I have a bone to pick with you. Did you know that your Classic Swedish Clogs can be used as a sibling weapon as well as a sheetrock demolition tool. Yup, even my four year old figured that out. Let me tell you about it… last night while the kids were supposedly getting their pajamas on I heard a huge smash which sounded like someone dropped an armoire on a tile floor. The noise was followed by an unbelievable laugh from Reilly. If his laugh were to be translated into words I think the translation would be “oh my gosh Kate, I can NOT believe you did that, you are so going to get it!” and possibly a “I am SO glad I did NOT do THAT”. 

I was sitting downstairs and yelled up the stairs “WHAT was THAT?”… delay…. and since I knew it was something Kate did by the sounds of it I had hoped she would respond. She didn’t. I then said “Reilly, What was that noise?” 

Kate threw her clog and it hit the wall.

“Kate, pick up your clog now and get your pajamas on.” and I thought I was being nice. I hear a quasi guilt-ridden “okay”. About 30 seconds later Reilly stars screaming in pain and I knew immediately that Kate had taken the other clog and thrown it at him. (NOTE: these are times when I really feel badly about what we put my parents through while simultaneously hoping that this isn’t going to consume the next 15 years of my life.) When I got up the stairs Reilly was holding his back just sobbing and Kate was nowhere to be found. I was so mad. After calling for her I figured out she was under her bed…. laughing! Yes, laughing… and telling me it was all an accident with a smirk on her face. Shad had followed me up the stairs because he knew I felt pushed too far. I told Kate to “GET THE SHOES AND GIVE THEM TO ME…. NOW.” When she handed them to me I let her know she would NEVER see them again. Although it’s really hard to get a reaction from Kate I know she was bummed since the clogs are her favorite “noisy big-girl shoes”. Reilly, aside from the huge red mark on his back seemed fine, we finished getting him ready for bed.

As I headed to the bookshelf  to get a book for Reilly I noticed IT… the divet in the wall. In the span of five minutes I had gone from a nice conversation with Shad to nearly blowing a gasket. The most interesting thing to me is that Kate acts like she could care less. She is a free spirit that way and barely shows any remorse for anything. When she came out from under the bed I told her she needed to go check on Reilly because she hurt him. She, in a very patronizing way, went up to him and said “sorry Reilly” and rubbed his elbow, note here, it was his back – not his elbow. He said to her “it’s not okay Kate, it hurt” she had pretty much moved on after she did her courtesy apology and he was left in the hallway looking at me. 

So, Hanna… thanks for the weapons. Perhaps you should put an age recommendation on your clogs. And, although it’s fun to blame you, I actually blame myself that the action took place to begin with. Kids are kids and I can patch the wall and I do feel sorry for Reilly being the recipient of Kate’s unleashing but… most of all I give Shad credit for intercepting Kate so I didn’t bite her head off for the divet once I discovered it. My Dad would have had my head for that kind of incident AND I would have been learning how to patch and paint a wall…. even at four.