Maybe it IS the end of the world...

Some of you may remember that the Rapture is five months late, and the guy who said it was coming this past May 21st, Harold Camping, recanted and said that the really REAL Rapture was coming today, October 21st.

And maybe he wasn't so off-base, because it's gotta be a sign of the end times when I start thinking, "Hey, maybe being a SAHM wouldn't be so terrible."

Okay, obviously I need to back up.  Here's the TL;DR version of it:  I took a sick day with my son when he really wasn't that sick.

(The long version, for those who are interested:  My son has had a nagging case of the cough and sniffles for the last few days, and didn't sleep for crap Wednesday night.  No fever or tummy issues, so technically I could have sent him to preschool, but I knew he would just be miserable the whole time, and spread that misery to his teachers and classmates, mostly in the form of tantrums.  His coughing also made it so I didn't sleep too well, and I woke up exhausted Thursday morning, and getting ready to be at work by 7:30 just seemed that too much energy to expend.)

Anyway, unlike the times we've stayed home because he's just miserably sick, my son was feeling okay enough to be in a good mood, and excited about his day home with Mommy.  We both slept in a little bit, woke up in time to kiss Daddy bye, and then hung out on the couch for a little while, eating cereal and playing "Gran Turismo V".  (I let him hold the extra PS3 controller and he pretends like he's driving.  Also, I let him pick out the new cars we buy.)

Around 8:00 or so, I put on "Finding Nemo" for him to watch while I did a bit of telecommuting (checking and responding to e-mails) and a bit of goofing-off (playing World of Warcraft).  When the movie ended, I grabbed a quick shower, while he played with his blocks in the bathroom.  (I trust him to an extent, but I still won't let him out of eyesight for the 15 minutes it takes to shower.)

He was very excited because I had told him earlier that we could go to the toystore to pick out Christmas gifts for his cousins.  (My obsession with finishing my Christmas shopping early is fodder enough for a whole separate post.)  I got us both dressed, allowed him to bring ONE toy with him for the car (he picked a toy horse), and we headed out the door.

Now, I have a couple of kids' consignment shops near my house that are my "regulars", but I had already picked those over the previous week.  (Kid2Kid and Children's Orchard, both in Cary for those who are interested.)  There's an awesome place called Once Upon a Child that's about 10 exits west on I-40, but that I almost never visit just because it's not on the way to anything, unlike the other stores, which are both near the Crossroads Shopping Center and the Cary mall.

Since I had a free day and a happy baby, I made the trek to Once Upon a Child.  And it was totally worth it.  My little man picked out several more gifts for his cousins, which made him happy and which I found so precious.  I let him pick out two toys for each cousin and was very pleasantly surprised at how well he understood their interests and what was age-appropriate for each of them.  (The only thing I put my foot down on was refusing to buy a tutu for his oldest cousin, because she is saturated with girlyishness as it is.)

Also, while he wasn't looking, I snuck to the counter with this really cool toddler-appropriate toy train set, that came with the tracks and the engine and the cars and everything.  Super excited about that one.

I also got him a pair of sneakers for $5.50, and they honestly look barely worn.  I love consignment stores.

It was about 11:30 by the time we finished up at Once Upon a Child, and I figured it was time to get something in his tummy.  Since we were already out Harrison Avenue, I decided to treat him with a trip to Brig's.  For those who are unaware, Brig's is a very nice, but affordable, restaurant that serves amazing breakfast and is always inexplicably filled with old people.  I don't care; I love it.

The ridiculously friendly hostess seated us and grabbed a booster sit for my mini-Man.  We were promptly greeted by Stephen, the absolute best waiter I have ever had in my life.  Stephen had my coffee in about 3 seconds flat, and brought it with a coloring book and crayons for my son.  He gave us time to look over the menu, and when he returned, I ordered a triple stack of chocolate chip hotcakes for my son and I to split.

That was my mistake.  Those jokers were huge.  We could have split one between the two of us and been full.  Instead, I just put one on the extra plate and let my son go to town.  He is getting pretty good with utensils, but it's still messy for him to feed himself.  By the time he was finished, his face was just caked in chocolate chips and whipped cream.  But he didn't get any on his clothes or in his hair, so I consider that a personal victory.

I got his face and hands all cleaned up, as he neatly stacked his utensils and napkin on his plate.  Stephen had already dropped the check off for "Whenever you're ready, please don't feel rushed", and I helped my son down from his booster seat so we could head off to pay.  Because he has awesome manners, my sweet little two-year-old picked up his plate and tried to head off to the kitchen.  (At home and at school, he puts his dishes up in the sink after meals.)  I had to explain to him that, at restaurants, someone comes and does that for you.  He put the plate down, and said his goodbyes to Stephen and the people at the nearby tables.

Yeah, my kid is aggressively friendly.

We paid, and went for a little walk around the strip mall, just to blow off some steam after gorging ourselves.  We peeked around in the nicest Hallmark store I've ever seen (they had free coffee for the moms and a coloring area for the kids), then we passed by a (mercifully, closed and locked) dance studio.  My son looked in the windows and stopped in his tracks, huge smile on his face.

"TROPHIES!  LOTS OF TROPHIES!"

It was true.  They had their dozens of trophies lining shelves all along the front entrance, a brilliant marketing strategy, no doubt.  My son started pulling on the locked door.  "Mommy!  Trophies!  Big trophies!"

Yeah, ever since he found out what trophies are this past weekend when he won two of them, he has been REALLY excited about trophies.  He even seems to have grasped that trophies are something he has to earn; not something Mommy can just buy for him.

I finally got him to wave and say "bye" to the trophies, and we continued on our way.  He kept on prattling about those trophies though, in that "English-as-a-second-language" way of his.  "Mama, I win big trophies," he told me.  "I go pageant and get trophy."

Eventually, we got back to the car for our last quick outing, to Crossroads to hit up Michael's and Kid2Kid.  As always, Michael's was packed, even though it was 1:00 on a Thursday afternoon.  The long lines were worth it though, as I was able to snag some nice baskets (for gift baskets) for only about $3 each.  We dropped in to Kid2Kid, and I grabbed the last of his cousins' gifts, and a cute red, "Christmasy" shirt for him.  We paid, and we got out of there.

He passed out for the brief car ride home, which proved to be a bit of a curse.  By the time I got us and our bags of goodies into the house, it was about 2 hours passed his usual naptime, but those 10 minutes of sleep he got in the car must have been a power nap, because nothing I could do would get him to sleep.  He was still wide awake and hyper when my husband got home, and ended up going to bed about an hour early.

That gave me extra time to hang out with my husband, watching DVRed tv shows ("American Horror Story", anyone?) and wrapping the presents we'd bought.  It was such a good day, it makes it hard to think about heading back to work this morning.

But, hey, at least tomorrow's the weekend.