"Can We Get Away This Weekend? Take Me to Broadway"

I have come to the conclusion that if this room used to be anything...it was a laundry room. It's a tiled floor when therest are hardwood, the shelving would fit perfect over a washer and dryer, and the would be good for air-drying. Granted, whoever bought this house would sooner die than have the laundry on the same floor as the rooms, I like it better than the closet prospect. I thought of this because I just told A I need to learn how to use the machines soon... "But I don't know how to use them either. You'll have to watch the people do it. I'll tell them and they can show you." "But how can they tell me what to use for delicates and things like that." "Ok, I'll go with you...we'll do it together." Who knows when that will be. The kids are off school next week so I'm really running out of time. Yesterday was pretty good. I mean, still tough but okay I guess. When E came home he had apparently just found out his play date was cancelled and was pretty angry. "What's wrong?" "Anything!" "You mean 'nothing'?" "Nothing!" "Well, why don't you tell me about it so we can try to fix it." "Nothing!" and hits me. I held his arm..."We do not hit and we do not scream. I can't help you if you don't talk to me." Thankfully, Df came down and told me the problem. So after I talked to him a bit I left him there to mope and he soon shook it off and came upstairs. "Clake lin...I want to play soccer." Then I put my plan into action. "Hmmm I think we could do that" he smiled. "But you want to hear the deal?" "Yes" "We'll put on your jacket and hat..." "yes" "Go play soccer outside for a while" "Yes." "But only if we come right back in and try on all your ski clothes." "Ok!" "Come look at how big the pile is so you know what to expect" So as we started our game outside I said, "So what are we gonna do after this?" "Put on ski clothes!" And I did that three more times before we went in. He went in fairly willingly then joked like he wouldn't try them on. "Don't you even try that with me!" He cracked up and threw himself at me in a huge hug and kiss and sat on my lap...I'm telling you, this kid is like Jekyl and Hyde. I made it seem very exciting when something fit so in turn, he got very excited too and it went very fast. Praise the Lord, I had been dreading that all day. Meanwhile, Df spiked a fever again so I was running around like a crazy person when A got home, giving Df her medicine and finishing up clothes with E. I went over everything with her and she pointed to the "Already Fits" pile she had made last night. "What about these? Do they fit?""We didn't try those on." "Why?""Because you didn't put them in the 'Try On' pile, I was just following directions. You'll have to be more specific next time!" I laughed and made it a joke and she laughed too but I was hoping she could deduct from this that I am not a mind reader and she'll need to be clear about what she wants. We all ate dinner together...playing Estelle's "American Boy" (the lyrics in the subject line) the whole time...they love that song! Then A went over some stuff about the phone with me and I asked if it would be possible to see my aunt when we stopped in Germany on our way to Austria. It turns out we won't even be there a whole day. D offered for her to come if she wants to see me at the airport while we get sorted out but I knew that would be a hassle and I could tell A didn't like that idea. Besides, I think right now it would be too hard for me to see her for only a second. I need some quality time. Getting E to bed was an issue. First he wouldn't put on his PJs, then his teeth, and A never offered to help so I didn't know what to do. So I went to his closet where he was and told him we needed to put on his PJs and he immediately started freaking out. "No! I don't want to!" "I know you don't want to but you need to" so he started yelling and swinging again so I grabbed his arms. Then he runs to everyone and tells them I grabbed him! The worst part was, that was just my guess because all I could hear was my name, a bunch of Turkish, and him pointing under his arm. I HATE that! There's no way for me to defend myself because I don't know what he's saying! So then he goes and tells A and she says, "he keeps going on about it, what happened?" and I was relieved because I could tell by her tone I wasn't in trouble. So I told her and I said I took his arms because he had hit me earlier today and it seems to be his first response lately. D, silent until now, whipped around “You hit her?!” followed by lots of angry Turkish. So A talked to E then to me and said, “he says he wasn’t planning on hitting on you.” My face said “Yeah, this time.” Only because I was afraid to say it out loud. So she explained to him, “Caitlin only touched your arms because she was afraid you were going to hit her again, she would never want to hurt you” “Of course not.” I was so fed up at this point I just let someone else worry with him and that was that. After the kids were in bed, A made me help her with her new Facebook. For some reason, it made me really happy to see how excited she was to talk to old friends from college. “I miss them so much, they were such good friends.” “I can imagine, I’ve only been here a week and a half and I miss my friends terribly. I can only imagine ten years!” “So I guess you don’t have a boyfriend?” The third personal question she has asked me since being here (1 being “Do you have any siblings” and 2 being “how are things at home”) neither of which she ever waited for me to finish and this time was no different. She started chatting with her friend who was watching the inauguration so I asked if we could do to. D said yes I turned on the TV. “Where is it?” “It’s Washington DC…” “No, what channel?” And we turned just in time to see some lady giving Michelle some speech. D sighed, “When they speak, they all sound like they are speaking with grease. Do you know what I mean?” “Yes, it sounds very rehearsed.” “I think they all have brown tongues.” Hearing his take on American politics was probably my favorite part of the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t even make it to the parade because A decided she needed to work, “I’m turning this off.” “Oh, ok.” So that was that.