Afternoon Adventures

I think the weeks are getting longer and longer. Is that possible? Because I really think thats happening.

Yesterday, despite being Wednesday, lasted for several days. Oh, it started out OK. As OK as Wednesdays get what with the whole get everyone up a little extra early because two of the schools have morning meeting at 8:30. Coincidentally 8:30 is also the time at which I drop off Laurel and Griffin. Its all very convenient and easy to schedule and packing 4 lunches is never a problem. I just breeze through the mornings.

I breezed on through the lunch packing and breakfast screaming ( "NO! Thats my bowl! " " I need more Cheerios...NO! AHHH I want Daddy to do it!" " No, not that bowl! Thats not my bowl! I don't like that bowl! He is kicking me! He made me spill! ").

I got the kids to school. I attended one of the morning meetings. I put gas in the car and ran 57 errands. I came home and vacuumed and folded laundry. I divided the laundry by child and placed it in neat piles over the entire sofa. I picked up 2 out of 4 children.

I decided after homework was completed that I'd take the two of four children out to buy a birthday present for the remaining two children. The boys sat down to do their work. They needed snacks. They needed to go to the bathroom. Apparently they also needed to clog the toilet.

So I plunged. That should work, right? No, of course it wouldn't.

Vile. Vile. Vile.

The toilet overflowed. I gagged and plunged to no avail. I really did gag. Oliver thinks gagging is barfing. So he started giggling and saying " Oh no! Mommy is sick!"

No, honey. I'm not sick. Just grossed out.

I failed. I could not plunge the toilet. I started cleaning up the disgusting floor. I had a large garbage bag and gloves and cleaning supplies and someone started ringing the bell and knocking. Oh, of course someone would come to the door now.

But the most amazing thing happened. It was the plumber! Seriously. He had come with the part for our sink. He arrived when I had a broken toilet. Of course if I lived somewhere other than California this may not seem quite so random. One might assume that well, she had an appointment with the plumber, of course he came. So whats the surprise? I would have thought that too, before I lived in California.

But see my plumber is awesome. He comes when I need him. Always. If I have a non emergency he doesn't come right away. If something bad happens he comes right away.

Here is the system: I call and leave a message stating my problem. He shows up at some non specific time when he happens to be near by. Really. This is how it works. Sometimes I arrive at home with a carload of children and there he is in my driveway. He greets me with a big friendly smile.

I've had a leaky sink for a while. He was in my driveway last week when we got back from swim practice, but he didn't have the right part. Apparently he'd stopped by several times since but I hadn't been home. Had I known when he thought he might be coming by I might have been able to be here, but whatever. I'd much rather have someone nice and friendly who consistently does great work and has an intuitive scheduling system than pay exorbitant prices for a large company to do a bad job.

The point of all of that is to say that it was a surprise, a very, very welcome surprise, to have the plumber show up just as my children had clogged a toilet!

Within 10 minutes the toilet was fixed, the sink was fixed, and homework was completed. We were ready for our birthday present buying adventure.

Or so I thought.

We went to the first store. Oliver walked inside and announced " I want to go outside."
No, we are looking for birthday presents, remember?

" I want to go outside. All done with this store. Time to go to a new different store".

Oh great.

Two minutes later we were in a different store. One second later:
" All done. Time to go to a new different store".

Remember? We are looking for presents for your brother and sister.

" NO! No presents! I want to go outside! All done! I'm HUNGRY! I want FOOOOOOD".

OK, next store. This one has a train table, maybe that will help.

Nope, I was being pulled and yanked. This was not the present buying adventure I'd anticipated.

Next stop: book store. Oliver likes books. He made himself a stack of books and wanted to leave with them.
No, we are going to look around.
"No! I don't want to look around! I need to go outside! I am hungry! I'm all done! I want to go home!"
Somehow I managed to convince him to sit next to Holden and read so I could look around for 3 seconds. I gathered up a few books in a somewhat panicked state. There was a 6 year old time bomb about to go off and I knew it.

Waiting in lines is not our forte so even though there was only a few people ahead of us in line we had our challenges. Oliver pulled and yanked and fell dramatically to the floor. I pretended not to notice. Oliver yelled that he needed to go outside and ran to the door.
"Oliver!" I reprimanded sharply, apparently startling a few people in the process. He giggled.
" Get back in this line NOW."
I half expected some of the patrons to follow my direction as well and was vaguely disappointed when Oliver was the only one who listened.
We made our purchases and headed out the door.

" We have to go get Griffin and Laurel now," I said.

" No! I'm hungry! I don't want to get Griffin and Laurel."
Just as Oliver made his final announcement we passed by this beautiful little gourmet cupcake store.

Lets go in here!

I don't know what I was thinking. More lines, people, choices, waiting. Oliver wanted a chocolate cupcake. NOW. Holden carefully considered his options. Since we were in a gourmet cupcake place he opted for a cookie. The woman gave Holden his cookie in a bag. She handed Oliver his cupcake on a napkin. Oliver wanted a bag, like Holden. The cupcake will get wrecked in a bag, I explained.

"BAG!" Yelled Oliver.

Another employee offered a single cupcake box. Oliver was kind of OK with the box option. But it needed to be closed. Then he needed to leave. Immediately. The breaking point was very close. Holden took him outside to sit at a table. In the cold. In the wind. I paid and then joined them. The box was instantly discarded. He finished the cupcake faster than Holden could eat his cookie.

We went to pick up Laurel and Griffin then went home and I began to think about what to make for dinner.

" Mommy?"

Yes, Oliver?

"Mommy,I had fun at the store."