Eating Candy

8:30 am Sunday. Kids eating their Halloween stash from yesterday's trick or treating and drinking root beer, (a drink that, by the way, I always say could be used at Immigration to confirm one's US citizenship, since I have never known any other nationality to like it. The kids and I adore it, but for my husband all other Italians, it's revolting as it smells like a medicine they use for back pain.)

Finally, it's the last day of Alexander's two week school holiday, and I survived. Since the kids now are at different school they have completely different holidays, so Alexander and I were on our own for most of it. It was surprisingly great, as long as I didn't let his never ending requests of "So, what are we going to do now?" get to me.

Unlike his sister who can play independently for hours (even with her erasers, true they are adorable Japanese ones, but still,) Alexander wants to do EVERYTHING with me.

"Mom, do you want to watch Phineas and Pherb or Mythbusters? Should we have a snack indoors or on the balcony? Want to read the new Percy Jackson with me? Let's have some olives or a nutella sandwich or go to the bookstore? Want to play this game I just invented? You get to be a farmer, a fisherman, or a gardener."

You get the idea, mentally exhausting, by the end of the day I don't know what my name is.

On the positive side, he's incredibly (and always has been) enthusiastic about any proposal I may have (unless it involves homework). Nothing will dampen his enthusiasm, even when I try my hardest.

Sorry, Alexander, but I just want to have a cup of coffee and watch Oprah.

"I love Oprah!"

You know Oprah?

"Of course, she's only the best talk show host, ever. Who's that she's interviewing? Who's James Frey? What book did he write? What do you mean it wasn't all true? Can you tell me about that right now?"

Okay, but first I need to clean and re-order all the closets.

"Yoohoo! Count me in. I love re-ordering things."

Looking back, I see that what got me through the toddler years with Alexander, was finally succumbing to the adage: "If you can't beat them, join them."

That, and the knowledge that one day, he won't be reaching for my hand when we walk out the building, he'll want to do everything on his own, and that it will break my heart. So for now, I sit back, watch Harry Potter and eat honey glazed ribs...even if it is 10 in the morning.