The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

Ohhh, Silas. What am I gonna do with this boy? I'm pretty sure I've established how much I love this kid. He's just great. Of course, everyone has their flaws and God bless him, when he doesn't want to do something, he suddenly becomes "sooo sick" or "sooo tired". Sometimes I'll say to myself, "one day he is really going to be sick and I am not going to believe him." It's always something - his tummy hurts, his finger hurts, his head hurts, his toe hurts, etc. Let me give you an example as to when this would take place. This could happen at bedtime, on an occasional morning when he doesn't want to go to school, when I serve him something on his plate that he doesn't want to eat, etc. I've learned to turn it back around on him. For instance, the other night he came out of his room after he had already been put to bed. He proclaimed, "Mommy, I'm so sick. My tummy really hurts." I replied, "Oh no Silas, I am so sorry. If you are too sick then we cannot go skating tomorrow." He thought for a moment and said, "Umm, I think I'll be alright." turned around and walked right back to his room. Dusty and I looked at one another and smiled, probably both thinking the same thing - "what a mess!" We both love him so much, quirks and all. Everything that makes him up, good and bad, is Silas. When he pulls his "I'm so sick" card, we almost can't help but laugh on the inside, because that's just one of the silly things he does and it's so predicatable.

The latest episode, which is actually still in debate, happened a few moments ago. Let me set the scene for you. This morning we asked Silas if he wanted to go ice skating with his cousins after church. He responded, "No momma, I want to come home and go swimming. I want to swim just us." basically saying he wanted to hang out as a family. By the time church was over, he was really anticipating going swimming. However, we needed to eat lunch first. I came home and began preparing lunch. Dusty's lunch was ready first, so he ate and went back to the room to relax for a few moments while the boys ate their lunch.

Silas got up in his seat and was picking at his food for awhile saying, "Momma, I really do want to go swimming."

I told him, "Silas, we will go swimming but you have to eat your chicken first."

"Awww, momma. But I really just want to go swimming."

"Eat!"

He got down out of his seat for a moment, and I'm really not sure why - I think I had my back turned and hadn't realized he wasn't eating. I told him to get back in his seat. As I'm watching, he walked past the couch and all the sudden let out a scream as if he had broken a bone or something. You would have thought he was dying. Dusty, from the other room, only heard the scream. I think he was a bit aggravated I wasn't doing anything. I told him that nothing had happened, he just started screaming. So, we investigated.

"Silas, what happened?"

He said, "I got hurt on my hand!"

I looked at his hand and didn't see anything. "What happened, Silas. How'd you hurt your hand?"

He said, "On the couch."

This really wasn't making any sense. Dusty thought maybe there was something sharp on the couch, so we started looking to see if that was a possibility. We found nothing. I saw nothing on his hand, yet he was proclaiming very loudly that it hurt. Okay, now what? I told him it would feel better in a minute and he needed to finish his chicken if he wanted to go swimming. I went back in the room and told Dusty I thought he was making it up.

Dusty said, "He's smart, but he's not that smart. He had to have done something."

"Okay, but I was watching him and nothing happened. There is nothing on his hand."

Silas finished his chicken and came into the room. He claimed it still hurt. I asked him what would make it feel better and he said, "Momma, only the cold pool water will make it all better." I looked at Dusty with my eyes raised. I asked him, "Silas, show me exactly where it hurts. Point to it." He pointed. I saw nothing. I said, "Silas, I really don't see anything." He said, "I know momma, but it's a BIG, LITTLE boo boo." More like the invisible boo boo, but I guess that's a good way of approaching it. In the meantime, Eli is still in his high chair looking at the couch saying, "No shark. No shark." Since Dusty said maybe there was something sharp that he touched, Eli thought a shark bit him.

Our conversation continued with Silas telling Dusty, "Daddy, I have a good idea. We will go to the pool and then we can watch a movie and THEN you can take a nap. That's a deal."

Dusty told him, "That sound like a long time Silas. The pool and then a movie. I'm really tired."

Silas said, "Ha, I know daddy. I tricked you."

Yeah, he's not that smart? Yes, indeed, he is!

Oh, and guess what? Silas just got back from the pool and miraculously - his hand is ALL BETTER!