Midnights- 6 Weeks to go...

My husband started midnights last night. He'll get two days off a week for the next six weeks. He picked Thursday and Friday. A, it makes child care cheaper, and B it means he will be home and possibly coherent for Thanksgiving. For me it means I will have to find places to shuttle the kids on the weekend so he can sleep sans rambunctious voices.

Today was round one of getting the future pilot out of the house. I had an agenda that could not be changed. I had nursery duty at church. I don't like to trick my kids but my pilot is the home body sort and given the choice he'll stay home with Daddy on Sundays. It's a major event to get him to church. I don't believe in beating my kids into Jesus' or He into them. Sometimes though I gotta be there and he has to come.

I got him showered. Major feat--he fears cleanliness. I got him in the car to "go for a ride". I know. I wasn't exactly truthful. Hey, I didn't lie. We DID "ride". Thankfully we had a time change so we were ready way ahead of time. So we headed down the road.
I asked him where we should go on our ride. Would you believe he wanted to go here?
No really. I didn't coerce him. HE wanted coffee. Me? I had the Vivanno. With Matcha. Hey, I needed to prepare for the possibility of baby duty!

So off we went. To Starbucks. People. It was decaf. It was kid temp. It was tall--which means small. If you've ever had a White Mocha with whip you know that it's more sweet that pow. I also poured most of it in his sippy cup for AFTER church. I'm not an unkind parent. I do know that teachers don't need children who are hopped up on sugar.

After we left Starbucks we had time left still. So we went to his favorite place in the world. The airport. God blessed us with not one but TWO take offs!

All from the comfort of our car while the future pilot sipped on his delectably warm beverage.
I used this time to explain to him that Mommy had to be in nursery and asked him for suggestions on what to do with him. We discussed it and he decided he should go talk to his fellow class mates about airplanes. Thank you God that this went well. We got to church and he announced he was hungry. We were there in time to go to the fellowship hall where he was able to pick out a small donut and some grapes. He sat in the nursery with me while he ate them acting very grown up. My main concern was bathroom breaks. I haven't mentioned it yet--I should have since it's so astounding to me, but the future pilot is potty trained now! He made the decision on his own and he's been great. Fabulous. I wasn't sure how he'd do in the company of strangers but he was dry when I picked him up I was ecstatic. Oh and he had a great time there. Me? We didn't have any babies. They've all graduated to the toddler class so I got to go hear the sermon. I needed that.

We had lunch at the airport. Not really the airport mind you. The restaurant near it. His favorite pizza joint. There were no cheese container licking incidents this time. He did belch really loud about four times though. THAT I do NOT know how to stop. He gets it from his father I'm sure.

Two potty breaks and some pizza crust later we were out the door. Just in time to see two more take offs!
It was a beautiful ride home. A good mommy/son day. One that I will be relishing for days. Oh and the scenery. God ROCKS!