In the nick of time

Just when I thought I could not possibly take one more day of Little A's bad attitude, his emotional outbursts, his angry frustration at EVERYTHING I DO including how I breathe - we had a GOOD day. Dare I say it? A great day.

Fridays are "our" day since he goes to his little nature school Monday - Thursday. I admit I haven't made these days as special as I'd envisioned them back in September when I was coming off the glorious high of a relaxing and refreshing summer vacation. I pictured us skipping along the shore of some local waterfront with ice cream slowly melting and the leaves gently falling all around us. We'd be laughing uncontrollably at something witty and clever Little A had said that I'd have to quickly write down lest I forget his brilliant hilarity. He'd throw his arms around me and tell me how much fun he was having - just the two of us and how he wished kindergarten would never come so he could hang out with me ALL the time because I'm the best mom ever and can we have another ice cream? And I'd say Yes....of course.

Uh-huh.

This isn't quite how it's worked out. Mostly Fridays have turned into yet another day to clean, run errands, or any other manner of droll activity. It's my fault. I haven't been proactive in setting up any kind of playdate or spectacular, educational activities and field trips. In my defense, the friends Little A has from his class have other things going on most Fridays and all our neighborhood friends are already in kindergarten. Poor us. Damn The Excuses!

But today...today was different. I managed a visit to the gym where he was off to a rockin' start with Tarzan. I've vowed to rent the old live action version of this movie so he can get the real deal, but for now he's content with the Disney cartoon. Then a haircut! Oh boy!! You'd think we were heading to Disneyworld. Can I have a sucker?? Can I? What flavors do you think they'll have? I want a red one...oh no! no I think I want a yellow one. Are those lemon? What about a watermelon? Aren't those red?

Long wait at the barber so we mosey to the Coffee-Shop-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named for a cinnamon roll and chocolate milk and actual conversation. Not just him asking questions faster than a human being can answer or me talking to myself and telling him to please eat, please stop climbing on the stair rail, please don't jump off that chair again, please eat your cinnamon roll, STOP JUMPING ON THAT LADY'S PURSE! It was nice. We talked about summer camps, summer vacation, swimming, kindergarten, Zelda and many other nice things.

We came home and he vacuumed. Seriously. Begged me to vacuum. Then he put Easter decorations on the fake tree in the entryway. And he's been playing with the little tchochke baby chicks that came with the Easter decorations for hours. Drawers and bins full of action heroes, transformers, legos, etc...and the pom-pom chicks with googly eyes are what he wants to play with.

So, it's been a great day. No big throw-downs, no lashing out. Actual affection people! And laughter. Delightful, luscious laughter. He was a pleasant person. And so was I.