Saturday, I dragged The Kid to Zumba with me for the 10am class. No I did not subject him to a headband and legwarmers for his own dance-a-thon. I did ask him to bring his Harry Potter book and wait in the hallway where I could see him. He did well for the first 40 mins., and even though the last 20 he was obviously bored and could've used Angry Birds on the Nook, he didn't outright complain or throw a fit. I was very pleased. I encouraged him to take me to Mission Science Workshop. It was the 2nd Sat. of the month, when it's free and open to the public. It was very cool in the way that there are so many things to explore and try and build and test. It was also kind of an uptight Mom's panic attack trigger. Drills, hammers, nails and saws ... and your child. Reptiles alive and wriggling, (which don't really bother me, but bother me more these days) various bits and pieces of large and small dead animals, some of which seem to have their pelts still partially attached -- decomp in progress? Did you know you can "build a gopher" out of dead skeletal pieces? Anyways, I was glad when both RCD and AB celebrated the cool and admitted the creep about different pieces with me.
The Kid was a little sad that none of his best pals were there. Well CM was, but he was hanging out with another kid at the moment. Considering none of his best pals were there, there was plenty of school kids, which is also very impressive. I talked to CM's Mom (AB) and she's like, "Today is pretty busy. Tomorrow, hopefully the schedule will settle in the morning and I can let you know if he can come over to play before Futsal practice." This should appease The Kid right? At least one playdate over a long weekend? Sounded great to me.
How she coordinates 3 children's social/academic schedules on top of her and her husband's incredibly saturated professional life is beyond me. I try not to take it personally that her ability to not just "make it work" but to exceed at it (which you can see through her children as well, *sigh) proves how inept I am. I like to think that I'm just another spectrum of the organization diversity amongst my friends.
RCD invited The Kid and I to get ice cream with them. I didn't want to pressure him into doing something he didn't want to. I wanted to show that the day could work both ways, that I could cooperate with what he would like as well. However when I asked him what he wanted he was like, "Really Mom, I don't really care." He repeated this when I promised him I didn't care either.
So this is when I have Mini-Man Friend. Are you saying this because
a) you REALLY don't care.
b) you feel I'm going to subject you to do whatever I want anyways.
And yes, both are completely possible.
Well, here is the indecisive again. I say, let's go with them, it's on the way we're going anyhow, if you want a taco. Besides "no obs" we can always go our own way. RCD has her two girls with her. Pre-school as well as 3rd grade like The Kid (different class). She additionally has her eldest daughter's friend from class as well. Girls, they laugh, they bicker, they hug, they question. Such a different world. The Kid, holds my hand as we cross the streets and doesn't really interact with anyone. Slowly there are some jokes cracked and some shared laughs.
As they wait for their tacos and the girls start to talk to him a little more and his answers begin to expand beyond monosyllabic, G with her beautiful ginger hair and big bright blue eyes cocks her head and says, "You have a lot of earwax." Not in a mean way. In a matter of fact way. Her pal A. goes, "ohhh yeaahh."
Ever the "helpful" mother but aware of not wanting to appear too aware, "yeah, he gets a bit, but he just showered."
Some help. I have to admit sometimes the silent act probably works best. I should follow The Kid's lead on some social things eh?
That was it though. The girls were on to the next topics, their knowledge of woodwork and The Pirate store. (not necessarily in that order.)
After the tacqueria and a trip to the Pirate Store we headed back towards Bi-Rite for ice cream. The line was L O N G. (the ice cream is G O O D). There was no line at the soft serve/ice cream sandwich window. I told The Kid. Whatever you want, you waited for me, I'm fine waiting for you, we have nothing else but some grocery shopping. The girls were displeased. Well there was 3 of them each with a slightly different preference. The elder two knew it wasn't exactly what they wanted, but also were more aware of what a line like that meant. The little one was insistent upon Strawberry. We divided and conquered. Though the girls returned to the soft serve line when they realized Mom was not going to be able to last in that line this afternoon even if they could.
The Kid said his good byes and just ate his ice cream outside of the Bi-Rite grocery store while I whisked around for 3 days worth of food. I worried that people would think I had abandoned him on the side walk. However it would've been torturous for him to be in there, not enjoying his ice cream. He knew I hadn't abandoned him. I think somehow a day without any real agenda, turned into a really nice Mom and Kid day. he suggested we walk home since it was so nice. Indeed it was.
