Another mostly fine and Fun Big Son Weekend
This weekend was the first of three in a row for Son and I. Screw the cost of gas. I'm happy for the time. I made the drive up north straight from work (which was rushed - turned out I completely spaced on doing something I usually do on Thursday, which meant I had to squeeze it in before leaving Friday, which left extra work for Saturday, but I digress...:-) ) and we were off. The ride down went smoothly and included a stop for gas and food (I'm filling up when my tank gets to the halfway point; it's less painful that way). The new toy from the McD meal soon became a new guest for the Spongebob Car Game (wherein Son pulls out the plastic Spongbob and I do his voice as Bikini Bottom's best fry cook entertains various patrons to the restaurant). Once back in town Son eagerly jumped to the computer for a round of the Nick Games. Since those people put a few new games up each week, there's always something new. This time he fell in love with some kind of faux Sumo Wrestling game featuring the panda from the Kung Fu panda movie. Afterward we did another session of the Cars playmat game (with the toy from the McD meal, the same new guest for Spongebob becoming the new guest to Radiator Springs). It was a few hours after arriving when the thought of watching cartoons dawned on young Son. That gave me time to put together some dinner. Nothing fancy, it was getting late.
Son was in bed and asleep not long before nine (after two incidents of getting out of bed to delay the inevitable), which let me watch and tape Battlestar Galactica at the first showing. This was a good thing, as I was tired from being up since 4 a.m. and dropped into bed myself right after. As usual, I set my alarm for 8. This is usually unnecessary as Son typically wakes well before then. So it was a shock to awaken Saturday morning to the Best of the Morning Show Bits (the work that I squeezed in Friday) on the clock radio. I was making ready for my shower (and turned the TV on just in case Son woke before I was out) when he came out of his room asking if I knew that he was awake.
Us getting up later than normal meant less time for playing around before it was time to go to the radio station, but we still had time for breakfast and some gaming on-line (this time it was his World of Warcraft warlock I had bumped up in level the previous week). Son brought his box of magnetic car building blocks and he proudly showed off to Ms Carnival (who in her generous wonderfullness continues to meet us there to help keep Son from getting restless and bored) a line of pseudo-transformer car-bots. He also got to swing a bit (but he's getting a little heavy for that, and tall! Much more and we'll be smashing his head against a control board if we're not careful) and record himself being loud and goofy.
After the station and a stop at the apartment to prepare, we were at the park. The water spouts were going full blast and the place was packed (no surprise given the 96 degree (36.1 C) sunny day). I'd brought a book, snacks, and plenty of water, ready to stay awhile. Alas there came a problem. Most of those other kids had gotten a water fight going, splashing kids using anything from cups to bags to the one or two water guns. So okay, I let Son join in with a little cup but also with the same rules as the squirt gun play from last Fall's Rock the Dock party: don't complain when you get water dumped on you and don't dump water on any kid who's empty handed. For about half an hour it went well enough, but then I saw Son dump water on a kid with no cup, bag, or water pistol. So I called him over and busted him on it, reminding him of the rules, asking if that kid had anything in his hands, and asking why he did it. He "didn't know" (no surprise - at six years old I never knew why I did anything when called on something). So I took the cup (btw - next time I bring the leftover bright red water pistol from Rock the Dock) and told him he'd have to play without them for awhile. He huffed, went out to the water spouts for a moments, then stomped back to the low wall surrounding it I was sitting on. He sat, ready to pout, and said, loudly, "This Sucks!".
I told him to dry off at once we were leaving. Sure "sucks" is a word that's made its way into the realm of words safely used on broadcast tv and radio, and it isn't really all that extreme, I think it's more than a six year old should think appropriate language. I don't know or care who else might put up with it, I won't. So despite his pleas, we were gone. That was the only punishment I planned for it, and I was glad he didn't do anything to make it worse. I explained twice to him on the way home why it wasn't appropriate for him to say that and maybe it sank it. Maybe not. Won't know unless and until it happens again.
At any rate, we had a more pleasant time once we got back. We had the icy popsicles I packed for the park, played more cars (this time Iron Man was the new guest in town, and he talked most of the others into playing the Spongebob Operation game), had dinner, played a little more on-line, and he had a bath before bedtime. Tonight there were no incidents of getting out of bed after the fact. :-)
Sunday, Son woke before the alarm, which gave us plenty of morning fun time, and we had some plans for late morning, so that was good. After breakfast and a tape of his choice (Sleeping Beauty, an anniversary edition with a making of feature) we packed up and headed to Ms Carnival's apartment complex for some swimming. The pool there was virtually abandoned so we had hours of fun. There's nothing Son loves like being in water. We played various ball games, frisbee, another couple showed up with their toddler child (who's favorite game was "throw the Gumby"), and we all generally had a blast.
At 2 I had to be at a car lot remote, so at 1 I borrowed Ms Carnival's shower and made ready. While I was handing out shirts, pizza, and bumper stickers, Ms Carnival sat Son at a McD's with a play area. I met them there after the remote was complete, and from there we loaded up to head north. It was past the usual time for it.
The right up was going along just fine for the most part. Son was initially in no mood to go, but got over it after ten minutes. He later claimed he was hungry but I was convinced this was a claim made mostly to get into another McDonalds. So I handed him the sandwich I'd made for yesterday and had in a cooler since. He turned it down. I told him he wasn't really hungry then. We went through that twice before he ate half the sandwich, declaring himself full. Twenty minutes later we had a repeat of that whole exchange. As he ate the sandwich this time I told him I had to make sure he was really hungry and not just scamming for a toy. In between bites he said: "Well, I'm hungry. And I'm scamming for a toy."
I laughed out loud for most of a minute. He asked if he should repeat it, since it was funny the first time. No, I explained, the context and timing was what made it funny. But it made my mood quite fine.
Then the tire blew out.
I called the roadside service, but when twelve minutes passed without a call back I went and changed it myself (I usually have such trouble with lugnuts it isn't worth the effort). I was trying to call the roadside service place to cancel right as the service truck pulled up. Since I hadn't gotten a call back (and have yet to) I signed off on the call. So then I was on the donut, toy tire, which made for slow driving. I made it up to where Ex was picking up Son at about 8, and finally back to sleep about 11. To wake up at 4. I'm sleepy.