The best weekend

I think what has been the best thing about my really great weekend is that I did not plan any of it. It all just sort of happened. There were moments that were far from perfect but overall, that does not diminish this weekend as being one of my favorites in a really long time.

Friday night, my family and I celebrated my birthday with ice cream at Dairy Queen. My oldest 3 children spent that time entertaining their aunt: Desert Bloom with various jokes and silly stories. I sat with my parents and Peanut and just enjoyed my ice cream and opening some presents. That is always fun. I like presents. One gift from my sister was a slinky and I knew that I would not get to play with that gift.

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at the pool. We just splashed and relaxed. The kids have been waiting for the pool to open since...well...since it closed last summer. I enjoyed watching Peanut swimming around like a fish, diving in the water, jumping and just enjoying himself. Princess was born with gills and apparently when water hits them, her ears close and she cannot hear the outside world. It took 5 minutes of calling her name and then her brother chasing her all around the pool in order to get her attention and tell her it was time to go.

I think Sunday was my favorite day of all. After church, we went on a picnic to Elm Creek Park Reserve and joined 3 other families. The kids played for hours while the adults chatted and laughed.

BB however had it determined in his head that this event should last only about 45 minutes and he wanted to go back home so that he could go to his friend J's house. I warned him that he should not make plans without consulting me and I told him that the times he gave his friend were not accurate. I also told him I did not want him to spend the afternoon asking me if it was time to go.

I refused to look at the clock but when I did, it was 5pm. And this sent him through the roof. He began to pitch a fit. It was quiet at first but when I did not respond, he increased the intensity and pretty soon, he was banging into me. In a way, I was glad that some of my friends saw him act this way because for the most part, he only does this at home. I also wanted him to realize that he does not always get his way and he does not get to control everything because of his notions of how long things should take. I refused to look at my cell phone for the time because I did not want him to be focused on the time.

He did wind up missing the chance to go play with his friend because it was almost 7 by the time we got home. He was mad but he did calm himself down. And he did so in a manner that was a tremendous improvement over previous disappointments. He grumbled and he was owly with us but he did not strike out at anyone. He did no destruction and he eventually got himself calmed down to the point that he was able to enjoy swimming and a funny movie in the evening.

I think we ended on that high note.