I can do this and I can do that

Andrew awoke this morning with a twisted neck. To tell the truth I slept through the first half of the drama; he, it seems, appeared at the bedroom door at 5:18 AM calling for Mum. I do remember hearing something in the small hours but being the unsympathetic bastard that I am I turned over and went back to sleep.

Rising somewhat later I found him prostrated on the couch protesting loudly at every movement. Some discussion ensued which brought me up to date. Some accident of posture during sleep had caused his neck muscles to cramp and he was paying the price.

Now if there's one thing I've learned about Andrew in the all but 3 years I've lived here it is that he's a drama queen. Somewhere along the way he never learned the fine art of enduring minor aches and pains. A minor graze and he's off, lamenting to the entire world about his misfortune. Thus, today, he was bemoaning his fate as a (as closely as I remember the wording) poor weak tired little boy. He enters High School next year and if he keeps this up they'll eat him alive!

I could not resist standing before him and craning my head to the left; 'I can do this'. Crane the head to the right; 'I can do that'. Look up to the celing; 'oooh look, I can do this'. Then look down; 'and I can do this as well'. Then I did a circle with my head; 'bet you can't do that!'. He tried and ooowwweeeeddddd.

But I'll give him his due; he laughed as I did it.

Later in the evening at the start of dinner I did the underpants on the head routine again. It is Sunday after all! He's still doing the ewww ewww routine when I do the underpants thing and so he turned his head away. Owwww owwww.

Now you have to understand that both Mum and I have advised him that the only way he's going to get rid of the pain is by exercising the muscles. If he holds his head at that odd angle that minimises the pain it won't take long until that's the only angle he CAN hold his head at. He doesn't believe us. He's into pain minimisation big time. So, knowing that the sight of my ugly mug leering at him with a pair of underpants over it would make him turn his head I played it to the max. Much protestation of pain but, lurking behind it, a smile.

He got a payoff later in the evening. The pain is fading.