I am only now calm enough to write this post. It's taken me most of the day to get to this point. I'm sure as some of you read this post, you will perhaps smile, chuckle or think, "I'm glad that's not my kid." Believe me, I'm not there yet.
My Enoch is sweet, adorably curious. That is good. He is smart, too smart. That can be good. He doesn't believe in rules. That is so not good.
Today, while Greg, Gavin and I sat at the kitchen table, Enoch set fire to the field behind our house. Yes, you read that right. A fire! ARRRRRGGG! Enoch came in looking for a glass of water because he was 'thirsty'. I told him he couldn't take the glass outside (because they never make it back inside). He insisted. I said no. It was then that Enoch's friend ran to the door and yelled that the backyard was on fire. WHAT!! We all ran outside. Yes, the field was on fire! Apparently, Enoch had found some matches; where I don't know. I threw all of ours away years ago. I swear this kid's a bloodhound for dangerous objects.
We tried to turn on the hose and realized the outside water was off. Why? Because Enoch plays in it and fills up Gavin's window well with buckets of water, so we turned it off. Greg ran downstairs, turned on the water, ran back upstairs and took over hose duties because I was shaking so much.
Luckily, very luckily, the fire didn't get that big. We were able to put it out by ourselves. Enoch was sent to his room while we figured out what to do with him. Greg finally took him to the fire station. There, he spoke to a fireman about fire safety. I hope he understood. I know he understands about being safe; I hope he understands that this applies to him. We have done everything we can think of to get this message across. Trust me.
Tonight, Greg gave me a hug and said,"I'm sorry". I told him that it wasn't him who needed to apologize. He said, "I'm sorry about the fire. I'm more sorry that you have to be in charge of this kid everyday by yourself." Yeah. Tell me about it.
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9 comments:
OH MY GOODNESS!! I'm sorry you have to deal with all that, too. Jimmy has told me that Enoch is a "dangerous boy", and he wants to be a dangerous boy like Enoch. I think I'll go hide all our matches now.
AAAAAAAAHHH!!! Yikes!! Did I ever tell you the story about our kitchen table? I'll have to tell you sometime. It involves Mary Lou Retton, a box of matches, some flames, and my brother (not the one who lives here...another one) at age 5. Not awesome.
I'm glad that everything is okay and that the problem was taken care of rather quickly. But, once I read this story, I thought of my two brothers who tried to do something similar, but the fire department did have to come. Mom can sympathize with you on this story.
I am laughing hysterically right now, not because of the fire but because Greg took him down to the fire station. I love that teaching moment and that you guys took advantage of it in a pivotal way, instead of just scolding him or leaving him grounded in his room. You will one day look back on it and laugh, maybe :)
The best part of this whole story is Greg! Taking Enoch to the fire station was a stroke of genious (along with a lot of inspiration from the Spirit and counsel from a good wife!) I was so impressed with his compassion when he told you he was sorry you had to supervise Enoch during the day all by yourself. What a guy!
Enoch's curiosity has taken some years off your life, but it will likely be one of his most useful qualities as he goes throughout life. He will learn so much more than those of us who don't think and question as much as he does. He has learned so many lessons from this experience. Time will help you understand this (it will also take care of the shaking--I felt it when I was reading the post.) Don't worry! Angels are watching over Enoch. He has important work to do.
My first thought after I read Greg had taken him to the fire station was, "Did they show him pictures of people that have burned up in fires?" That'd scar/scare a kid for life! Does that mean I'm going to be a bad mom?
Keep up the good work!
It's like he's a character in his own novel! What a kid! My younger brother Michael was a lot like that. Do you remember? I think that he even set the field next to the Throckmorton's house on fire. My mom survived him. Here's to you surviving Enoch! You're the best, Tresa!
That is crazy! What a story. You will be telling this one his whole life. I think taking him to the fire station was absolutely brilliant! So many of your stories about Enoch remind me of my Spencer--he's younger than Enoch, but their personalities seem the same (did you know the first time Spencer started the car he was only 20 months old? Fortunately I was in the kitchen and heard it so I was able to be there within seconds.) I hope you have a calmer week!
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