Cooperation

James is such a sensitive kid, he honestly makes me want to cry sometimes, because of just how earnest and concerned he gets about some things.  And then he can turn it on a dime and make me want to laugh or scream (or both).

Tomorrow Christine is out golfing for the day, so it's just us guys.

Today James and I were driving over to St. Laurent and on the way he recognised the part of town we were in and we had this exchange:

James:  Dad? 

Me: Yes bud? 

James:  I love SkyZone. 

Me (thinking):  Yeah, it's pretty cool, huh?  We should go there again sometime. 

James:  Yeah!  Like tomorrow. 

Me (thinking, but cautious now):  Yeah ... I'll look into that.

But in this case that really just meant, I would take a couple of hours to dread what might happen when it's time for us to go and I have to chase Daniel, screaming, across a freakin' warehouse with trampolines instead of floors then drag him out of there to the amusement of all the other parents in the place, then conclude that, yeah, sure, we'll plan to hit SkyZone tomorrow.  Because James Asked(TM).

Alright, so that's decided.  SkyZone tomorrow.  I officially began mentally preparing myself for the meltdown when it comes time to leave, but I know they'll have a blast while we're there, so it'll be worth it.

At bed-time, though, things turned into a mess.  First off, nobody wanted to go up to their bedrooms and pick out pyjamas (of course) but eventually Christine convinced Daniel to go up with her.  Then James and I had this exchange:

Me:  Buddy.  Mama needs you upstairs to go pick out pyjamas and get ready for bed.  I'll be up soon. 

James:  But Daaaaaaaaaad! 

Me:  Buddy, seriously, we need you to cooperate.  I need you to cooperate, because if you won't help me, there's no way I can take you and Daniel to SkyZone tomorrow.  You've got to help me, because Daniel is still too little and he still has tantrums, so I need to be able to count on you to help me. 

James:  Okay.

Then he promptly started picking up his toys.  A delaying tactic, to be sure, but one I wasn't going to call him on.

But it got much worse.

I wasn't present for the specific incident that moved things to the next level, but I heard it from downstairs, where I was ... doing something, I don't even remember what now.  I was in the kitchen, though, and I heard Christine yelling at James.  When I made it upstairs I guess he and Daniel had been racing to get into James' bedroom and when it looked like James wasn't going to win the race he hit Daniel in the chest with a toy fire-truck.  Both of them were crying when I arrived on the scene, anyway, so I know things were going bad.  I intervened, telling James that he was very mean to Daniel (he still hasn't got a level of guile that'll have him flat-out deny something he knows he's done, thankfully) and so he wasn't going to get any bed-time stories.  It was bathroom, brushing teeth then straight to bed for him tonight.  He wasn't happy with it, but he didn't argue either, once I explained it to him.

So after I had him in bed I sat on the stairs for a few minutes.  Sure enough, the door opened a crack and James peeked out, then started when he saw me sitting on the floor.

James:  Dad? 

Me: Yes bud? 

James:  Tomorrow?  Tomorrow I will ... I will help you.  And I will cooperate. 

Me:  Thank you, buddy.  I hope you will.  I need your help. 

James:  I will.

Already he's melting my heart, but I shoo him back into bed and say something like "cooperation tonight means you're going to try to get your sleep and have lots of energy for tomorrow" and I left him in bed again.

A few more minutes and things seemed quiet, so I went downstairs to do something in the dining room.  I heard him leave his room again, but he went to the bathroom, so I let it go.  Some time passes, I hear the water in the sink running.  All's good.  More time passes.  The water is running again.  More time.  The water again.  More time.  The sink again.

Okay, time to get involved again.

I clomp upstairs, making sure he knows I'm coming before I get to the top of the stairs and I catch him on his way back into the bedroom.

Me:  James!  Buddy, come on, what were you doing? 

James:  I was just washing my hands! 

Me:  Okay, well, you're supposed to be staying in bed unless you need to go to the bathroom, then you have to get back in bed as quick as you can when you're done, right? 

James:  Right. 

Me:  And remember?  Cooperating means you're going to try to get your sleep so you've got lots of energy tomorrow, right? 

James:  Right. 

Me:  Okay, so g'night, bud.  I love you. 

James:  I love you too, Dad.

And I left him.

And less than a minute later he had the door open again, but this time he was calling to me.

James:  Dad?  ... Dad?  ... Daaaaaad? 

Me (getting more frustrated): Yes James, what is it? 

James:  Do you know what my two favourite buildings are? 

Me (trying not to laugh now):  No, what are they? 

James (ticking them off on his fingers):  Monkey Around and SkyZone. 

(Nope, not going to laugh, definitely not going to laugh, he'll know he's winning if I do.)

He eventually did fall asleep, or at least stayed in his room, but man, he needed to make sure I knew how important SkyZone was to him for tomorrow first.