always talking... asking unmeaningful questions... and while interested in having fun and playing everything up, clearly not interested in playing anything resembling a to-win strategy-- which really translates to "no value added" for me. If you don't feel like thinking, then fine -- but for God's sake shut up for a few seconds so other people can. The older girls tell me she can be quite the brat when there are no adults around, and I have no reason to doubt them.
The boy however.... its hard to put him into words. He called me Mr. Penny-Pinata-Head, and proceded to pull my hair (what little I have), my ears, and just generally use me as a punching bag. *yawn*
I have to write about the doughnut. It was probably about 10 PM, and there was one doughnut left and he got into the doughnuts without asking (the older girls and I were in the kitchen), and proceded to insist that he could have the doughnut, and basically whatever else he wanted. I told him even if it were NOT so close to bedtime, he couldn't have it, because he tried to take it even when he was told he couldn't. I really didn't care about the doughnut, but given his behavior, he clearly didn't deserve it.
One of the older girls goes with him when he goes to ask his mother in another room -- and she says yes! I was aghast at this for days. If he had asked first, I wouldn't have cared. His diet is not my responsibility, and its not for me to say whether he can eat a doughnut. However, the doughnut WAS my responsibility, and the poor doughnut got eaten by a spoiled brat! Ghastly.
Later, I got some satisfaction watching Rick carry him kicking and crying and screaming, no, SHRIEKING, back from someone's house he wasn't supposed to be at (the mommies were out). I could not resist the opportunity to call him a crybaby troublemaker as he shrieked quite loudly in ultra-high pitch for a good 15+ minutes. Yes, the shrieking got worse. And no, I still don't really feel bad about saying it. And I know words can hurt. However, his sister was quite helpful during the whole episode, she was probably the calmest in the house, the older girls included. She earned some respect from all of us. And on the bright side, all the shrieking and convulsing pretty much knocked the boy out, and he slept all evening in the car, while the rest of us had a mostly peaceful cookout at the park.
During a calmer more casual moment on a later day, I referred to him offhand, in direct address, as "crybaby troublemaker"... and he replied "I am not a troublemaker". Now.... this is a pretty smart kid for a five year old (very good with words), and I don't think his selective response was accidental. He knows he's a crybaby. Poor kid. And he IS a troublemaker, though he honestly doesn't see it that way.
As for mommy, I got a better idea of what she's up against, and the doughnut incident came into perspective. Her ex-husband spoils them whenever he has them. Something as trivial as a doughnut, even at bedtime.... I understand she wants to make them happy.... she has to compete in anyway she can. She probably guessed (correctly) that I would give her the doughnut if she wanted it for herself. But I think for the kid, learning some boundaries would have been better -- it is NOT where he lives anymore, though he used to live there for a little while, so that complicated it.
Oh, and another one of Rick's nephews introduced me to Runescape. I had never heard of it before. I had no clue something like that existed -- runs in a browser of all things. I have to admit, it looks enticing in its simplicity.
We stayed as always with Rick's friend Robin.... her two older girls are both 15, and they were great on all accounts, and we might have had more good three-player games if not for the chaos generated by the 5 year old son and 9 year old daughter of Robin's new.... interest. In adult company, the girl would be just fine except for the constant need for attention... always talking... asking unmeaningful questions... and while interested in having fun and playing everything up, clearly not interested in playing anything resembling a to-win strategy-- which really translates to "no value added" for me. If you don't feel like thinking, then fine -- but for God's sake shut up for a few seconds so other people can. The older girls tell me she can be quite the brat when there are no adults around, and I have no reason to doubt them.
The boy however.... its hard to put him into words. He called me Mr. Penny-Pinata-Head, and proceded to pull my hair (what little I have), my ears, and just generally use me as a punching bag. *yawn*
I have to write about the doughnut. It was probably about 10 PM, and there was one doughnut left and he got into the doughnuts without asking (the older girls and I were in the kitchen), and proceded to insist that he could have the doughnut, and basically whatever else he wanted. I told him even if it were NOT so close to bedtime, he couldn't have it, because he tried to take it even when he was told he couldn't. I really didn't care about the doughnut, but given his behavior, he clearly didn't deserve it.
One of the older girls goes with him when he goes to ask his mother in another room -- and she says yes! I was aghast at this for days. If he had asked first, I wouldn't have cared. His diet is not my responsibility, and its not for me to say whether he can eat a doughnut. However, the doughnut WAS my responsibility, and the poor doughnut got eaten by a spoiled brat! Ghastly.
Later, I got some satisfaction watching Rick carry him kicking and crying and screaming, no, SHRIEKING, back from someone's house he wasn't supposed to be at (the mommies were out). I could not resist the opportunity to call him a crybaby troublemaker as he shrieked quite loudly in ultra-high pitch for a good 15+ minutes. Yes, the shrieking got worse. And no, I still don't really feel bad about saying it. And I know words can hurt. However, his sister was quite helpful during the whole episode, she was probably the calmest in the house, the older girls included. She earned some respect from all of us. And on the bright side, all the shrieking and convulsing pretty much knocked the boy out, and he slept all evening in the car, while the rest of us had a mostly peaceful cookout at the park.
During a calmer more casual moment on a later day, I referred to him offhand, in direct address, as "crybaby troublemaker"... and he replied "I am not a troublemaker". Now.... this is a pretty smart kid for a five year old (very good with words), and I don't think his selective response was accidental. He knows he's a crybaby. Poor kid. And he IS a troublemaker, though he honestly doesn't see it that way.
As for mommy, I got a better idea of what she's up against, and the doughnut incident came into perspective. Her ex-husband spoils them whenever he has them. Something as trivial as a doughnut, even at bedtime.... I understand she wants to make them happy.... she has to compete in anyway she can. She probably guessed (correctly) that I would give her the doughnut if she wanted it for herself. But I think for the kid, learning some boundaries would have been better -- it is NOT where he lives anymore, though he used to live there for a little while, so that complicated it.
Oh, and another one of Rick's nephews introduced me to Runescape. I had never heard of it before. I had no clue something like that existed -- runs in a browser of all things. I have to admit, it looks enticing in its simplicity.