Absence semi-explained

some days are just so exhausting and difficult that you just don't want to write about them. You're just trying to survive them. The screaming tantrums, the jumping up and down, the yelling (me) and anger (again me). I'd rather just forget they all happened.

We appear to have maybe, possibly, turned a corner? I'm scared to say anything, fearing that, like a butterfly or a hummingbird, just speaking about it will scare this new attitude away. My boy now says "sure, happy to" and "ok" and also lets me explain the reasons for things. Please, please, please let this last. Let the last couple of months be just an aberration that can vanish from my memory until I, like my mother and mother-in-law, are saying "three? I don't remember anything bad about the threes".

Stuff I've been up to when I wasn't here....

• I have been trying to say "sure" a lot more when he asks to do something. The way his face lights up when I do makes me smile.
• I am searching for a way to expand his breakfast repertoire. Maybe I'm getting ready to send him off to school with a belly full of nutrition or maybe I personally am just sick of the same old same old yogurt, granola and fruit.  Today we tried peanut butter on toast, ham, Manchego cheese and strawberries. The strawberries were a huge hit (shocker [sarcastic, the boy would live on fruit if he could]) as was the cheese (this actually was a surprise and I was sad that I had eaten most of it).
• Indeed I find myself pausing and thinking of the school run when I make breakfast now. I'm glad that his school starts at 9 and is 10 minutes from our house. I think that I may use the time to take our dog for a walk around a nearby lake. Or run an errand or two. I'm not sure what I will do with 6 hours of freedom a week.
• We booked a long weekend to Pt. Reyes for later this month. To see the wildflowers and to eat cheeses (Cowgirl Creamery is based up there) and oysters (Hog Island), to drink wine and to hike and relax. We found a cabin to rent that allows dogs and kids and looks charming. I can't wait. Somethings just feel marvelously fabulous.
• I've been selling stuff on craigslist - items we purchased that no longer suit us or our yard. Interesting how tastes can change so much.
• And I've been purchasing new items that do suit our current yard and the space we have to use. D suggested a porch swing (we actually have a house that suits a porch swing just right) and I am imagining nights spent outside just swinging and talking together. Watching J play in the yard. and pillows - every porch swing needs flowered pillows.
• We planted our tomatoes a couple of weekends ago - all 11 of them. Yeah I know. I love tomatoes.
• D did such an amazing job with the coop that I convinced him to build a little one as a 'way station' for the chicks until they're big enough to go in with the hens. It's a little version of the big coop and it's charming.
• Then I mentioned how nice it would be to have a new pen for the chicks and little coop and he didn't throw his phone at me so I think there will be a new pen in the chickens/mine/our future.
• Picked the first cherries today - they weren't quite ripe but J ate them very happily. He nibbled very delicately around the pits. Last year he ate the whole thing.  
• Tomorrow he and I are running to the mall that doesn't have an escalator and having lunch at a place called 'Melt' that only does grilled cheese. I think he and I will be very happy there.
• I've still been posting fun stuff at www.whatmomwears.com and I joined the twitter nation (yes, seriously). WMW is light and makes me happy. We all need happy. And glitter polish.