All good things must come to an end

Ain't that the truth? Here are a few good things coming to an end right now...

Whose bringing home the bacon? Tonight is the last night of DH's holiday vacation. It's been wonderful being stay-at-home parents for the last two weeks, it really suits us. Neither one of us goes to work, but the paycheck comes anyway. Seriously brilliant. We'll be spending this evening the same way we've spent most of the rest, curled up on the couch watching our latest cinematic delivery (this time it's Ghost Town). To make the night extra special, I picked up some Red Vines licorice and tiramisu-flavored creamer for our coffee when I was at the grocery store. Let's go out with a bang, I say.

Good boy. Overall, I think Bean has a fairly average temperament. He is usually happy and always on the go; interspersed with some grumpy, whiny, and clingy moments when he's tired or sick or just wants to drive me crazy. When we are in public, though, we have been lucky that he never displays the ornery side of his personality. At a restaurant a couple of months ago, the waitress serving the section next to ours made a point to come to our table and remarked that Bean was the best behaved baby she'd ever seen in their establishment. When I was getting my teeth cleaned and DH waited with Bean in the dentist office lobby, the receptionist came back to tell me I should have ten kids because Bean was so good. The owner of the teriyaki restaurant we keep in business sometimes patronize calls him "The Angel" -- in Japanese no less! I'm not sure what I did to deserve this bit of luck, but karma has turned and it seems to be over. Yesterday at Target, he let it loose. He wanted something and I couldn't tell what it was (my best guess is that he wanted his feet on the ground and his hands pushing the cart handle bar, a physical impossibility for someone barely over two feet tall). It wasn't the frustrated, angry screams themselves that concerned me, because I simply went outside while DH stayed to pay for our stuff. It was the fact that Bean had decided it was perfectly acceptable to throw a tantrum in the store, something which had not worried me in the past when the two of us have been out without DH, but now will make me paranoid every time I leave the house. I dread the day I have to abort a grocery trip because he is unruly, but I know it will happen. Yesterday was the death of my dream -- however unrealistic -- that my child would remain angelic, at least in public, until he left home. Damn.

Breaking Dawn. Yes, I have finally finished the "Twilight" series. Whew! That last book was intense and long. I found it mostly super creepy (that kid! shiver!), and then I was freaking out during the fantastic suspense building for the big ending, and then... eh. Sure. Whatever. Just as with the previous books, I was totally obsessed and annoyed at the same time. The author leaves some threads open for the future, and I both eagerly anticipate and rue the day she pens the next novel. Luckily I'm a woman and these conflicting emotions don't bother me.

But even as these happy things come to an end, I have some others to look forward to. Our calendar is full this week, starting with a coffee/playdate with Jen and Jillian tomorrow morning. This way I won't be sitting around feeling sorry for myself that DH has to go to work while I stay home alone with the baby. (Oh, life is so unfair!) We are also back to preschool this week, and my two mom's groups have the first meetings of the year. Not least of all, Monday also starts a new month of Bean's life. I can only wonder what delusion will be shattered for me next. Don't tell me he'll get a bump or scrape one day. I don't do blood!