I really love watching the dynamic of the two older boys as they get older and develop their own personalities. Ethan is very head strong but very sensitive to how others think and feel. He pushes the boundaries (he is only four mind you) but he is much more exploratory about it. Kind of like "Just how far can I push my mom before her head explodes" Not in a mean way but purely scientific. Caleb is pretty much the opposite. He has a great sense of humor and timing and really is pretty funny but his motivations are not nearly as cerebral as Ethan's are. It is more like "If I keep screaming like this Mom's head will explode. This will be awesome!"
The only thing that really comforts me is that they do it to other people as well....not just me. Ethan has become Caleb's favorite target as of late. He has figured out that if he just says the opposite of whatever Ethan says whether its true or not, Ethan will get irate and apparently that is really funny. Now here is where I have to actually take some of the blame for that. For a long time David and I have talked about how Ethan is much more like him emotionally and mentally and Caleb is like me. Ethan needs to have things exact and specific. Caleb just wants to have fun and get messy. Like I said, David and I have produced clones of ourselves. That being said..... it really is kind of funny when Caleb gets under Ethan's skin. Its very likely that if it is Ethan doing something to Caleb, it will drive me nuts but if Caleb's bugging Ethan, I have a bad habit of laughing. I'm an evil mom, I know, but Caleb just bugs Ethan in a way that is funny. Ok, starting to really look like a bad mom.
Ethan and I were playing his version of 20 questions which mainly consists of him asking about 20 thousand random questions that in no way are going to lead him to the conclusion of "what am I thinking of" He asked me something that was like
"Mom have you ever fallen out of a plane and splatted on the water?"
"No, I have not"
"Yeah, me neither"
CALEB: "I have"
ETHAN: "No you have not"
CALEB: "Yes I have"
ETHAN: "No you have not, because if you did you would have died and you are not dead so you have never fallen out of a plane" Very content look of satisfactorily winning the argument on his face
CALEB:"Yes I did, and then I walked home"
ETHAN: "Caleb, that is not true and its a lie and we don't lie in our family! Tell the truth and say you are sorry!"
CALEB: "It's true. I fall out of plane and land on the ground and I no die. I walk home and mom make me food"
At this point Ethan's head is the one that looks like it is going to explode. He cannot figure out how he can get Caleb to admit that he in fact did not fall out of a plane and magically walk home to breakfast. He looks at me and just starts crying. When I ask him what is going on, he says histarically
"Mom, Caleb thinks that he fell out of a plane and then got up and walked away and that is just not true. No one can do that because they would die and Caleb did not die so he couldn't have done that! Tell him that, that its not true and to say sorry for lying to me!"
Of course I want to support telling the truth and I don't want to take Ethan's feelings lightly but I am having a really hard time not laughing because this is totally the type of prank I would pull on my siblings and it might very well be morbid but I think its kind of funny.
ME:"Caleb, its not very nice to bug your brother. Saying that you fell out of a plane and splatted on the water and then walked home is really upsetting to him. Do you want to think about your story and maybe that it is not true?"
Caleb starts laughing and points at Ethan and talking about how he tricked him and "it so funny" Ethan gets really pissed and runs off to his room screaming something about "CALEB!"....... "NOT FUNNY".......... "BAD, BAD LIAR!" ........."DID NOT SPLATT!"
Caleb is still just muttering and chuckling to himself as he plays with some toys on the floor. My mind drifts off and I have a little day dream of a five year old David and a 3 year old Olivia playing in a toy room. Its not long before 5 year old David runs off yelling "I'm going to go tell my mom what you just said!!" and 3 year old Olivia continues to build her block castle and a sick little smile on her face.
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