Family Business

Several interesting things have happened with Eugene and Alex this week, but I've been so tired I haven't felt like blogging. So here's a quick recap:

We took Alex to a birthday party Sunday. It was at a place called Jumps and Jiggles. Alex has been there before, but not recently. This indoor playground features tunnels, slides, big blocks, and a carousel. The party was during prime nap time for toddlers; Alex fell asleep on the way over, but luckily he wasn't cranky when we woke him up. When we got inside, he found a small compartment with a steering wheel, and since he's into cars, he really enjoyed that. I finally got him away from there to eat, and he ate more pieces of cheese pizza (minus the crusts, which he gave to us) than I've ever seen him eat before. He was a little hesitant to ride the carousel at first, but once he did, he didn't want to leave. He even stayed on without me holding him! (He was wearing a safety strap, and I rode next to him, holding onto his shirt like the paranoid mother I am.) We finally lured him off with the promise of cake. He only had a couple of bites before it was back to the steering wheel. We left with a goody bag of candy, which he quickly figured out how to open. All the sugar couldn't keep him from resisting a late and much-needed nap.

I'm a whole four months older than Eugene. Yeah, I was a cougar before the term was even invented. :snort: Eugene always teases me that he gets to razz me first about my birthday. So this Monday, on his 39 1/2 birthday, I surprised him with a birthday card. I wanted to do more, but Alex got sick at daycare and had to go home early (and stay home on Tuesday). I gave Eugene a nice card; I'm not ready for the "Over the Hill" stuff yet!

Tonight was our date night. Instead of going out, we prepared a special meal from Dinner by Design: shrimp cocktail, bacon-wrapped filets, garlic mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Then we curled up and watched some Whose Line before picking up Alex. It was a quiet date night, but the important thing was spending some time together.

I have several writing topics I'd like to discuss, so hopefully I can post them next week. Stay tuned!