Understanding the separation of mind and body

Jacob understands the separation of mind and body perfectly. Today as I sat reading, he began throwing himself on the daybed where he sleeps, then sliding off and landing in a heap on the floor. He repeated this more times than I care to count, and each time he did it, he pushed the bed against the wall and the already frail and cheap mini-blinds in that window-filled room. Finally I said that was enough.
Jacob: I am not doing it. My body is not listening to my mind.
Me: Tell your body I'll give it a spanking.
He obediently walked over to me, so I hugged him and gave him a few gentle swats on his well-padded behind. He went back to throwing himself against the bed. "I'ts not working, Juju."
I told him to put his body in time out; he knows where the time out chair is. But he came back almost immediately, saying "My body won't stay there." Finally something else got his attention, but throughout the day he'd hit himself in the head and say, "Stop it, body. Stop hitting me." Of course I encouraged all this by laughing. His mom was a bit alarmed when he demonstrated for her tonight.
It was a Jacob day. We went to the grocery store, where I had to ask a sack person to put him in the seat in the front of the cart; then that didn't suit him, and we had a perilous maneuver getting him into the main basket of the cart. Then an equally perilous maneuver getting him out of it--I thought I was going to drop him in which case, I think, I might have broken the leg he wouldn't untangle from the cart. He weighs a whopping 44.5 lbs. now.
I snuck away occasionally to check email and do a bit of research on the web, but mostly I sat in the back room and read while Jacob watched TV and played. We had great conversations, and tonight we played a new game where I sent him out of the room, hid the miniature soccer, football and basketball I'd gotten him and he had to look for them. But I cannot do any work while he's here, and I cannot nap unless he falls asleep--which he didn't do. He was in and out of my bed, wanted to talk to Scooby (which only gets Scooby all excited), had to potty (didn't really), wanted a drink (forgot about that quickly). I finally turned the TV back on for him and tried to nap but it was too late.
Made a chicken salad with scallions, celery, blue cheese, lemon, mayo and sour cream for Jordan tonight. Finally remembered how I'd done that--and it was good. I also made Ellerbee's heirloom tomato salad, and it was great (look it up on Epicurious.com) though I'm not sure I could tell a difference between the heirloom tomatoes and regular fresh from the vine ones.
Giving myself a vacation the rest of the night. Back to the real world tomorrow.

Possible new writing project, Jacob, and, as always, food

My agent emailed today. He has a publisher who wants a book on lynchings in the Old West and how they reflect the development of law and order on the frontier. Told the publisher he had a writer with a good knowledge of the history of the Old West--that I may have, but lynchings have never been my subject, nor, really, has law and order. I always wrote about women in the American West. Still in the face of an assignment, I can explore new territory, maybe even going at it from a woman's point of view, because women banded together in anti-lynching societies, and it's always said women brought law, order, and community to the American West. Lots of research ahead, but if the publisher and I like each other and settle on a contract, it should be fun.  Till it's settled, I'm going to continue working on the Texas food book. The novel is going on the back burner for the time being, though it was going well, and I was excited about it.
Jacob arrived about five-thirty tonight, so it's not a night for serious research on any of my projects. I'll have him all day tomorrow--our big adventure is a trip to the grocery store. He measures time in "after nap," so night-time and nap time are the same in his mind. "After nap" tomorrow, Mom will come, we'll all have dinner, and she'll take him home. I'm so grateful he still takes good afternoon naps. Sunday I'm a working girl.
Fort Worth has one of the ten best new restaurants in the country, according to Bon Appetit. It's Ellerbee's where I've been several times for lunch and once for dinner. The article included a recipe for heirloom tomato salad, which I'm going to make for Jordan tomorrow night. I never buy heirloom tomatoes--they're so expensive, and I can't tell the difference, but I bought two today, made the dressing, and baked chicken breasts for a chicken salad I once made. Jordan loved it, but I don't remember what was in it, except that I added blue cheese. With blue cheese in both the chicken salad and the tomato salad, she'll be a happy camper.
Tonight I cooked gluten free spaghetti (which essentially means it's rice spaghetti). The instructions said to boil 4-6 minutes, so since I was only cooking a small amount I settled on four minutes plus a few seconds. Underdone. Not sure if that's why Jacob didn't like it or if the sauce was too spicy for him. But he definitely didn't like it. My gluten free phase was probably one of the shortest of all my experimental lifestyles. Definitely not for me. I couldn't eat blue cheese!
Jacob has gone through his bedtime routine peacefully and is watching TV. The test will come when I tell him it's time to turn it off. But we are ahead of our usual schedule, and I'm feeling optmistic.