Silly Monkey Stories: The crayon incident

Most of the time, Cuddlebug and Bearhug get along great, but when they go at it, it can get pretty intense. This was a mild one by their standards, but it made me laugh (although I think I did a good job of not laughing where they could see me, I hope).

I was upstairs cleaning out the closet when I heard screaming from downstairs. When Cuddlebug gets upset, he screams. Shrieks. At the top of his lungs. If zombies were attacking our house, this scream would scare them away.

Anyway, I was busy and didn't want to have to go down there and play referee, so I yelled for both of them to STOP. NOW!

A few seconds of silence... followed by another scream.

I yelled again to S-T-O-P and leave each other alone.

You didn't really think that would work, did you? Yeah, me either. So I told them both to get upstairs NOW. (Hey, I'm the mom, I can make them come to me to resolve this, right? LOL)

They came upstairs, both telling me they didn't do anything. Uh-huh. Then they both told me the classic, "he started it." Yeah, I don't care who started it.

I eventually got a jumbled picture of what the fight was about, it went something like this:

CB: He won't stop saying to me.
me: Saying what?
CB: I told him to stop but he DIDN'T!
BH: He threw a crayon in my EYE!
me: 'Cuddlebug' did you throw a crayon in his eye?
CB: Yes. He threw a crayon in my HEAD!
me: 'Bearhug' did you throw a crayon back at him?
BH: No!
CB: Yes he DID!
BH: (nods his head, admitting he did). But he threw a crayon in my EYE! He could have blind my eye!

At this point, Bearhug started re-enacting the "crime," using his finger as the crayon. He demonstrated its trajectory and used sound effects as he jammed his finger into his own eye.

BH: Like THAT! He threw a crayon in my eye like THAT! (and showed me again, in case I missed it).

Not to be outdone, Cuddlebug did his own re-enactment of the crayon that hit him in the head. He smacked himself on the side of the face.

CB: He threw a crayon and it did THIS! (again, a repeat performance)

Seeing that this conversation was going nowhere, I told both of them to go to their rooms for 5 minutes (so they could cool off).

Bearhug headed for his room. Cuddlebug screamed and howled, "But I didn't DO ANYTHING!"

Ah, the indignation of one who is never wrong. Have I mentioned that Cuddlebug is never wrong? About anything? Ever? Yes, it's true. Just ask him.

Anyway, my own personal opinion was that they had each been wrong and had each suffered a crayon-assault for their misdeeds, my main purpose in sending them to their rooms was not so much as punishment but because based on experience I know that when they get like this what they really need is some time apart.

So I told Cuddlebug he could play DS if he wanted but he needed to spend some time alone in his room. He was cool with that and off he went.

Ahh, peace and quiet (close enough).

Then I went to Bearhug to chat, see if he had calmed down, and see if I could get a little more detail on what happened (at this point all I know is how it ended, no clue yet what they were actually fighting about).

BH: I was singing and 'Cuddlebug' wanted me to stop.
me: Did you stop?
BH: No. I like to sing.

He's right, he loves to sing. Loudly. He sings / hums while he plays.

me: So this whole thing was because you were singing and he wanted you to stop?
BH: (nods) Then he threw the crayon onto my eye. (yet another demonstration)
me: and you threw a crayon back at him?
BH: yeah, I picked up the crayon and threw it at his head (he shows me, similar to the way Cuddlebug had shown me). I didn't want to stop singing. He could have blind my eye, couldn't he? (he pokes his finger into his eye again)
me: well, a crayon could hurt your eye, but I think you're gonna be ok. (walking a fine line here, don't want him to think throwing crayons in people's eyes is ok but also don't want him to stress out that he's going to go blind because of it). maybe you should stop poking your eye though. does your eye feel ok?
BH: (nods) I don't like when he tells me to stop singing.
me: I know. Could you maybe sing a little quieter, or in a different room next time?
BH: (shakes his head)

Sigh. I decided to drop it for the time being. Cuddlebug emerged from his room a while later and bygones were bygones, no further mention of the "crayon incident."



For more Silly Monkey Stories, visit 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires.





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