Sunday, May 18, 2008

Working for the Weekend

Mactroll, X-man and I had a superb weekend. 

Friday kicked off with a baseball game. It's not that we're huge Illini fans (we're not at all), but I do appreciate going to sporting events and watching the games regardless of who is playing, and X-man has been showing some interest in sports. 

The whole way to the game he kept saying, "bazz-ball." It was a long walk with me carrying him from the parking lot at Assembly Hall to the Stadium (would have been fine if he would have walked) but I think he was a little apprehensive being in a new place. Plus, MacTroll was on his iPhone doing whatever it is he does when he is able to save the technical world from home the whole way, so I was on my own. 

Libbygirl and Lightning McColin had beaten us there, but had chosen awesome seats on the third base line right behind home plate. So we could see each of the Illini players come out of the dugout and warm up before they went to bat.

X-man LOVED the music. And out of every "batter theme song" he apparently was most happy to hear Ludacris.

There were pretzels, a very messy hot dog, popcorn, drinks and good friends. All the stuff that baseball should be made of. Plus, families were free on Friday! Woot. I think we'll see about scheduling another game like that next year.

Then on Saturday, we got up and went to check out the garden. X-man got to watch his friend The Boy and his Mom, Fearless Freak, do some Tae Kwon Do at Meadowbrook. We also discovered the CARE garden is actually growing something besides weeds. Hooray for beans, basil, sweet corn, sunflowers and peppers. 

After nap, we went to Prairie Fields park and met new friends Susan and Haley, who were having a good time going up and down the play equipment and chatting about the Wiggles, big girl beds, tantrums, adapting toddler scheduling, etc. 

That evening while MacTroll went off with Radioactive Freak and friends to see the movie Iron Man. I stayed home with X-man and we watched Cars. Then he got carried up to bed at 7:20 p.m. and was completely asleep by 7:40 p.m. It was a nice quiet, early to bed night.

Today we slept in until 7 a.m. We went grocery shopping, looked around Target for a replacement patio table and went home to play in the sandbox. I went out on the hunt for a table during nap and found one at the Ace Hardware at Windsor at the Crossing. I tried Wal-mart first, since Target had been a bust that morning, but apparently normal people have large 6-10 person tables outside. I don't have that kind of room on my patio. I have room for a four person circular table... and it can't be glass. Why you ask? Because once upon a time Rogers' poor glass patio table got lifted up in a strong Savoy gust and was thrown into my fence at the old house. MacTroll and I only had to replace a 74 cent piece of wood in the fence. Rogers had to buy a whole new table and pick shattered glass out of her lawn for a long time. 

I settled on black metal with holes in it to let the wind pass through. And, of course, now MacTroll and I are thinking, "Maybe our four okay chairs could be replaced with four new nice chairs..." Sigh. I hate money. 

Anyway, we washed my car today, and X-man's car. We took a walk around the duck pond. We had grilled Italian sausage with bell peppers and onions and tomatoes on top of whole wheat penne for supper. And X-man got his bath and I curled up in my bed. 

Productive, filled with group family time and I'm happy to report absolutely no Hellish tantrums. An occasional normal protest. But no hitting or screaming or biting. Hooray!

No comments: