The boys were eating dinner when Joel and I were talking about the tornado in Dexter, Michigan. Curious boys, they started to ask questions. What’s a tornado? Hmmm, that’s a good question and of course, I started to talk about storms and thunderstorms when Joel shook his head violently. “Katie, you don’t want to make them afraid of weather.” Right, and I took another path. Nicholas then asked if anyone was hurt to which I responded, “No, God kept everyone was safe in Dexter.” This really upset Dexter. Apparently, he misunderstood my comment. You see, Dexter ate God. God is inside Dexter’s belly (this is what Dexter thinks when I say God is everywhere, even inside you) so when I said that God watched out for the people in Dexter, Dexter then thought there were a lot of people inside his belly and he wanted them out. After all, it was his belly. He was really upset. That just goes to show, the English language is a hard one to understand sometimes.

I have to share one more topic. Emotions. It’s a real roller coaster ride here sometimes for Joel and I. One minute the boys say they like us and then in a blink of an eye, they are screaming that they do in fact, not like us. Usually this happens when we say no. OK, it got so bad this morning, that I heard Nicky say “I don’t like Mommy. I don’t like Daddy. I don’t like Dexter. I only like Nicky. I only like myself.” Well, at least he has some self esteem. How fast these storms brew and blow out is amazing. Any advice from parents who have already weathered the “I don’t like you” storm? We attempt conversations that indicate that they are mad at the situation, and not at the person and that by saying you don’t like someone, you are hurting that person’s feelings, and so on but it really doesn’t help. Just curious what others have done.