Scene: AJ�s bedroom at bedtime. Harriet: Goodnight, AJ. Sweet dreams! AJ: Mommy, could we talk about how I behaved today? Harriet: What do you want to talk about? AJ: Well, I wasn�t very good today. Harriet: It wasn�t one of your best days. AJ: I was grumpy. Harriet: That happens to everyone sometimes. But if you try to have good manners � listen to people when they�re talking to you and talk nicely to people � then you�ll usually feel better. Hopefully we�ll have a better day tomorrow. AJ: I�ll get my bad manners out of my body while I�m sleeping. Harriet: How are you going to do that? AJ: Well, I�ll just tell them to go away. Harriet: That sounds great. I look forward to seeing your good manners in the morning. AJ: But what if they don�t go away? Harriet: I bet they will. Just show them who�s boss. AJ: Who�s the boss? Harriet: I am. * * * * * AJ has been trying very hard to wrestle with his preschooler mood swings. Like a teenager, he is suddenly very sensitive about being laughed at and whenever he thinks you�re not paying enough attention to him. I know how he feels. I haven�t been on such an even keel myself. I am currently in a frenzy because I accidentally overstated the state of my dissertation to my advisor(or rather, my statement was somewhat misinterpreted, but I was vague) and now he seems to have the idea that he�s going to see the entire thing sometime in the next two weeks. The thing is, if I didn�t have to entertain AJ, grocery shop, cook, clean and sleep, I think I could do it. And the very idea of being that close is spurring me on. But I am a complete basketcase and am likely to be come worse in the next couple of weeks. Plus I just realized the first application deadline for one of the jobs I�m looking at is October 1. Maybe if I�m insanely busy I won�t have time to feel unready for what is about to come. 0 people said it like they meant it |