After about 5 minutes I asked him to let me put some sun lotion on him, which he narrowly allowed. Skin cancer is a serious thing & worthy of prevention. I sweetened the effort by telling him how proud I am he chose to do this job himself, without my asking. When the job was done I would pay him $10, which is very pleasing to a kid. He allowed me to get him his hat to keep the sun off & he wore it. Every 5-10 minutes or so he would stop & need a drink of water or iced tea. Or he would stop & investigate something or arrange something in the yard. He found a dead mouse that our old dog killed. He called out & told me about it, but didn't touch it. He scooped it up with the dog doodie scooper & asked me to get a bag so I could put it directly into the garbage can, which I did. About 40 minutes into this yard project, he started getting frustrated, the job is only half done. Some sunlotion had melted into his eye with sweat. He was frustrated with his hair being in his eyes & wanted to chop a bunch of it away himself. He whined and sniveled about his hair being too long & why did I make him wear the stupid sunlotion. To the point that if I make him wear sunlotion again he would like to chop off his head. Now we're talkin', here comes the extreme language, a proper meltdown was imminent. I suggested to stop rubbing his eye with his sweaty shirt since that will not help. I suggested to go wash his hands & face & try a damp cool washcloth, which he did eventually. Much milling through the house ensued, sans shirt, eye rubbing in progress via tissue. I suggested a tissue may have powder lint that may not help as well as a damp washcloth.
Once the eye was rinsed with saline the meltdown averted briefly, until annoyance with his hair resumed. I said to leave it, & we can jump in the car & go get it cut properly so no one will make fun of any self barbering later at school. He struggled with this, he really dearly wanted to chop it away himself. Finally we got out of the house to the barber. Where we waited for an hour & I had to keep reminding to leave the eye alone, amidst his squirming, & fidgeting. Home again, a cold drink, & the mowing resumes, YIPEEE!!! Considering the push mower isn't exactly easy to use, its warm out, and the lawn looks choppy now. I have to go & check & praise his progress every 10-15 minutes at his request, but its done. Another cold drink, & he's raking, on his own, without request or prompting. I'm not sure if this is my son, he looks, sounds and smells like him. Okay, the rake he picked isn't working & he's getting frustrated again. I told him to hold on, I think there's a better rake, to let me get it for him. He finished the raking, stuffed the rakings into a garbage pail, then stuffed them into the compost bin. He's hopping inside the garbage pail stuffed in the composter to pack it down! I let it ride. We later patiently explained that squashing the contents of a composter means it won't decompose & it will have to be dug out again. My son took it well, with a simple, "oh" response.
This could've been a complete nuclear event, with a smashed rake & mowed un-identifiable dog toys all over the lawn. I was nearby, but not interfering. Its almost like there's an invisible bungee cord between us. When I am feeling well, and he is having success with an idea, it is a wonderful thing. My son is happiest outside so I was fairly certain this would be a success. We don't have a whole lot of stellar days, but this counts! The happiness held on right through bedtime & on into the next morning. A bright light in our home, I am thankful.
