Johnnie Through The Morning, Me Time in the Afternoon

And so almost like clockwork I get a call from my son at 8 AM this morning. "Dad are you coming for breakfast?" He wanted to know. Well of course I was, armed with brioche and a quart of milk. Lisa had said she was down to reserves and is frustrated with herself that she can't bring herself to do groceries. I think it's one of those things that overwhelm her immensely and that's ok. That simply means I'll be doing grocery shopping for her with Johnnie at some point this morning and as long as I get some time with him, I'm ok with anything. This morning actually brought up a specific challenge with Johnnie. Lisa had told me that he had skipped dinner last night because he didn't want to eat whatever Lisa made him and it was something he had asked for. He does that to me every once in a while and I told Lisa I supported her drawing the line and being tough as a parent. Even if he misses a meal. I think I'm already been tough with Johnnie, which is why he doesn't push the boundary with me.  And when he does, I am quick to act like I did last Tuesday when he was playing a little too much. Lisa thinks that whatever he does is simply because he is mad at her and it's his way to "get back" at her. The child does have a stubborn streak I'll give him that. And this morning when he wanted to eat indoors, and Lisa and wanted to eat outside, he did his "I'm not your son and I'm leaving" thing... hanging around outside the gate for a little while. Lisa and I ate breakfast in the front patio in the meantime and eventually, Lisa did manage to get him to eat French toast eventually. In the meantime, I just watered Lisa's lettuce plants. Hey omeone has to do it... because Lisa simply doesn't have the awareness and sense of priority to do it. I thought it was funny actually... many times did she bag on me when I still lived here that I was using too much water, that I was watering the grass, my tomatoes too much. Watering Lisa's lettuce right now, I couldn't help but feel the irony and that here I am again, in the front yard of the Maplewood house, watering plants. Anyway, breakfast over... Lisa quickly made a list of groceries for me to get. She made 2 lists actually, one for me and a larger one for her parents to buy for her. wow, she's actually feeling some guilt?!  And we actually needed to leave by 10:30 because Lisa has piano lessons at 11 AM. And I was only all too glad to do that and get out of her way. After all, it's a nice and warm sunny day.

And so for the next few hours, Johnnie and I did the grocery circuit for Lisa. Trader Joe's, and then Whole Foods (after all we have to get her iLLy coffee), and then Ralphs. And then we went back to my apartment where Johnnie morphed from the spiteful, willfull child from Lisa's house to the great little kid (mostly) that he is when he is with me. Maybe it's because he has Dinosaur Train to watch at my apartment LOL. And for lunch, we got some Panda Express from down the street. Boy he sure seemed to make up whatever he didn't eat in the last half day or so, because he wolfed down the teriyaki chicken and rice.  By 1:15 we were headed back to Lisa's house. And I was looking forward to a nice little afternoon nap. But not quite yet. Lisa asked me for a favor. She asked me to help her clean her large turtle tank, which apparently hadn't been cleaned in more than a month and the water was starting to look really, really dark. This was not an easy feat. The tank was pretty large. And so with Johnnie watching the turtles in the backyard, Lisa and I did manage to get that huge tank outside and cleaned out and BOY was it dirty. I told Lisa in no uncertain terms that if she ever doubted that I cared about her, this is was the act boy. This wasn't for Johnnie, there was absolutely no benefit for me, it was ALL for her. And so with that all done, I finally went home to take my nap. I realized that this was also it as far as seeing Johnnie this weekend. Lisa is headed to her office this afternoon because her handyman Oscar is coming over to fix stuff. And then she's going to her dad's house tomorrow. All ok though. I spent the afternoon actually doing aerobics. Yep, aerobics.  Another activity that brings me back to the past. Who knew I would go to it now so I can stay in shape and get some cardio activity in. Funny thing is when you do aerobics, the steps seem to go quickly. Or much faster than just walking around the neighborhood anyway. And for sure the cardio minutes come easily too. By 5 PM I was already at 8500 steps and I actually had to chill because I was starting to tighten up. I was actually getting a workout! And so I would make myself dinner with the chicken piccata I got yesterday from Trader Joe's and then spent the rest of the evening watching TV, watching YouTube videos,  In the meantime, the feeling in my face was starting to come back.  I could actually smile now. Not like before just yet, but at least  it is on its way. And that is a very, very good thing.