Pre-Holiday Thoughts

Tuesday morning started off a little rough. Mal wanted to go to Target first thing in the morning. We didn't hare a reason not to, so I took him. First, I'd said the night before when he wanted to go at 10 PM that we'd do it. Second, whenever possible, we try to let Mal be the master of his own destiny. As a 3-year-old, that happens rarely enough.

At Target was nothing we needed to buy, toy-wise. In the past, Mal liked to go to Target and browse, playing with whatever caught his eye. Now it seems he feels the whole enterprise is a waste if we don't leave with SOMETHING. So after some tears, I herded him over to the home cleaning products before we beat a hasty retreat.

He kept telling me, "Mommy, you're saying the wrong thing! I'm saying the right thing!"

Mal, in a happier moment.

We came home, and after a bit, Mal said he wanted to go to the pool. It was 100 degrees, and that felt like the answer, so we headed toward Lago Vista... then Mal informed me he wanted to go to "the log pool," which is in Cedar Park. We turned around and went that way.

It's double the price for us to swim at Veteran's ($5 vs. $2.50), but it's a much larger pool with many more features. None of which Mal uses. Regardless, it was a nice change of pace.

One weird thing: In addition to peeing on a tree in the parking lot when we arrived. Mal had to use the restroom FIVE TIMES during the two hours we were swimming. I'd have picked a shady spot closer to the restrooms, had I known. And I'd have moved after the third time if I'd realized we still had two times left. Anyway...

At some point, I was moving through the chilly water with Mal in tow and thought, "I might talk about being constantly tired (I am) and 'on call' (I AM), and James might be able to work with quiet thoughts inside of his head during the day (I can't), but only one of us is getting tan lines from being at the pool so much."

That zen feeling lasted until I got out of the shower a few hours later. Mal waited until I was cleaned up before having a bout of diarrhea, which came on too quickly for him to make it out of his drawers and to the toilet. THEN he complained while I was cleaning him up, because apparently my bath robe wasn't properly covering my unmentionables.

So even on days when you can somehow feel chilly in the 100-degree air because you're dripping from the water and there's a brisk wind, parenting a 3-year-old is not a cake walk.

Also, later Mal had diarrhea again, and this time caught a whiff of it and barfed in the floor while I was cleaning up the first thing. Good times.

THEN it was a race to get the entire bathroom cleaned up before D saw it, because I think that would be a permanent deal-breaker. Fortunately, by then, James was home and able to hang out with Mal so I could do the "fun" stuff.

Mal, being wowed by a smoke ball on July 4.