Week in Review

Okay, let's see where I left off. Mom and Dad got here for their visit last Sunday. They were delayed a day by the storms and tornadoes that went across Mississippi AND trying to find a place to stop for the night. They managed to stay behind the storms but couldn't get any closer than Tuscaloosa on Saturday because everything was booked up for the races at Talladega. Alex had big plans for them and couldn't wait for them to get here. We told him Saturday night that they'd be here the next day. I woke up at 7:45 Sunday morning and he was standing at the foot of our bed, arms crossed. "You SAID they'd be here today. I looked outside - THEIR CAR IS NOT HERE!" They did get here before lunch and he was well pleased. Alex, Mimi & Paw were going to stay here Monday while Art and I had to work. I asked them what they were going to do while we were gone. "Oh, you know, just be together."

Sunday afternoon we had to return some books and DVDs to the library. I asked Mom & Dad if they wanted to ride with us. They thought they'd rather hang around the house and rest some but Alex was having none of that. He really talked up how awesome his library was, so they decided they would go. When we got there Alex told Paw the rules - "You have to be quiet and you can't run away." Paw said he'd try to behave. Then we walked in, and how wonderful - Alex's librarian was there! Alex thinks Mrs. Patty is his personal librarian and no one has convinced him otherwise. He made the introductions. A red letter afternoon.

Since Mom & Dad had to leave on Wednesday morning we decided to go out to eat Tuesday night. I asked Alex to change shirts (he was wearing a kind of ratty t-shirt). "Is this place fancy?" I told him not quite fancy, but a little nicer than a t-shirt. "I need to wear my tie." We discussed this, strenuously. In the end, I ironed his one and only white dress shirt, which he left untucked, with his pants and red Crocs, and he wore his one and only tie, from Easter a year ago. He really impressed the waitresses. He also talked in "fancy language" which has no correlation to any language I've ever heard. This morning I asked if he wanted to go to church with me. Negotiations broke down when I mentioned that his dress shirt was still in the laundry, so he couldn't wear his tie. He stayed home with Art.

Alex was sad when Mimi & Paw had to leave but we consoled him with the fact that we're going to visit them in three weeks. He has it marked on his calendar and he's ready to go.

Yesterday on the way to the grocery store:

Alex: "Mom, do you know what I am?"
Me: (unsure) "What?"
Alex: "I'm a singer-songwriter."

I quizzed Art about this later and he told me during one of the many singing spells that Alex takes every day, Art asked him who wrote the song he was singing. Alex told him that he does all his own material. Art mentioned that he told him he was a singer-songwriter. That was two weeks ago, so I guess he was just saving it up for me. He has been singing (over and over and over again) a snippet of a song that I finally decided was "All Star." I thought he would like it if I downloaded it from iTunes for him. I did, and called him in while I played it. He started dancing, and I asked if he knew that song. "Yeah! That's the song from Shrek." Isn't that what you've been singing to us? "NO!" Well, excuse me.

The Harry Potter saga continues. We're past the 200-page mark. I thought he was ignoring me tonight but he's fascinated my the invisibility cloak in the story. He also made Art play chess with him today (wish I'd been here for that!) which they did in the book a day or so ago. Thankfully we don't have much more to go. I'm looking forward to Art reading regular books to him again. When we went to the library yesterday I got him several on Vikings because he was asking lots of questions after seeing "How to Train Your Dragon." (He was disappointed to learn that I was never a Viking.) HE chose a children's book on anatomy. Why, you say? Because it has "bottoms" in it - "lots of bottoms." Sigh. That's where I'm going to leave it for now. Tuesday T-ball starts. Art's theory: Alex is not a team player kind of guy. My theory: even if he isn't, he needs to learn the rules of baseball before he turns 12 and wants to play with the guys and just looks silly. I'll let you know how it goes. It's a fairly low-key YMCA program - "instructional" they call it, more of a learning experience than anything. It starts this week and goes midway through June.