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Thursday, October 13, 2011

A Case of the Hates

I've been expecting the "I hate you" for awhile from Big Boy. He's been using the word hate to describe many things lately.

"I hate carrots because they are orange and I hate orange."

"I hate learning to write my name."

"I hate washing my hands with soap."

"I hate going to bed and sleeping."

"I hate watching this cartoon."

And so on. Today we stopped at the playground near our house after going to the store. Usually we walk or ride our bikes to this park, but we were in our car this time. When we were done playing and it was time to go, Big Boy asked to go home and then ride his bike back to the playground.

"Tomorrow we will do that," I answered. That was the wrong answer.

A tantrum of epic four-year-old proportions ensued and ended with the declaration, "Mommy, if we don't ride my bike to the playground right now, I will hate you!"

And there it was. Hanging there in the air, the threat of hatred. I suppose the threat is better than outright hatred. Either way, I was happy that I didn't react to it. I just repeated what I had said, "We will ride our bikes to the park tomorrow." And I told him that it made me sad to hear him say he will hate me. I left it there and buckled him up to drive home.

By the time we arrived home (30 seconds later, we live right around the corner), he had changed his tune.

"Mommy, if we ride our bikes to the park right now, I will love you again." Hopefully, he will actually love me when we ride our bikes to the park. Tomorrow.

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