A Day With Diminutive One

Welllll....the last couple entries have been a little on the heavy side. So I'm going to try to lighten things up a little bit today.

How? Well, with mindless fluff of course!

You may remember that I was considering keeping Diminutive One home this week because the school was being unccoperative about allowing him to take the CRCT in alone in a quiet room. I went higher, twice placing calls to the county Superintendent, which were not returned. A friend told me dryly that "You don't want to talk to him anyway. He's a huge prick."

Well who needs that? So I kept him home.

I was a little concerned about how we were going to get on for an entire week alone the house together. I mean, we typically do alright as long as everything goes his way. But try to get him to eat a vegetable or change his underwear....

Anyway, I was worried.

But, as it turned out, he was so damned happy not to have to go to school, so relaxed, so free of anxiety, that he's really been very easy (relatively speaking) to deal with. And I suppose, it doesn't hurt that for the first time in his whole life (except for the time he had his tonsils out and then he was too sick to enjoy it) he has had my undivided attention.

It kind of breaks my heart, knowing that he has been so profoundly miserable. I went from being reticent about having home, to wishing I never had to send him back.

On Tuesday we went to Petsmart. We have three cats, (yes, three, it was an accident) and they go through quite a bit of food and litter. The Petsmart near us just opened, and I was happy to finally have a convenient place to buy those items in bulk. Diminutive One LOVES to go to the pet store, but typically it's one of many items on a lengthy to do list, and we only stay long enough to get what we need. He never gets to stay as long as he would like.

But that day, I let him linger.

He looked at every single thing in the store. He looked at rodents, reptiles, amphibians and fish. He spent quality time with the rescue animals. He watched a very morose Shihtzu get a haircut. He watched an even more morose Bichon get a manicure, complete with hot pink toenail polish. He helped me select a new drinking fountain for the cats. He helped me pick out treats, carefully selecting only those that were seafood flavored (a known favorite in our house).

He observed an elderly couple shopping with their Shihtzu, who was obviously obscenely pampered and well loved. The old man crooned to the trembling little dog almost constantly, as one would to a small,frightened child. Diminutive One remarked to me, "I bet that dog thinks it's a kid or something." I'm pretty sure if the dog didn't, it's owners did.

On our way out, he spied a "Cat Sitter" dvd, featuring all kinds of lower food chain wildlife such as rodents, birds, and butterflies. He was really jonesing for that dvd. I'd seen it on t.v. too, and thought it might be a lark (ha-ha), so we added it to the mountain of merchandise in our cart.

When we got home, he went straight to the DVD player and, after gathering the cats ceremoniously in front of the television, popped it in. They were monentarily intrigued by the loud chirps and twitters...three sets of ears pricked up in unison and they looked at one another questioningly. In unspoken agreement, they went in search of the source of the promising and delicious sounds. They did not return.

Not that we noticed. Because you see, Diminutive One and I were completely and totally mesmerized by the sounds and images. We both sat slack jawed and unmoving for the better part of 30 minutes.

Finally Diminutive One sat up with a jerk and said, "Where are the cats?"

I gave a start myself at the sound of his voice. "Ummmm, I don't know. They were here a minute ago."

We looked at each other sheepishly. Diminutive One rubbed his eyes, yawned, and then said, "I think I'm going to remarket that as an adult sitter DVD. It was riveting!"

Remarket. Riveting.

And they want to send this kid to summer school.

Puh. Leez.

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Also, a big thanks to the very sweet Jessica over at Oh, The Joys for nominating me for a Blogger's Choice award. I am a very small fish in a very big pond, so I have no illusions about actually winning anything. But it was nice to be acknowledged. Thanks Jess!