One More Sleep

I think it was Grammy that taught my kids to count down anticipated occasions by counting the number of "sleeps" left. As in, "only 5 more sleeps 'til Christmas." I choose Christmas as an example because the last time we were here in our mountain house it was over Christmas break, so Juan Carlos (3 yrs old) will not stop asking me when Santa is coming.

Ummm, that would be 164 sleeps.

One more sleep until I am no longer a traveling single-mother. We meet up with Guapo tomorrow night, thank goodness.

I don't know how people do it. My kids make me batty when Guapo's not around. Well, I get batty when he is around, but it usually happens later in the day. It's so much better when I have back-up and can share the bad-guyness with Guapo. I'm don't seem like such a meanie when I won't let Julio light matches or Julio drop things in the potty because Guapo is right there backing me up.

It finally dawned on me last night that hiking is the perfect activity for my boys. They ran around and screamed and hit dead tree trunks with their "swords". No one was giving me that, "control your kids" look. I could just relax!



It's not just for discipline issues that I want Guapo here. Although they make me batty, my kids are great kids. They do cute things. The things are so much cuter when Guapo can enjoy their cuteness with me. Like yesterday, my mom bought Julio (5 yrs old) a Superman costume. The kid wore it all.day.long. We went shopping, to the park, out to eat, and yes, he went as Superman.



And, most of all, I just love Guapo and being with him.

Along with the end of my single-parentness is coming the end of my shopping extravaganza. It's much harder to spend the big bucks under Guapo's hawkish eye.

So, today while my big kids were in summer camp, Juan Carlos and I headed for the nearby outlet malls. I think Guapo coached him on the phone last night because he all of a sudden figured out if he told me he had to go to the bathroom we had to evacuated the store. He did this three times. After the first false alarm, I was on to his little plan. I would try to hold him off for a while, but he would tell me so loudly, over and over, that the sales people would look at me like I was abusing him.

Only once did he actually have to use the facilities (and it was just a little bit at that). The other times he changed his mind and told me he just wanted to see the fishermen (there was a river running through the mall).

The kid is turning into a real card. While we were shopping, this sweet sales girl was playing hide and seek with him while I was paying for my stuff and on our way out he said in a loud voice, "Mom, that girl's ugly". I wanted to die.

Then, later at a fast food restaurant, he told the girl that took our order she was "tiny" (she was quite petite). So, when we went into the very small bathroom (he finally did actually have to go) there were several large woman; I took preemptive action and covered his mouth before he could ask me whey the were fat (something he did the other day when he saw someone who was heavy).

See what I mean? Cute stuff.

Anyway, tomorrow as my last act as a single parent I have to get everyone packed and to the airport, park in out-lying parking because my parents are out of town, and somehow get my three kids, myself, and our bags into the airport where we will hook-up with Guapo and fly to Salt Lake together.

Wish me luck!