Rumble in the Jungle (Gym) -well, almost!

We were leaving the grocery store about a week ago and Evan was riding in the buggy –(that’s a shopping cart to my Northern friends.)   Somehow, when we arrived at the car, he had lost one flip flop.  I knew it had to be between the car and the entrance of the store, so I locked both boys in the car and went back to retrieve it.

As I returned to the car, in a matter of seconds, this is what I witnessed:

Evan reached up to turn the dome light on.

Ben reached up to turn it off. 

Evan turned it on.

Ben turned it off.  (Ben knows this wears the battery down. Being the ever-conscientious worry-wart kid that he is, Ben considered this a mission of the utmost importance.)

Evan pushed at Ben.  Ben pushed at Evan.

Evan balled up his fist and socked Ben square in the eye. 

Needless to say, Evan was punished. Ben received an icepack.  This little interaction made me aware of

 #1. Evan still has a long way to go in developing social skills. and

 #2. The kid throws a punch like a professional boxer.  He has definitely done this before.

All of this was fresh in my mind when we visited beautiful Forsyth Park last weekend.  There were many children playing and Ben and Evan ran joyfully to the playground equipment.  I hovered, as I usually do, to make sure Evan is “playing nice.” 

Evan brought a new toy, a plastic action-figure/robot with him.  He climbed to the top platform from which all slides descended.   Several kids were up there, going up and sliding down.  Evan sat at the top of a slide, toy in hand.

 An older child, with curly hair and a very annoying (yes, I said it!) personality, reached over to Evan and tried to snatch the toy from him.  With manners that conveyed a “No one ever says no to me” mentality, the child simultaneously asked/demanded, “Hey, can I play with that?”   I watched with mixed fascination and trepidation.  He had no idea he was messing with the Evanator!

Evan yanked his toy back and waved his scolding finger at the child imitating angry speech noises. 

I walked over and said, “He can’t hear what you’re asking him.  He's deaf.”

Annoying boy: “Well, how do you say it in Spanish?”

Me:  “It won’t matter what language you ask him in, HE CAN’T HEAR YOU.” 

A/B: “Well, how do you talk to him, then?  I want to play with that.” 

(Obviously, the possibility that he would not get to play with the toy was not even in his realm of thought.)

Me: (thinking of the Evanator): “I think it’s better for you if you just forget that you ever saw that toy and keep it moving.”

Naturally, the A/B was bewildered, but this seemed to be the end of it.  A little while later, Evan asked me to hold his toy.  The A/B witnessed this and then asked me if he could play with it.   I told him that Evan had just gotten the toy recently and he wasn’t interested in sharing right now. 

I breathed a sigh of relief thinking we had avoided a social “faux pas.” I was proud of Evan that he hadn’t resorted to physical aggression.  PC or not, I couldn’t help but think that A/B was going to find himself perilously close to danger many more times in his youth unless he developed better social skills.

 Now that the toy was “off the table” I was pretty sure this kid would lose interest in Evan. I was wrong. 

Evan was happily darting up and down the ramps and slides, making his warrior cries.  You would think witnessing this force of nature would be enough to deter anyone from messing with him.  Most kids get out of the way when they see Evan coming. But not that kid.

 Evan had paused on a walkway when - like a moth to a flame - A/B walks up to Evan again.  I watched in amazement as the boy stood in front of Evan and started SWATTING Evan on the chest REPEATEDLY saying over and over: “Tag, you’re it. Tag you’re it. Tag you’re it. Tag you’re it.”

 Evan stared at him in total amazement.  One eyebrow arched up.  The famous Evanator sneer came across his face.  I thought, “Here it comes.”   I held my breath.  I didn’t move to stop him.  Part of me – that primal mother-bear part of me – wanted to see the winds of karma do its thing. 

Evan released a barrage of what I’m sure were not very nice words in this boy’s face.  But Evan did not raise a hand.   I was proud of him, (and not so proud of myself!)  I told the boy again, “He can’t understand what you are saying.”  The child seemed annoyed and ran off.   Evan went about his business.  A short while later, I saw Evan chasing Annoying Boy through the ramps and slapping him on the back.  The A/B was yelling, “Hey, leave me alone!  Leave me alone!!” 

“That’s my boy!”  I laughed to myself.  The Evanator always wins J