Sliding into home.

Last weekend of the electronics blackout. I was seriously unhappy friday. The boy went to camp looking seriously beaten down. I asked what's wrong and didn't he like camp and his response was how can I after everything that's happened. So I dragged out my best new day motivational speech and went to work with a very heavy heart. When I was that age summers were fun. We slept 'till 10 and watched game shows in our jammies. We went to the pool in the afternoon and raced home (barely) for dinner. We played in the yard until dark then did it all again. For him summer is like the school year with a different destination. We get up just like winter. We eat together, just like winter. Go to day camp, come home do the workbook just like school and homework. We eat and he plays and watches tv. Of course my sister and I were home alone all day at ages 9 and 11 which is just not safe. He's also an only child so there's no playmate for catching fireflies and playing in the yard. Kind of sad.

Friday night there was a bit of difference in the air. He was in a good mood. Saturday he busied himself with the huge vat of train stuff. He's built a wonderful track and has been playing with it ever since. The boys did a train show while I did laundry and waited for the phone guy. Other than work drama for hubby everything went smoothly.

The phone guy was HOT!. Just the kind of workman you see in every hokey X-rated movie. Hubs came home shortly after the fix was done and dealt with work. The boy and I dropped off veggies with the Babe and he got to meet cats that are friendly. Note to self - the small boy is WAY more allergic to cats than you ever were, do not allow him to pet cats again without washing his hands thoroughly afterward! By the time we got to the store for school supplies the child was a total wreck. Swollen, bloodshot, watering eyes. Sneezes full of huge bubbles of goo. The first thing we did in Target was go to the restroom and have him wash his hands. Then I squirted his eyes with the water fountain. Then we grabbed a box of tissue and opened them. The boy says "shouldn't we buy those first?" "We will, but we need them NOW." Thankfully he felt a bit better and by the time we had picked out school supplies, more model magic (gone in 10 minutes) and some Yugioh cards he was much better.

We puttered through the rest of the afternoon between comic, trains and Hero Quest board game for him and laundry and cooking for me. This morning he's happily playing with trains. Funny now that it's almost over, he's really gotten the hang of no electronics. It was, however, amusing to watch him stare blankly at the game on the Babe's computer while petting the cat.