'side!

Florida and the beautiful spring weather seem to have broken Harrison of his TV addiction. Now instead of whimpering "Ernie....", hurling himself at the television, and blindly pushing every button on the DVD player, he gets out his shoes, plasters himself to the screen door glass like a pup, and demands, "Side!" [outside]. And regardless of the state of dinner preparation, I am usually more than happy to oblige because the alternative is boredom, and you should know that boredom transforms Harrison from a darling into a tantrum-ridden monster with fangs and stompy feet, and results in me wanting to check myself into a mental institution.

His usual outdoor itinerary:

• roll trike and wagon to top of porch stairs
• say "Mama! Bike!" to demand that Mama set them on pavement
• put sidewalk chalk container in wagon
• push wagon to end of driveway
• kick wagon down incline at end of driveway
• giggle
• point at wagon and yell "Mama!" to demand that Mama bring wagon back up incline
• repeat
• retrieve trike from backyard
• wheel trike to end of driveway
• kick trike down incline at end of driveway
• giggle
• point at trike and yell "Mama!" to demand that Mama bring wagon back up incline
• repeat
• sit on walk
• pat walk and yell "Mama sit!"
• scribble with sidewalk chalk
• hand Mama chalk, point at ground, and yell "Mama!" to demand that Mama draw for amusement
• scour sky for "erbines" [airplanes] and cry "erbine! erbine!" if successful
• scour sky for moon and shout "moon! moon!" if successful
• stomp around front porch, terrorizing resident brooding morning dove
• make move to pick Mama's flowers
• say to self under breath "No. Flow-woos. No!"
• back away
• succumb to Dark Side
• pick flowers
• get threatened with time out if more flowers are picked

There are also many, many trips to the neighborhood playground, much playing with the next-door neighbor kids, and much running away from another neighbor's two-year old girl, who always seems to be either trying to kiss him, steal his milk, or eat his chalk.

Hooray for spring!