Word to Yo Mutha*

What I got from Garion for Mother's Day: a stuffed animal (from his collection), three pages of photos from his preschool memory book (need to sneak those back in before we lose them) and a beautiful necklace (pictured at left) that he made by drilling a hole through an enormous silver (plastic) coin and stringing it on a chain that I think he "found" in my jewelry box. On seeing this necklace, my brother remarked "oooh, Kerry, you got some bling!" 'Sright, bro.

Such was the craziness of the Mother's Day weekend, that I am just now, slightly, recovered enough to talk about it. My sister-in-law graduated with a doctorate in Physical Therapy on Friday so we went her way Friday afternoon to see if she could fix my sore foot. And to party a little. And to get talked into signing up for the Imogene Pass Run by her mom. (Note to self, need to avoid Nancy for approximately 30 days before June 1st if you are going to "forget" to sign up for Imogene).
We started Saturday by going out for breakfast with my dad who was in town for graduation. At breakfast, Garion asked Moses what a sinus headache is. Moses explained, complete with a quick consult of google (via phone) for a picture of a sinus cavity, to which Garion responded "you're giving me a headache" complete with eye rolling and head rubbing. The rest of Saturday was a whirl of cleanthehousegogroceryshoppinggetreadyformother'sdaydothelaundrychaos. I decided however, that since it was Mother's Day weekend I should not have to spend all of Saturday cleaning and that I would treat myself to a mani/pedi. Which is impossible to book at the last second on graduation weekend in a small town. So I decided to do it myself. And Garion thought it was a good idea, so we did him too. And Harley was not about to miss out on the action, so he laid down under my feet. Which is to say, that my mani/pedi did not go down quite as I had envisioned. But it was a beautiful afternoon for hanging out on the back porch and Garion sat and chatted my ear off for an entire hour while soaking his feet and waiting for his toenail polish to dry (clear on his fingers and pink and purple on his toes). Sunday we went down to my mom's house to celebrate and eat and take the canoe on its inaugural 2010 voyage. It was so windy that I think we spotted Dorothy and Toto and I'm certain I worked off most of the cheesecake I consumed that day just by paddling. At least, that is the story I am telling myself. Garion was less than enthused about the canoe (he remembers a certain windy day last summer when the canoe capsized) and pretty much informed Moses and me that he was done with us, he would like new parents now please, and why would we not just LET HIM OUT OF THE [explative implied but not used because this is from a 7-yr-old] CANOE? Because, it is Mother's Day and I want to go in the canoe, so dang it that is what we are going to do even if we all die from the misery of it. Garion also brought out the classic "why is there Mother's Day and Father's Day but no kid's day?" And did I say it? Oh, you bet I did: "because everyday is kid's day."

*This post was originally title "''Sup Homey?" My friend Stacy suggested that it should be titled "Word to Yo Mutha," and she is totally right.

The Apple did not Fall Far from that Tree

Garion came home today determined to make Nerf guns for himself and his best friend. Out of cardboard. And scotch tape. I acquiesced, or rather, willfully ignored this endeavor because I still had about and hour of work left to do and I figured the Sisyphean task of building Nerf guns from cardboard would keep him busy for awhile. Garion was still at it while I was making dinner a couple of hours later. This was a project of epic proportions. And epic use of scotch tape.
All of the sudden, he came in the kitchen with big huge crocodile tears of frustration rolling down his face: "It's not going to work! All this [big sweeping hand gesture] and it's not going to work! It's not going to ever work!!!" And I did not tell him that I had no expectation of this idea ever working because I am a good mother. Or, today at least, I am a good mother. I gave him a hug and we talked about how sometimes things don't always come out the way you thing they're going to and he cried some more while not paying any attention whatsoever to my very good life advice. And then he stopped. Broke away from me and stormed out the front door without a word. Being the good mother that I am today, I resisted the urge to follow and make sure he wasn't hoofing it to the border in search of a better life with his dog, his gameboy and whatever bit of stickiness was in his pocket. Five minutes later he came back in with some black tubing he managed to scrounge up in the garage: "This will work much better!!!"
And this is just so like his dad it kills me. His dad who embarks on epic projects, spends the whole time cursing in frustration, frequently comes in half way through and says "It's not going to work, it's never going work," goes back out, and ta-da! makes it work. And then, ahem....leaves a huge mess.