Nanny 911

Have you ever been channel surfing when a title just strikes you with such morbid curiousity that you can't help but go to it? Such is the case with me and Nanny 911. I won't go out of my way to watch it, as I watch very little tv but I will if it happens to be on at a time when I am watching and there is no CSI, that's where I go. It's a fascinating show really, where a british nanny will go into a home ravaged by a plethera of misbehaving children and straighten them out in a week. Not surprisingly, the children only need a little discipline and it is the parents who need the overhaul.
I was making good on the promise to myself that I spend some time with Brandon last night reviewing some grade 3 stuff. I bought a bunch of grade 3 workbooks and told him we'd do one page in each book plus flash cards for his multiplication every night until the books were finished. He was only minorly reluctant but by the time we finished flash cards he was actually in a learning spirit.When we were finished, he put away his books in a way that looked bittersweet. I thought back to the half dozen Nanny 911's I've watched and it occured to me that the time I just spent with Brandon was the nicest we'd had in a while. I often criticize and reproach him for this and that, it isn't often that I get to tell him how proud of him I am, or how glad I am to spend time with him. So as I started to prepare the dinner I asked him if he'd like to help. I would even teach him how to use the sharp knife. I've never seen him so quietly excited. He likes it when I show him about cooking. I've let him make hamburgers and kraft dinner and stir up other foods on the burner, and he's always been rapt with attention (not something a mother of an ADD child can say often) So he cut up veggies with me and together we made our dinner. I even took it a step further, when we were deciding herbs to add to the salad, I asked him to find a few that he thought would taste good in it.
This was a priceless moment. "How do I know what would be good mom?" "Read the label honey, most of them say what they taste good in" He scoured my spice cupboard and found the exact 3 I would have chosen. He was floored that he could do it without me standing over him. I felt so good seeing him that happy.
Which leads me to this morning. I went for my walk bright and early at 6:30 got home, started the laundry, tidied up dishes, and made up little man's lunch. The best part is that I got it all done before 8 when I wake him up for school. So for the first time in such a long time I don't remember I had breakfast with my son. After we were done breakfast and he had come back from brushing he teeth he took his turn to floor me. "Mom, do we have any puzzles?" "Sure honey, about a dozen of them, not even opened" "Can we do a puzzle together?" I nearly cried. My son, after only one day of me making time for him, wants to start making time for me. I think this is a great start to a wonderful friendship. I am so blessed.