Battle Scars

I dropped Sam off at Ally's this morning so I could take Jack to the doctor. Jack, by the way, developed croup over night after a couple of days with a runny nose. We returned from the doctor and both boys wanted to play a little longer. I followed my two and Cannon and Landry around back to the swing set. Everything was wonderful. I was pushing swings, watching the little ones slide over and over and marveling over how well they were all playing together. I went to sit on the steps of the deck and then it happened. Sam gave Cannon a push down the tunnel slide that he didn't appreciate. Cannon got off the slide, climbed back up the ladder and started hitting Sam in the head. Sam got mad, proceeded to start fighting back and in seconds they were in an all out brawl. The bad thing is (other than that they were rolling around like animals dangerously close to the edge of the top of the swing set) that my poor Jack was up there too and he ended up on the bottom of the pile, screaming and crying while the bigger boys beat the *$#@ out of each other with him underneath them. I climbed the metal ladder in record time, jerked Cannon and Sam apart and found my baby underneath. I told the boys to stop it immediately and climbed back down the ladder with Jack in my arms. I inspected him for injuries. Thankfully he had none, other than being scared half to death. I turned to take Jack to the deck, instantly heard scuffling again and turned to see that Cannon and Sam had locked up again. I plopped Jack down and had to scale the wooden plank this time since Landry was climbing the ladder. I again jerked them apart, this time with a little more force and a little more yelling. They both fought back the tears as I told them to get inside the house right then. Cannon had marks all around his neck, as if Sam was attempting to strangle him and Sam's face was red and covered in scratches. Lucky for Cannon, the marks around his neck went away pretty fast. Sam, on the other hand, has some nice scratches to sport around for a few days. Within minutes the boys were hugging and laughing again and all was forgotten. Boys fight, I understand that, but the fighting really drives me nuts. Sam and Cade and Cannon fight. They are as close as brothers and it goes with the territory. They fight and then they are best friends again before we can even brush all the dirt off them. It takes me a whole lot longer to get over it than it does them. On a positive note, I am grateful that Sam had his formal portrait made last week. Without a single scratch or bruise on his face. Thank God for small miracles.