In which we Cherry and I spend the afternoon together

Yesterday, Blaise had to give a talk in Paris. Normally that would mean that he catches the train immediately after dropping the big kids off at school. Yesterday though, his talk was at 9:00, which meant that he wanted to catch an 8:00 train. Since the kids don't start school until 9, it didn't make much sense for him to take them to school, so I was stuck with that job.

We left the house shortly after 8:20, which is substantially earlier than they normally leave, but I wanted to make sure that I had time to walk them to school and get back to drop Cherry off by 9. I also wanted to make sure that I could do this without resorting to putting Cherry in the Ergo, which I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't result in her insisting that she needed to ride in in for the next 2 weeks. By 8:40 we had dropped off the big kids, and were headed back toward Cherry's school.

"I don't want to go to school today."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Umm, my head hurts?"

"Oh dear. Can you show me where your head hurts?" Maybe she's actually coming down with something, though she did run the entire way to drop off Sapphire and Ezio.

She points to the tip of her nose, looks at my face, decides that perhaps that's not the right answer, and points to her cheek, then her eyebrow on the other side. Somehow, I'm not buying it.

"Sapphire and Ezio got to have special time with you a couple of weeks ago (her standard for anything longer than an hour or so) and I never get to have special time with you." (Their school was on strike last Thursday. Her class met, so I sent her anyway, but hardly any kids were there.)

"You go to school this morning, and we'll have special time this afternoon. I'll give you some ice cream."

"I. Don't. Want. To. Go. To. School."

"If you don't go to school I'm going to be very grumpy because I won't be able to finish my jobs. I can't have special time with you in the morning anyway."

"I. Don't. Want. To. Go. To. School."

I dropped her off, sobbing, just before 9, and left, feeling horribly guilty.

I went home and broke my bread, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. Hold it, no I didn't. That was Madeline. I went home and made the beds, swept the floors, and washed dishes instead. And did a bunch of other housework.

By the time I picked Cherry up at noon, the house was cleanish, and she was smiling. She proudly showed me that she could now zip her coat up all by herself, at least so long as Mommy is patient. We had leftover ravioli for lunch, followed by slices of ice cream Christmas cake (50% off at the Auchan). Next, to find out what she wanted to do. Did she want to do something inside, or outside? Inside. Did she want to do something at home, or not at home? At home. Did she want to do something cuddly or not cuddly? Not cuddly. Did she want to make something? No. So, I needed something inside that was not cuddly or making something and that was not too noisy.

What if we took turns hiding something, or set of things, and then the other person had to find them? It sounded good to her, so I grabbed the spatulas, sent her into the bathroom, and hid them. She searched and found, then sent me into the bathroom so that she could hide them. (Why the bathroom? There aren't really any workable hiding places in there, and it eliminates peaking.) After a few more rounds, Cherry was beginning to get loud, so I suggested we bring the spatulas outside and play the game on the playground, where she could (as she reminded me) be as loud as she wanted to be. I discovered that Cherry is quite good at finding creative hiding places, and quite bad at keeping still long enough to let me discover them.

Next, I sat on the floor by the bathroom and read to her while she pooped. (On the list of habits she has, this has got to be among my least favorites. Promising to read to her as soon as she's done doesn't work. Neither does being too busy--she'll hold it.) And we played that she was the little kid and I was the mommy. (Talk about fiction imitating life.) Then I suggested that if we went to the store right now, we would have time to play on the train playground for 30 minutes or so before we went to pick up Sapphire and Ezio. (It's about midway between our house and their school.)

Off we went to pick up a few things for dinner (sausage and potatoes, not much cooking happens when Blaise's out for dinner) and a liter of milk. Cherry voted for returning the shopping cart on the top of the building, so we went up the ramp, and then had to search for a way down. Of course, one can always go out the car exit, but it's narrow and full of blind corners, thus a bit nerve-wracking. We found a set of steps over on the edge of the parking deck, but they only led to a fire door halfway down. The next set of steps were dark and gloomy (and smelly) and I ended up having to carry Cherry down them, but they did in fact offer a way off the top of the building. Then on to the train playground where we spent 25 minutes hopping among various swing sets, the slide, the train, and the bouncy thingies (which probably have a name. Those turtles and rabbits on the giant springs that wobble around when you bounce on them.)

We picked up Sapphire and Ezio, and Cherry had to show them how she could zip her coat all by herself. And tell them that she had ice cream, which of course led to hurt feelings. (They got some after dinner, by which point Cherry was fast asleep in her bed.)