I am spent. If anyone wants to know why, you can consult Cassie's entry from earlier today.

We spent the day with my mother-in-law. Her arthritis has been keeping her housebound and she�s been getting kind of depressed about it, so as a public service, we thought we�d brighten her day by bringing over a manic three-year-old to destroy her house. Amazingly, the ploy seemed to work. Fortunately for us, grandmothers practice their own peculiar brand of insanity that causes them to find their grandchildren�s behaviour adorable, despite all evidence to the contrary.

AJ was literally bouncing off the walls with the excitement of a visit to grandma�s � and I have the skid marks on my bedroom wall to prove it. After he stopped bouncing long enough to be strapped into his car seat, we headed out, leaving much earlier than we usually manage. It�s amazing how much less time it takes to get out of the house without the donning of endless piles of coats and hats and mittens and boots. We picked up my mother-in-law and drove into the downtown area of the town where she lives and sat in the sun on a park bench while AJ did laps around a fountain. On lap 19, he noticed a bike store across the treat so after lap 20, we all crossed the street so AJ could drool at the tricycles in the window. He�s clearly practicing for adulthood. He reminded me of the men we always see prowling around the motorcycle shop with 40 bikes parked out front that we pass on the way to my mother-in-law�s. The men are always down on their knees examining bikes at close range. For every man with his nose pressed against a spark plug, there is always a woman standing 12 feet away looking at him impatiently with her arms crossed in front of her. To AJ�s surprise, my arms were not crossed in front of the bike store. Instead, I suggested we go in and I let him pick out a bell for his tricycle. They had a surprisingly large array. I was leaning towards a model that was the clone of my first bike bell � a large silver knob with an American flag in the center. AJ, however, picked out a smaller, sleeker (and, naturally, more expensive) model with a long, clear tone. After we came home and installed it on his tricycle, the very first ring set all the neighborhood dogs barking and sent his dad running for a bottle of Advil. Needless to say, AJ was very pleased.

The afternoon involved peanut butter, throwing assorted items in grandma�s backyard, a trip to a playground with some very exciting slides, and much contrariness about just about everything. Tonight�s recuperation began with a margarita at our favorite Mexican restaurant on our way home, and will continue with the Diane Keaton marathon on TCM, viewed while painting my toes pink in honor of the arrival of sandal weather.

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