seesawing through spring break

This morning, I decided to take Cruz to story hour at Barnes and Noble.  They have it every Thursday morning and although B&N is one of our favorite date spots, we've never been to story-time.  I was itching to get out of the house since, well, I woke up, and had every intention of spending an hour or so with my boy, reading books and maybe grabbing a cookie before heading home for an afternoon nap.  

Cue 11:00 this morning, a group of children huddled around a nice young woman ready to read Bats at the Ballgame and my son, not-so-casually revealing his disinterest in the book by proceeding to grab two, three, four books off the shelf at a time in his not-so-delicate Cruz way and plopping himself right in the middle of the rest of the pack doing his own thing with his own books.  That is until his not-so-casual mom decided to remove him from the situation and play with the train set while everyone else's child listened to the story.  You know the kids' table at Grandma's Thanksgiving?  We were there.  

Less than ten minutes later, Cruz found a paperback Team Umi-Zoomi book complete with a set of 3-D glasses and pictures that supposedly bounced off the page.  The only problem was that some culprit before Cruz had decided to confiscate the 3-D glasses, which meant for a book with a lot of pictures that just looked really blurry.  3-D glasses or not, Cruz decided his life depended on this book and that if I wanted to get it, I would have to pry it from his cold hands.  And because I refused to spend $4.99 on a book with blurry pictures and missing glasses, I was that mom, leaving Barnes and Noble with a screaming toddler --- a toddler who proceeded to cry and bang his forehead against the car window the entire way home while his mom turned the music up and silently pleaded to the heavens above for spring.

Our Spring Break week is about over and I tell you, it's been an interesting one.  I feel like we're walking through sort of a purgatory right now, looking ahead to spring, but still trudging through the winter we've all had our fill of.  Cruz has been off this week - we can't decide half the time if he's sick or teething or bored - and it seems like one minute we're having a blast and the next, all hell's broke loose.  We're keeping it real around here, enjoying the ups and laughing our way through the dumps of this not-so-Spring Break. 

The look on his face pretty much sums up our week...
 

Enjoying a margarita and some queso dip at Las Margaritas --- definitely up.
 

Cruz impatiently whining for 'chicken nuggets and fries' for twenty minutes while we waited for our food --- definitely dump.
  
Sleeping in past 6:30 and scoring some extra morning cuddles with Cruz in our bed --- definite up.
 

Cruz pretending to be the Once-ler from the Lorax and throwing a bag of mini-marshmallows all over the living room floor at 6:32 am --- definite dump.
  
A completely sorted closet and three rubbermaids filled to the brim with clothes to give away --- up.  
 
Three dead car batteries - three days in a row --- dump.
  
Slow mornings and quiet breakfasts in the kitchen --- up.
 

  
Cruz accidentally spilling an entire bowl of cereal on himself - ten minutes after getting him dressed --- dump. 

Make believe pirate ships out of clothes' baskets, books in beanbag chairs in Cruz's room, family March Madness pools on the fridge ---- up, up, up.
 

Chasing Cruz through the parking lot at Hy-Vee while trying to maneuver six sacks of groceries --- dump.

The seesaw at the park may still be buried under snow, but we're riding our own here at home this week.  And you know what?  It's great a feeling when you're riding your way to the top, enjoying the view from the up, but the falling back down?  Those are good, too.  When you're there, there's an anticipation knowing you can only go up. 

And sometimes, it just feels good to be on the ground.