Eleven weeks + 1

First of all I have to wonder why I'm up so early on a Sunday morning when I should be lazing around in bed. I mean I'm even up before Neil which is practically impossible to do on any normal day, maybe it's this cold that we all have, or possibly the heat. I'm not complaining about the heat, it's perfectly normal to be wearing shorts at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning in October! I am in the wars a little, now don't laugh, but I grated my little finger really badly yesterday (I can hear you laughing you know). I blame healthy eating, I was grating some carrot to put on the salad we were having with our healthy potato wedges and healthy chicken breast (tikka flavoured, marinated myself) when I sliced the side of my finger off next to the nail. Oh boy did it bleed, and yes for any concerned vegetarians out there I found the slice of finger and put it in the bin. So I don't think I will be able to wash up today, as there really is quite a chunk missing from my finger and it's really sore and yes I'm a big baby. As Neil pointed out, I didn't cry about having my belly sliced open yet I'm making a huge fuss about a little bit of skin on my finger. Damn right I am, it hurts!

I had either a major showdown, or a major breakthrough with Xander yesterday, only time will tell. He (at 11) is going through puberty a little early, apparently it's not uncommon for boys who are larger than average, and oh boy is he stroppy and hormonal and behaving thoroughly unreasonably. Trouble is even if I understand his bad behaviour is because he's hormonal it doesn't stop it being bad, so I needed to find a way of limiting it's effects on the house before we all divorce him. Now with Will it was easy, "if you do that again I will put you on a ban" solved all troubles. A "ban" in our house is electrical it would mean no XBox, computer or TV, in his darkest hours I permitted him to listen to his radio. It worked, but it only worked with Will, not with Xander, if I tried to put Xander on a ban he'd do that thing that we parents hate; shrug his shoulders and say "so". Oh boy. So yesterday we were at it again, me asking him to do things, and him saying "why should I" and stomping off to his room I just didn't know what to do. So I called them both downstairs for a conference (I always get them both involved, even if I'm only targeting one), we have conferences frequently, usually I say lots of things and they nod a lot, and I feel better, then they carry on as normal. Anyway I was trying to talk to Xander about why he stropped off when he agreed I was only asking him to do things that he knew he needed to do (like homework). He just kept laughing, so I talked about how best to punish him for his bad behaviour, saying he was too big for the naughty step (please see previous blog), and he still kept laughing. I suggested making him sleep in the dark (he's terrified) even removing his bed, you guessed it he was still laughing. So I said (in my sternest voice) that I would give up Uni, get a full time job and use my money to send him to boarding school, where he could be somebody elses problem. Now every good parent knows that a threatened punishment only works if the child is convinced that you will follow through with it. I convinced him. He dissolved into tears and hugged me and said he was so sorry and wouldn't behave that way again. Now we all know that he will behave that way again, but I now have my "super-threat" that at least for now just may keep him in line. I think that if he's starting puberty now, maybe we'll be over the worst of it before he's actually bigger than me and I lose even more control over him, despite the fact I'm quite tall, I know I'll end up being little Mom!

Family problems aside, we are all going on a trip today, taking a picnic lunch with us. Will doesn't really want to come, but he is aware that Neil wants him to, as Neil thinks that a family trip out will be good for us considering the tensions in the house at the moment, he may be right, or trapped in a car with each other for an hour may just be the death of us. Anyway we are going to Witley court, it's a shell of a grand palace in Worcestershire, burnt down in 1937, but the gardens have been restored. Neil and I have been there several times, but we used to live in Kidderminster so were closer, we've never taken the boys, and thought it would be a nice trip out. We may be viewing a caravan in Stourport, which is on the way, but that is not the reason we are going. This all could fall apart so easily this morning, people getting out of bed the wrong side, the caravan being sold already, I'll let you know tomorrow if it all works out. If you don't hear from me I'm guessing you should look for reports of a murder taking place of a family in a Kia Sorento somewhere in Worcestershire, there will be suspicious circumstances, but the police won't be looking for anyone else in connection with the incident!