Day 88, 89, 90 and 91

Made it through two weeks ago better than I expected :-) There is so much I want to get done at work, I have so many ideas...if only I had more time! I just got asked to take on a pretty major project at work, and I don't feel i can say no. It's so hard to tell what is scope creep on my 60%, and what is just normal work life that everyone struggles to balance. Anyway, it's an interesting one, so I want to do it, I just need to figure out how to fit it in.

In the meantime, Zak has become quite a character. He's become a freak over "Cars the movie cars" as he calls them, to the point of obsession. He started throwing a little fit when we needed to leave the rec center. I told him that was the kind of behavior Tato and I don't like to see, and the type that keeps him from getting new cars. He quickly said he was sorry. I told him "Thanks for the apology, but it still won't get you a new car, at least not today." He said "I told you I was sorry to get a new car!" Inside I was laughing...at least he was honest.

Kuba and I have been trying to figure out the right approach to teaching him about consequences and the value of money too. I'm not sure how I feel about paying him to do chores that he already should be doing. We started a "star" system, which seems to be working well. He needs to get 10 stars in order to get a car....and he can get stars in various ways. If he helps with laundry, the dishes, etc. Sometimes he neogitates for more stars. For example, I told him I'd give him a star if he at least "tried" our salmon...he thought for a minute, and said "how about two stars?" I thought it was a pretty good start into the realm of negotiation, so agreed. But in the end, he decided trying the salmon wasn't worth even two stars. :-) He also beat me at a game of "Snakes"...and suggested that was worth a star. Made me laugh, but not enough to dole out another star :-)

We went to visit Kuba for lunch on Friday, went down to the Montgomery Inn Boathouse to see the river. It was a beautiful day, so we walked outside for a bit. Zak all of a sudden yelled out, "Hey look! It's Sally!" as he was pointing to a very nice looking Porsche in the parking lot. I wonder what the owner would think to have their car associated with the Disney character :-) Interestingly, he can pick a porsche out anywhere now...as Sally.

And now another week has gone by, and I had a bit of a break down at work last week. I had to give up half a day last week for some all day meetings, plus an evening for a business dinner. Those all day meetings usually get me down a bit...just the stress of trying to keep up without letting it consume you. I woke up at 4 most days and started working a bit. Another week gone by without a tennis practice...no wonder I'm losing my matches :-(

But Friday was all Zak, and that helped. I'm still stressed going into tomorrow, I have so much to catch up on, but having the time with the family really helped. Friday was beautiful, so we went up to the park for 2 hours in the morning. We came back, and I turned on some music and started dancing. Zak at first told me "Mommy, stop! Don't dance!" Why does no one in my family realize my artistic talents? Anyway, I told him I was either dancing without him, or with him...so he got up and start dancing, in a very particular and interesting way. He insisted that I follow him around the house, which I did. After 15 minutes I was pooped, but he told me to keep going. Looks like he's a boy of extremes :-)

We went to meet my friend Melanie for lunch. My brother bought us a tandem bike for Zak for Christmas. We've tried it a few times in the driveway, so I was ready to bike up to meet her, but it started looking more and more like rain...maybe next time. I can't wait to go biking with Zak on it :-) After lunch, it still wasn't raining, so I put on my roller blades, and Zak took his scooter and we rolled around the neighborhood. Around 4 it started to rain, so we finally came inside. It was a great day after a stressful week.

I have to tell these last two stories, even if it happened on the weekend, so not really part of my part time adventure...we started a home improvement project this week, a pretty major one. Zak has really shown how much he's grown. He really can help now. We gave him the vacuum cleaner, and he kept things clean as we were tearing down dry wall and such. He helped carry out lumber, took out trash, etc. etc. From time to time, he'd tell me, "Ok Mommy. I'm done helping you, now I'm going to help Tato. Let me go get my tools." He'd come running back with his drill, hammer, and level. The last time tonight, he said "Ok Tato, what can I do?" Kuba said "Hold on, I need to think, I'm not sure what we have to do right now." Zak said "I know. Look at this edge right here? It needs to come off. Here, I'll work on this, you hand me some nails, ok?" Kuba was very surprised.

Tonight I came into my room, and there was a big mess! Zak has this "magnet mosaic" game...600 magnets of different colors that you can put on different patterns to make some mosaics. Zak had thrown all of them on my bedroom floor! I called Zak in, and asked what happened. He said "I was cross." I asked why? He said "I was really mad about dinner." I recalled back that he had wanted what he calls "Toast Waffles" for dinner (cinnamon waffles, in the shape of cinnamon toast.) He had already had a toast waffle for breakfast, so I told him I'd make him a regular waffle or he could eat what we were eating (the "toast waffles" have more sugar in them). He shouted that he didn't like "circle" waffles, and didn't want what we were eating. I ignored him, and prepared his plate. He ran off, but when he came back, he took his plate and asked if we could eat on the patio...which we did. I remember thinking it was great that he started throwing a fit, but then came around. I guess I know now how he let off his steam. So then he started cleaning them all up, and said "But I'm happy now." Is this normal?

Anyway, a great weekend, after a tough couple of weeks. Tomorrow's first meeting, 6am :-) So now I'm headed to bed.