Boudicca's Voice

Pay a Visit and Feel Free to Leave your Clothes, I'll Call You When They're Clean

Am I the only one who finds other kids' clothes in their home?

Thursday, we were looking for a Class B shirt for Scouts for Mr. T. I went into Ringo's room where he was sorting through his drawers. I found one in the bottom of a drawer.

Me: See?

Ringo: It's not ours. It's Sean's.

Me: What are we doing with SEAN'S Class B?

Ringo: He has mine.

Me: And? Are we going to swap back?

Ringo: I dunno. I guess I should call him.

I threw it to T to wear.

Flash forward to today. I was going through clean laundry in the basket, looking for a shirt for Ringo as he had spent the night at a friend's home spontaneously and I was going to take him clean clothes during my day's travels. (Sidenote: Does my oldest son own any t-shirts that aren't black, have a picture of a skull or a bloody handprint, with a band name that doesn't illicit visions of death? I think not... for I did not see one.)

I picked up a pair of shorts. I held them up as 1) I'd never seen them before and 2) they came down to my shins.

Me: Whose are these?

Bones: Oh those are Peter's.

Me: Peter's? What in the heck are they doing here?

Bones: He left them here. I'm seeing him tonight at the sleepover. I'll take it back to him.

Continuing on, I found a shirt that was NOT black, did NOT have a skull or bloody handprint, and did NOT have a name of a band illiciting visions of death.

Me: This is not ours.

Bones: No. That's Michael's. He lives down the street. I'll ride my bike over and get it to him when he's back from vacation.

I have found strange underwear in my home (boy's I should add for clarification!), bathing suits, shoes (who forgets their SHOES?), towels, socks, and a rashguard shirt, whose owner we were never able to determine, so it became ours.

Am I the only Mother who perpetually finds and washes other kid's clothes in their home? What IS this ABOUT?! Sheesh.
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I've been telling my boys lately, individually, how each of them is so lucky to have the other two as brothers. I pointed out the positives in each of their siblings as well as telling them how bad it really COULD be.

Overall my boys get along pretty well, but sometimes, as with all siblings, things can go not so well.

I ended the conversation with each, bringing out examples of other sets of siblings we know that 'could have just as well been their sibling, and then what?' The younger two were both saying, "Oh yeah, he would be awful to have as a brother!" as I brought up names. I know, it's not nice, but it hammered home some real points to them.

Love what you have; there are always others that could make life TRULY miserable.

But my eldest's take was much different, and this was pretty much the conversation as it wound down.

Me: Hey. You could have Peter as your brother. He's very whiney.

Ringo: That's because of his family and the divorce, and how he's treated by his parents. He only whines when he's told NO because he's not used to hearing it. Everyone always tells him yes.

Me: Well, there is Bill. He would bug the crap out of you...

Ringo: You'd never have tolerated his behavior. He'd not be like that in our family...

Me: OK, fine. What about Dom. Can you imagine having Dom as your brother?

Ringo: Mom, please. Can you imagine what he'd be like if YOU were his Mom? He'd be nothing like that. Besides, he doesn't really have a Dad and I think that's most of his problem. If he was in our family, he'd not be who he is.

Me:

Ringo:

Me: So basically what you're telling me is that if *I* was any of these kids' Mom, they'd be better people?

Ringo: Yeah. Basically...

Me: Hunh.

So there you go. I have a teenager who thinks I'm a good Mom. That's cool.

And... all names of all kids have been changed. I never use real names. It wouldn't be nice.

Posted by Boudicca at March 20, 2010 10:01 PM