Last night the rains poured down on the house so hard that it sounded, while sitting in my bedroom, as if we were sitting at the bottom of the ocean. I had spent the afternoon dying Easter eggs with AJ and working in my treehouse while surveying AJ and The Girl Next Door, who were running back and forth between our yards. We finally separated the two of them � with some difficulty, as The Girl Next Door�s mother had just made them a big bowl of popcorn. But with promises of dinner out at his favorite restaurant, we were able to lure AJ back to our side of the hedge, his fists full of popcorn, which left a trail for squirrels or unfortunate siblings to follow in case of emergency.

But after putting AJ to bed, the rains came, so my husband and I cozied up in bed in front of a funny French movie. At one point I laughed a little too loudly and in popped AJ.

�What�s so funny, Mommy?�
�We�re watching a movie,� I said, turning him around and gently pushing him back towards his room. �I�m sorry if we were too loud, but you need to stay in bed.� We were back in his room by now and he paused before climbing under the covers.
�Can I just watch a few minutes with you and Daddy?�
�No, it�s very late. Besides, it�s in French.�
�But I like French.�
�I�m sorry, but it�s a grown-up movie.�
�But I�m very interested in grown-up movies. Just a few minutes?�
�No. But I�ll tell you all about it tomorrow.�
I turned on his music box and he fell asleep to Brahms� lullaby.

By this morning he had forgotten all about it. He woke up exuberant. We had heard him up very early � he had been talking to himself before 6 a.m. But seven o�clock, the hour at which he is allowed to emerge from his room, came and went and no AJ to wake us up. Finally, at a quarter past, he came into our room with his characteristic armload of stuffed companions. �I forgot to get up, Mommy, I was reading my new book.� My parents had sent him a new chapter book about space. He read 8 chapters to himself before he remembered to get up.

It was a beautiful morning, and AJ had the day off from school for Good Friday, so we all ate our breakfast on the porch this morning with the birds twittering all around us. He has been cracking jokes all morning and giggling and generally acting silly. He was silly all through the grocery store, while he sat in the front of the fire engine cart and honked his horn at invisible pedestrians as I loaded the back with milk and cereal. He was silly at the barber shop where he had his head shorn for Easter. He was really silly at the shopping mall where we had a family outing and I bought ironic T shirts and a pair of sunglasses that make me feel like Audrey Hepburn (even though I'm pretty sure they make me look like I'm trying to disguise a hangover) while AJ danced in the aisles, entertaining the hip mamas shopping with babies who matched their handbags. And now AJ is sleeping off all the silliness before a weekend of parties and chocolate eggs.

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