An amazing day

Padraic and I stayed home together today because we had ill-timed dentist appointments smack dab in the middle of the day. I worked a half day from home to keep from falling further behind (took yesterday off due to extremely not-nice stomach illness), but otherwise we got to do a lot of fun things together.

You wouldn't think a dentist appointment could be fun per se, but Padraic was a delight. First, we have the world's coolest dental office: a huge tropical fish aquarium in the lobby, all dentists and technicians wearing wireless earpieces to communicate with each other, and even heated massage chairs for the grownups to enjoy during procedures. Ahhhh. It's like a mini spa...well, sort of. I still had to get gunk scraped off my teeth. Yuck.

But Padraic had a great time with his first-ever checkup. They let him wear cool kids' sunglasses to keep the bright light and any splashing water out of his eyes. And they raised and lowered the chair several times so he could feel like he was on an amusement ride. I really had no idea how he'd react to someone poking around in his mouth, but he's a flirt, and she was cute, young, and blonde, so he had no problems. He just reclined in the super-cool chair with his super-cool sunglasses and let her work away with the Tickle Brush and Mr. Thirsty. Then he got to pick out toothpaste (Spongebob), a toothbrush (Cars), and two toys from their prize box. And being cavity free, he got entered into their prize drawing for a gift certificate to Toys R Us.

After the dentist I treated him to a Happy Meal, and since he couldn't decide on a cheeseburger or chicken McNuggets, I got two Happy Meals to let him choose when we got home. Um, he ate both. Thank goodness they now have those apple slices instead of fries! Meanwhile, I thought I was going to get to indulge in a McD's cheeseburger (one of my guilty pleasures), but he snarfed it down right before my eyes.

Then I had to work some more, including a conference call, so Padraic played in his room. After which he helped me run clothes to the consignment sale (bye bye 6-12mo clothes that neither of my growing boys will ever wear again) and got to play at the church's playground until Ken was ready to snag him on the way home from picking up Henry. I had to go straight to physical therapy. But that's another story for another time. Bah.

All in all, it was a fantastic day with my big boy. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to spend one-on-one time with Padraic since it's Henry who stays home with me Mon/Fri these days. Once Padraic has moved into the four-year-old room in Jan/Feb I plan to switch and send my little baby to day care fulltime and keep my preschooler home w/me. I'll miss Henry, but it's about self-preservation. If I can't get work done because I'm chasing a toddler, I could lose the privilege of working from home, and that would be bad for our family in many ways. So it's better to make the decision myself. It'll give Henry some great social time, and it'll give Padraic and me some more quality time together before he starts kindergarten.

Well, I'm beat, and tomorrow will be a crazy day. Henry's adorable, but you can't reason with him and he's got a stubborn streak as bad as my own. I need to go get my sleep cuz I'm going to need it!