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I took my little boy clothes shopping with me yesterday. He was a little angel as long as I let him pick some of the clothes and wear my glasses :)
He told me I was beautiful, unprompted.
I bought a pair of jeans, I haven't worn jeans in many, many years. I still need to go shopping for work clothes but I got a few things for the summer. I hope nothing gets too small in the wash.
It is too soon to say I joined but I attended a Weight Watchers meeting yesterday morning.
We had a great weekend this last one. Took E to play video games at an arcade and visited with my grandparents. It has been so many weekends with Scott working that I have forgotten how nice it is to have him around.
The other night we cleaned E's room. I honestly don't know the last time we cleaned it up. It had been a few weeks. The desktop just kept piling up with books, stuff animals finding their way under the bed, games here and there. I have such a hard time keeping his room up for some reason. I try not to hang out in there too much because I get overwhelmed by all the crappy toys that I want to get rid of. In any event we cleaned the room, went to the living room to play Chutes and Ladders. When the game was over I explained it was bed time.
Elijah was upset. He wanted to watch a cartoon or have a book read to him. I tried to explain to him that he chose the game time over another bed time activity. He went off to bed, unhappily. Within minutes he was out of his room telling me he needed me to help him
sleep. I kept telling him good night and sending him back to bed. Routines continue. He was using the really pathetic, theatrical crying to lure me in. The crying and arguments were quite intense. I couldn't decide if I should do something to calm him down or keep to my guns because this was quickly becoming something other than run of the mill. My patience was hugely over exhausted. Then he changes his argument. He doesn't want to sleep in his room when it is "real good" (really clean). He said his room was scary now because it wasn't the same. Then he started saying didn't like his room and that he liked my bed. He asked if he could sleep in my bed and I told him no. I
had decided I was going to give it one more try with words before I went in there and tried to comfort him. I gave him a big hug, told him he was a big brave boy, that he had Batman and his Spiderman pillow to snuggle with and that there wasn't anything in his room that I
would get him. He calmed down, said ok and went to his room. He was quiet within minutes. I sat satisfied on the couch that I hadn't given in, had used words to calm him down and build him up. I stayed in the living room watching TV until bed time. I walked into my room
and turned on my light to find Elijah in my bed. I don't know if he had snuck in there at some point or if I said something that made him think he could sleep in there. Tonight a story has kept him firmly in his own bed.
I watched a show tonight on prison romances. The fan clubs of Richard Ramirez, Scott Peterson, Ted Bundy, other assorted murders and rapists. One woman is engaged to an inmate on death row. Very bizarre. Apparently Danielle Steele, the author, was married twice to ex-conficts, met while still behind bars.
Scott has a friend in prison, in Florida, serving life without parole. He used to talk to him on the phone a time or two a month. We had a problem with our phone and now he cannot get through. Works out for the best now since Scott doesn't spend much time at my house. Now it is mostly a one way street pen pal relationship. C writes, Scott reads, sends stamps ocassionally. I ocassionally drop C a line to let
him know Scott is alive. It is always a bit awkward, what does one say? My sisters have had several friends serving time. I imagine that must be bit different because they will be out relatively soon.
Nicole, I couldn't help but think of you last night as I sat up watching Independent Lens. The movie tonight was called the Lion's Trail (Tail?). It was about the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Apparently it is a song by a Zulu man, first recorded in 1939. The song is called Mbube. Solomon Linda is the man. The movie was about the song's evolution from Africa, to Pete Seeger, to the Tokens. In the 60's it was given lyrics and topped the charts. Some British reporter is trying to get royalties to Solomon's daughters. The man who wrote the 10 lyrics gets the majority of the money, of course. Shines a new light on the song.