This is Jacob at the quietest moment of his whole evening here. Yes, he's sitting on an unmade bed, but that's another story--and it isn't the bed he is now, I hope, asleep in. He arrived in a fever of energy and kept it up all evening. If I tried to "read my papers" as he calls it, he demanded, "Juju! Juju! Come here." We played with his "transformers" (his name for small metal cars) endlessly, and we read books. The only time he watched TV was when I wanted him to eat dinner--his dinner as far as I can tell consisted of one bite of potato, lots of ketchup and three cups of milk. When he pitched a hissy fit during which I couldn't understand what he said, I pitched a hissy fit back so he'd see what it was like (I couldn't tell that he was impressed), then explained he'd have to tell me calmly what he wanted. Well, he didn't want ground beef--he wanted chicken nuggets. I told him beef was on the menu tonight and maybe I'd fix chicken nuggets (yuck!) the next time he comes to visit. For all his energy, he is an angel about bedtime. We set the timer for 10 more minutes of play, and then he went easily to read a book, go to the potty, get his night-time diaper, and then we cuddled for a bit. He always asks, "Will you cuddle me?" I remember that my mom used to cuddle with me until I was five and the night she announced I was too old, I cried for hours. The neighbors heard me. In retrospect, I think she could have eased me into it.
The papers I wanted to read tonight were a bonanza of cooking magazines that arrived in today's mail--both Southern Living and Bon Appetit. I sort of wish they both hadn't arrived on the same day, so I could draw out the pleasure. Jacob wanted to read Southern Living because it had a pumpkin on the cover. I was afraid he'd tear out pages, but he didn't. Still I haven't been through either one thoroughly yet, though I did pull a couple of good recipes. That's me--always pulling recipes, never sure I'll cook them.
Otherwise, it was a lazy rainy day. I did all the chores that I wonder how I did when I worked--Central Market, laundry, dishwasher, changed linens on the guest bed in preparation for company next weekend (explains the unmade bed Jacob is sitting on above), set the table for dinner tomorrow night, and so on. Then after lunch I did a few desk chores and got immersed in the manuscript I'm editing. Since I've been wondering lately about my creative abilities and ability to immerse myself in a project, this was fairly reassuring. In fact, though I thought I'd treat myself to the mystery I'm reading tonight, I think instead I'll keep editing. I really like it when I can smooth out someone's sentence, change passive to active voice, etc. Nothing major. Maybe my own novel will come next!
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