I feel like I did nothing all weekend but spend my money and tell my son to (1) eat and (2) stop whining. Seriously.

I did take a few bags of stuff over to the charity resale shop, which was very satisfying. Right now my wardrobe takes up less than half of my closet, and I still have things in there that I can�t stand to wear. It�s a bad, bad clothing situation right now.

This weekend I made J try on every pair of shorts and every t-shirt (which was SO BORING for him, as he reminded me many times) and I put aside all the too-small things for my nephew. I need to get him some new shoes and clothing for summer, but shopping with him makes me want to throw a tantrum so . . . I haven�t figured out how I will accomplish this. When I take this boy shopping he drapes himself over whatever happens to be around--a chair, a mannequin, the floor, what have you--and moans that this is SO BORING and he doesn�t like anything, and he�s thirsty, and don�t they have a drink of water in this place? So then I decide to take him someplace cool for lunch, and he turns into a neurotic mess: Where am I taking him? Have we been there before? What kind of food do they have? What does it taste like? What if he doesn�t like it?

Okay, have I ever taken him someplace awful? NO, I have not. Would I take him someplace that I have not checked out in advance? NO, I would not. I tell him that trying new things is GOOD and FUN, and he should consider how impoverished his life would be if he had never tried, for example, Thai food. My point is lost on him. He does not trust me. He has to see for himself. He can only relax when he sees ketchup bottles on the tables and the waiter gives him a balloon. Later he loses the balloon when he gets his arm stuck in a shopping cart, and I decide it�s really just time to go home and watch a movie.

I don�t know why I bother, when he doesn�t care what his clothes look like and he is perfectly happy to stay at home and eat cucumber slices and whole peeled carrots for lunch. From now on I�ll just pack up our lunch, take him across the street to the lakefront, and we�ll have a picnic instead. Then I can hear all about HOW BORING picnics are.

{ prev & next }