Just shocked

So, my friend gave birth to a baby girl this week. Her dh and mine play softball together, so today, I'm thinking on inviting my friend's older boy to be Coco's play date while the hubbies go to the game. That way I'll give her a break, maybe she'll be able to eat a warm dinner for a change. Nicole and this li'l boy were together two years ago at daycare, so we know him.

He can be a bit rough around the edges, but I love kids and our home is just kid friendly. Kids run in and out of it all the time, and I really am ok with kids running and shouting. That's what kids do. As long as they are not being disrespectful, I can take just about anything.

I haven't seen this boy in ages, since the friendship with his mom is not a very close one; we see each other once a month at the lss, and every once in a while, for b-day parties and such. Saying that this boy is LOUD does not begin to describe the commotion that my house suffers when this child walks in. I am trying to put Connor to sleep, but I realize there's not point on even trying, so he, Coco and our li'l Diggy Boy (Digger, our 1 year old corgie mix with bijon) start running and screaming-barking all over the house, while Connor and I watch them with delight. I really enjoy kids playing, and the dog just adds to the fun.

They come over. "Can we play outside?", they ask. Of course they can. So they are outside playing and I'm inside preparing their dinner. All of a sudden, I turn to the glass doors, and what I see takes a couple of seconds to register in my brain. At first I could not understand what I was seeing. Then, my eyes just open wide with horror as I open the door and scream STOP! DON'T HIT MY DOG!

I cannot believe it. As I sit here and recount what I saw, I still am trying to comprehend, to make sense of those images. This boy, who just turned 4 five months ago, has the handle of the scooper that we use to clean up after Diggy in his hands. It's broken (it suspiciously breaks on Cesar every time he has to clean the yard!) and splintered, and this boy holds it with both hands from one end, while the splintered one is hitting Diggy Boy. Diggy is absolutely terrified and doesn't even move, he's just holding himself against the fence as if he wanted to disappear.

I immediately took this thing from his hands, and told him not to do this, not to do this, not to do this. But I was so shocked, I couldn't even really react. And the thing that most shocked me, what I really could not compute into this whole equation, was this kid's face. He was content, satisfied, smiling as he did this. With both hands, bringing them all the way back and then down, he was happy. I saw him hitting Diggy twice, and stopped him before he hit him a third time. I cannot say that he was angry, or upset. He was just truly satisfied, as if he derived true joy from his actions. He was making this living creature suffer, and he smiled. He enjoyed. It was so surreal. Even worse, and now I understand this is the most disturbing of all, after I asked him to stop, he didn't say 'I'm sorry', he didn't look remorseful or concerned. He looked annoyed. Eerie. No tears, no "I shouldn't have done that", nothing.

It wasn't until then that I realized that Nicole was also scared, but she didn't see the whole scene, thankfully. I checked on Diggy for cuts or bruises, but thankfully, nothing there. I hurried the kids in, and called the kid's mom. I wanted to know when did she want him back, or what the arrangement was, because I was just so ready to take him, but she said my dh said he'd drop him off after the game. I was so upset, especially because I just couldn't bring myself to tell his mom what I saw. I just sat there with my Connor in arms, right beside Nicole while they played video games until dh came home at 9:30. It was a long hour in a half.

I still am in shock. I don't know if I am overreacting, and this is normal behavior with boys. I grew up in a family of 5 girls, no boys, and although we fought a lot, it never translated into our dogs. Maybe boys are rougher. But then again, I've never seen Cesar act like that. Just today he went to a friend's home, and the mom called me to tell me she was so impressed by how polite and well mannered he is. That's the norm, isn't it? when your child goes elsewhere, everybody tells you how good he/she was, and you ask "my child? You must be talking about somebody else!", since he/she is a terror at home...

I can't comprehend what I saw today, I am afraid to put a name to it. I almost feel to the point of tears. I've seen spoiled kids, I've seen misbehaved kids, but nothing compared to this. Beyond anything I've seen. I'm still shocked. I cannot bring myself to tell his mom, she'll think I went mad, or I lost my mind... I wish I could take that image away.