A Day With My Boy and a Tailgriller

Yesterday Jay attended his Uncle David’s funeral and I stayed home to be the chauffeur for a 6 year old who sometimes acts like he’s going on 12. I wish I could carry around a recorder to tape the conversations he and I have and to show the voice influxes and eye movements. Anymore, especially in the mornings, Cade and I are not getting along so well. We seem to be mixing about like oil and water for some reason. Yesterday's drama started over a jacket. It looked like rain so I asked Cade if he wanted to take a jacket. He said he didn’t want to. I told him he didn’t have to wear it yesterday morning but he could put it in his bag in case he needed it. That seemed to make him mad and he informed me that if it rained they wouldn’t go outside and so he did not need his jacket. I let it go and we headed out to the truck. My car had to go back to the shop yesterday (that’s a whole other post) So I’m putting Mr Snotty Pants in the truck and I realize that Jay’s Tailgriller is still attached to the back of the truck. Great – I hate driving the truck around anyway, now I had another two feet hanging off the back of it.

I need to post a picture of those of you who are wondering what a Tailgriller is. It is a creation of Jay’s that is a grill on a movable arm that attaches to his trailer hitch. It’s not a separate trailer hauling a grill, it’s a grill hooked onto his truck. He hauled it to Fayetteville last weekend and he hadn’t gotten it unhooked yet. I guess this thing is extremely heavy and it’s not something that can be easily hooked and unhooked. He’s trying to sell them, which is a good idea. There’s a lot of money floating around those Razorback games and I think he’s got a good shot at selling at least one. I wouldn’t mind driving/riding in a truck with it on there headed to a game. I’m just not crazy about the idea around home.

So I got to school to drop off Cade and there was some miscommunication between us and he thought I had locked the truck door when in fact I had unlocked the door. There was some accusations thrown towards me and then finally he got out of the truck. I don’t know what I do to him in the mornings, but he does not like it when I take him to school. He didn’t even tell me goodbye and I sure as heck didn’t get an “I love you Mommy”. All I got was a door slam and then got to watch a huffy 6 year old walk into the school. I said a little prayer for his teacher, I knew she was going to need it.

When I went to pick Cade up from school I was a little nervous. We are building a new elementary so the parking/picking up from school is a disaster. I knew things had changed since last year, but I wasn’t sure what the new protocol would be. If any of you remember watching Mr Mom there was a part where he was dropping off at school and he created a mess. People were yelling at him that he was going the wrong way. Anyway, that’s what I was afraid I would do – in a truck I hate driving with the Tailgriller on the back. I was able to park at our church to monitor the situation. Once the buses got loaded I started the truck to back into line. Luckily there was plenty of room and I did just fine. I waited and then got up to the door to get Cade and I hopped out to help him in. That’s when I realized that the car behind me spent 10 minutes staring at the Tailgriller which is complete with a metal sign with flames shooting out and our phone number. I was embarrassed. It’s one thing to market in Fayetteville, it’s another thing in the school pick-up line.

Cade and I talked some about his day. He told me since it rained they watched a movie during recess. We made a quick trip to the grocery store and on the way out Cade spotted the Tailgriller. He told me it looked embarrassing on the truck. Nothing like having my child make fun of what I was already embarrassed about. It was a great experience.

I then took him to Taco Bell and watched him gnaw on a crunchy taco. He lost his other front tooth last weekend so he has to gum his food. Actually, if his teeth wouldn’t grow in until Halloween he’d make a good Dracula. I asked if the taco was hard to eat and he pointed to his fangs and said no. Then trying to make conversation (this is when I would’ve liked the video camera) I asked if he had played with Neilson. He arched his eyebrows and said “Um it is raining (really drew out that word) or did you forget”. As soon as I said it I realized that they didn’t have recess. See I’m from one of the only schools in America who’s elementary and high school are in one building. If it rained we played in the gym. Cade’s school doesn’t have that so sometimes I forget. Cade’s has a Gymacafetorium – which is one room that serves as a gymnasium/cafeteria/auditorium. Since the older kids would’ve been eating it had to be a cafeteria yesterday and not a gymnasium.

I don’t know if I don’t know how to communicate with him or if he’s going through a stage where Mom is stupid. I just don’t know. This morning it was raining again and I thought I do something he really liked – I laid out pants for him to wear. He’s always preferred pants to shorts. I thought it would make his day. Instead he decided he wanted to wear shorts and he didn’t even wear the same shirt I had laid out. Which is fine, it didn’t bother me. BUT as we were walking out the door Jay asked him if he wanted a jacket. I tried to make eye contact with him to warn him not to bring it up, that it would put Cade in a foul mood. Guess what…..the little traitor took the jacket and Jay looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. I flashed back to when Cade was a baby and how lovingly he would look at me while I gave him a bottle. It was like I was his whole world (which of course anyone holding the bottle would’ve been). Now he regards me as the nutty Mom who asks too many questions and doesn’t understand anything. I’ve only got what about 14 years left of this phase? But a bright spot to my day, Jay did remove the Tailgriller so I’m no longer a driving billboard.