My Sweet Boy

Jack's growth is so subtle as he gets older, it's easy to miss if I'm not looking out for it. I was telling Tim today how sweet Jack was to me today, and I realized I should write it down so I can remember it :D We've been busy lately, there's tons more to write, but I'm too busy to write it, so this will have to suffice.

Today was getting ready for a road trip we're leaving on in a few hours (after hopefully a few hours' sleep...). It was stressful, as I was frazzled with a million things running through my head of needing to be done, and our normal routine off a little, and Jack feeling the excitement of getting ready to go. But I made time to play with the kids, and that helped me a ton (both directly, by relieving my stress and re-centering, and indirectly, by making my kids happier!). Jack was so helpful; he's excited for the trip and wants to contribute to it. (We're going to see Tim's grandparents and sister in Utah!)

We were grocery shopping for road snacks, hungry. Being hungry in the grocery store is dangerous enough, but I was also rushed and frazzled. We'll not mention how much I spent. I managed to be cheerful until just about the last few minutes; Jack, too, was hungry and frazzled, and he managed to be cheerful the whole time! I snapped at him a couple of times, and he did nothing more than make an angry face. Not even a growl escaped his lips. After we were done and the employee was bagging up all our food, I apologized to Jack for snapping at him, and he said "It's OK, Mommy, I love you." That really made my day!

Then, we went to the body shop to pick up our car and drop off the rental car (yes, with two kids and a trunk full of groceries!). I let Jack have a little package of crackers to eat while he and Lily played in the car, while I moved everything over. Every time I came back to our car to put things in it, Jack offered me the cracker package so I could get a bite. That was great :D

Not to mention just how generally sweet he was all day. He cuddled Lily and played with her, he was cheerfully done with his computer time (which is another thing I should mention, we're now limiting computer time to 2 hours a day, and he hasn't fussed a single bit about it yet!), and he was patient as he waited for me.

So, back to cleaning and packing. It's 11:15pm, we're hoping to get up at 3am and be on the road at 4. It's a 13-hour drive according to Google; if we stop for 15 minutes every hour, we'll get there at 9pm (there's an hour lost from here to there.) Either we won't stop that often, or we'll leave earlier, b/c I really want to get there before 9....