I Love My Boy!!

Ahh he just makes me so proud! He always knows how to behave like a perfect gentleman, even when other kids are acting out of control or just not being nice.
Today made me remember when we went to Toy Story On Ice and hundreds of kids were running around and acting crazy- kids were literally running through the halls of the arena, swinging swords, yelling, and I even had 2 kids crash (literally) ran into me so hard that they fell on the ground (and almost ripped my dress off)! Not one parent in the whole place was trying to stop the madness. I couldn't believe that nobody felt that they had to control their kids, it was almost as if, 'well if other kids are doing it, then it is ok for my kids'-- so crazy! It was to the point that all the children in the place had joined in, and you could not see a child anywhere in sight that was behaving... EXCEPT ours!
Maletch lit up when he saw a group of kids run by and he excitedly asked, "Mommy can I go run to?" I simply told him, "I know you see a lot of kids running around, but they are not supposed to be doing that. Their parents need to tell them to behave, and we are going to behave because we know what we are supposed to do." He did not complain, nor did he ask again, and just remained a perfect gentleman. When the next group of kids ran by, he said, "Mommy, they are not supposed to be doing that." He made John and I so proud because we know that took a lot of self control to not join in what looked like so much fun.

Well today we were in a store and a lady near us yelled, "Oh my God!" Maletch is very sensitive to this and he said very loudly and firmly, "Hey, she can't say that, she is supposed to say, 'Oh my GOSH! Mommy we need to tell her she can't say that!" He was so outraged, that he spun around looking at me like what are you going to do? I had to think quick on my feet because he WAS right, but of course I wasn't going to confront the lady. The funny thing was he said it so loud that I know she and everyone else around us heard him anyway. So, I told him he was right, nobody is supposed to say that. Later after we got home, he wanted to talk about it more so he asked,  "Mommy, God said he doesn't want us to say that right? HE said we should say Oh my Gosh, right?" We had a long talk about it and at the end of the talk, Maletch was so happy when I told him that God was very proud of him. This is something that comes up almost daily in our house, I can't believe how many "family shows" will be on in the background where somebody says that, and Maletch has ALWAYS responded by saying, "Hey, he/she can't say that, mommy this is not a nice show, we need to change it." He also knows the shows we aren't allowed to watch like "Sponge Bob", "Phineas & Ferb" and many others... and if one of those come on after something else he comes to get me to say, "Uh oh mommy, this is not a nice show, we need to change it, hurry, quick, where is the remote?"

Later same day, we were at Jamba Juice and Maletch was leaned over the water fountain and this kid came over and climbed on Maletch's back and was trying to push Maletch in the water pool. I said, "Hey, what the heck?!" and the boy's mom came running over and made up an excuse or tried playing it off by telling her kid, "Oh Hayden, he is not going to fall in, you don't have to try to save him." So I was thinking, "What?!?!?!" Maletch just turned and gave me the same look, 'trying to save me-- what??' So we let that go, UNTIL the boy started swinging his arms (like punching) all crazy- aiming towards Maletch, but not really hitting him, but like stopping right in front of his face (like within an inch of punching him) and then just when I was about to say something to the boy AND his mom, Maletch asks in such a curious and innocent tone, "Mommy is that kid, (pause), is he kind of a brat?" To be clear, he wasn't name-calling, just asking an innocent question. Ahhhhh, I just love him!! I wanted to say, yep honey, that is exactly what he is, LOL! So I just said, "Well he is not being nice, and he certainly needs to behave."
I've got to hand it to Maletch, because it wasn't until immediately after his question, that the boy's mom finally pulled him aside for a 'talk'. Not that the talk was very effective because...
Then Sariah woke from her nap (she had been in the stroller for the first part of that kid's crap) BUT the boy came back for more once Sariah started toddling around. He came over and touched Sariah and acted like he was going to push her down-- Maletch got VERY protective and stood right by her staring that kid down, he made sure he was between her and the kid. I did eventually have to say something to the kid AND the parents, but I was proud of how Maletch was nice the whole time but also got very serious when she was concerned.
The boy's mom continued to shock me with how she reacted to her kid-- she even asked me how old Maletch was, when I told her, she said, "Oh yeah 4 year olds seem like such big kids, my kid is 3, and sometimes he does things like a baby, that one year (between 3-4) makes such a difference, ya know?" It took all I had NOT to say, "What? 3 year olds don't act like that, babies don't even act like that, your kid is a brat, hello, be a parent." Hahahaha! Since I couldn't say that, but I couldn't lie and agree with her, I gave her a raised eyebrow look and walked away- point taken? I'm not sure.

On the way home, he asked, "Mommy what is a brat?" A good question, and when I explained what a brat is, he asked again about that kid. So I told him, "Yes that boy was behaving like a brat, and his mommy and daddy need to tell him to be nice." Then he asked me, "Why was that boy acting like that?" He wasn't satisfied with, "I don't know," so I further explained, that "I think that his mommy and daddy aren't doing a good job teaching him to be a nice boy like you."
Then he said, "Only nice kids get to go to Disneyland, the train station, and the concert and fun places like that. He isn't allowed to go because he is not nice, huh?" Then he added 3 other not nice kids we encountered in the past week, and said 'they, and that boy' can't go, huh? He correlates this because we have always told him that he has to behave or we won't go to the places. Maletch is "The boy who loves rules" and I need to do another post about that, because it is so funny, but I won't get side-tracked from this post. So I told him, "You are exactly right, they can't go because they aren't nice, but you sure can because mommy and daddy love taking you places because you are a nice boy and you always know how to behave. We are proud of you!" Then he added, "Sariah is nice too, so she gets to go too, right mommy?" He just put the cherry on top with his sweetness always looking out for his sister!!