This has been a day of many small joys.

When I arrived at AJ�s preschool to pick him up, the door to his classroom was not yet open and all the mothers were standing in the hall, occasionally peeking through the narrow windows to catch a glimpse inside. One mother caught her son being difficult and vented her frustration. �I just don�t know what to do with him. Yesterday I just put him outside even though I knew it was going to rain, just because I needed the kids to stop fighting for just five minutes. I go to bed every night feeling like such a bitch, like the worst mother in the world.� The floodgates opened. Another chimed in, �I�m so glad you said that. My daughter just won�t stop whining and whining. I don�t think I can take it anymore.� Every one of us felt like that all the time. It was so nice to hear someone else articulate what you felt was your own private struggle. Now there are six of us who are all feeling a little less horrible and a little less alone.

AJ had a wonderful day at school. He came out proudly wearing his birthday crown, made for him by one of his teachers. When I let him out of the car in our driveway, he ran straight for a new patch of crocuses that had bloomed for the first time this morning. �Look, Mommy, crocuses! They are SO beautiful!� He threw himself down on his stomach and just stared at them in wonder.

When we finally persuaded him to enter the house, he jumped up and down at the sight of the balloon �3� and ran straight for it. Then he noticed the presents and REALLY started jumping up and down. He received a toy cash register, a set for creating Rube Goldber-esque contraptions for rolling marbles (a toy I enjoyed almost as much as he did) which he calls the �round and round� game, and a new tricycle.

I think the best part of his day, though, was all the mail, phone calls and e-mail just for him. These seemed to mark, in his mind, his induction into the adult-world where mysterious things come and go all the time just over his head. After opening the afternoon mail, he asked, �Do you know why I got all these cards?� �Because it�s your birthday? I said. �No, because I�m so big!�

We celebrated my paper acceptance by going out to dinner. We�ve discovered that we can actually take AJ to places we like to eat as long as we go early enough not to disturb anybody. AJ�s actually really good at going out to eat. He loves to do it. But he�s three and can�t sit still through the whole fine dining experience. We drove to a nice bistro that we�d seen but never been to before in a town about 20 minutes away. It was surprisingly good. Surprisingly, because we are not in an area exactly known for its cuisine beyond ribs and burgers. AJ was quite entertaining, particularly when the waiter brought him a bowl of ice cream with a candle in it � he�d overheard us talking about his birthday and took it on himself to make AJ�s evening special. AJ�s eyes lit up momentarily, then he blew out the candle and proceeded to devour a bowl of ice cream almost as big as his head.

�I like my birthday,� he pronounced as he was drifting off to sleep. His party isn�t until Sunday, but I think at this point that will be a nice bonus. I think he had one nearly perfect day, which I know he�s unlikely to remember. But we will.

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