Over the past couple of years our grocery bill has almost doubled. Some of it can be attributed to cost of living, and some to Gavriel and Keren, but the majority goes straight to Jesse.
Having a teenage boy is an experience. I never was one myself, and by brother didn't seem to go through food in the same way. Maybe it was because we were involved with drama and sports and USY, and so we were rarely home, but it wasn't like this.
All too often the food I've bought for the kids' lunches disappears overnight. I no longer worry about strange noises in the middle of the night. It's just Jesse raiding the fridge (and the cabinets). We can see the aftermath of dishes and food waste claiming the kitchen in the morning. There are the candy wrappers (that was for my mishloach manot) in the various garbages or the large mass of them shoved above the DVD's on our shelf, the massive numbers of empty yogurt containers in the sink, or bones left from a raiding party on the counter (or worse- on the floor becasue the car stole them).
On Friday I purchased 24 yogurts for school lunches this week. By motzei Shabbat they were gone, 18 of them consumed in 2 sittings (12 and 6) by Jesse and 6 by his friend. So much for lunch.
Yesterday Sean purchased 36 more yogurts for lunches and 2 large containers for Jesse to eat at home. At 9:45 PM there was Jesse scrapping out the last dregs from the first container, and about to dive into the second had i not wrestled it from him forbidding him from eating it that night (There are 6 others in the house currently, and some would like a shot at getting a taste.).
Of course this is the flip side of when he forgets to eat, like last Friday. Last Friday Jesse had a music show at Wonderland with the CHAT band. He had to be at school early, so he came running upstairs just a few minutes before we had to leave, not having time for breakfast. We ran to school, dropped him at school, and off he went. The concert was first thing in the day, followed by lunch (finished by 10:30), followed by a hot, hot day at Wonderland. Although I'd given him money for drinks, he didn't drink. By the time he cam home he was exhausted, barely able to stand. Still, he was begging for ping pong in the odd moments he was awake. In between he slept like a log, sleeping right through Shabbat dinner, waking only briefly though the night. Saturday he felt lousy, and spent most of the day teenage catatonic, interspersed with moments of ping pong begging.
So then there is the sleeping. No matter the time, no matter the amount of sleep, Jesse cannot seem to get up on time. A bomb blast next door wouldn't wake him. I understand. I am NOT a morning person. What I do not understand is his inststance that his alarm be set for 6:00 AM (It used to be set for 5 AM.) when it does nothing but wake me three floors up. As he began to get in trouble for waking a sleeping bear (ie-me) he finally started to get up. It has not helped. When the alarm goes off, Jesse climbs down from his upper bunk; walks across the floor to the alarm, and turns it off. He then walks back across the floor, and climbs back into bed, sleeping soundly. He has also set the time 10 minutes ahead, claiming it'll help him get up earlier, but it only serves to keep him in bed longer ("Oh, I have 10 more minutes.").
Wow. Teens are definitely an experience.
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