Splash!

We had problems getting our little vampire outside again today. The Dxh arrived at 10.30 and it was lovely and cool outside, especially under the umbrella on the patio although it was already hot in the sun. We tried to get Ram to put on shorts and a t-shirt but he refused. He just sat outside under the umbrella whining!

We tried to get him to bounce on the trampoline which is in the shade at this time of the day and he refused to do that. Finally we got him to put on some more appropriate clothes, but he was still unhappy, and spent some time sitting on my lap.

He said he wanted to have another sponge fight but didn't want to have it until after lunch so finally we said he could go and play on the computer until after lunch.

He did eat a bit of lunch with us, a single home-made bread roll with grated cheese in it and several carrots and a few olives. But then it was back onto the computer. Dxh went with him and we set up the Popcap game Venice for him to see if he could beat Ram (he didn't!).

I went up for my nap and when I got up I could hear the boys struggling to find the swim suits so that they could start the sponge fight. I left them to it for a while, but they really couldn't find them, It seems that they didn't think to look up in the utility room to the drying rack, where we always put them to dry after swimming!

They had a sponge fight and when Ram came in soaked I suggested that they get in the pool. For some reason they wouldn't without me so I had to go out and get in with them. As it is so cold in the pool we didn't want to go underwater, so we just walked around in circles with the rule that you could only splash someone if they splashed you first. Ram had his socks on his hands and was splashing Dxh so Dxh was splashing back. Occasionally I got splashed a bit so I splashed back too. Then Ram was really splashing Dxh hard so I said that was unfair and starting splashing Ram, thinking that he would then start splashing me.

He didn't. He got out of the pool in tears! He went and sat on the trampoline and wouldn't cheer up.

It didn't take me long to figure out that he felt that it was unfair that I had splashed him and he hadn't splashed me, and told Dxh out of earshot that for Ram to have closure on this he would need to 'get me back'. Dxh went out and had a chat with Ram and sure enough he felt that I hadn't been playing by the rules because he wasn't splashing me, and he wanted to.

So when I went outside I ignored the two wet sponges in Ram's hands until it was too late! A very thorough sponge fight ensued with all of us getting very wet! Ram was really happen again!

After that he was back in vampire mode and back inside. But at least he got some sun today!

When we went to bed we chatted about what had happened. He really thought that because he hadn't splashed me that I shouldn't have splashed him. I pointed out the rule again; you can't splash someone until they have splashed you. He thought about this and then said that no one would ever be able to splash then. I said that was right, until someone splashed then you could splash all you like. I had to tell him that the rule was for me too. When I splashed him, that gave him the ok to splash me. He really hadn't see it that way! He could only think of it from his own point of view! So I think we have that one sorted out now. I just hope that Monday will be another hot sunny day so that we can have another go at it when Dxh is here!