A little icing can be a good thing

It has been a good week. My Spring cleaning is all done, with the exception of my husbands office, (he has forbidden me to touch it even with my begging and promises that I would not touch his ball cards), and our two year old carpet.( By two year old carpet, I do not mean that we installed it two years ago, but rather it is badly stained by my two year old, causing me to truly believe it might be better burned than cleaned.) I have done my best to struggle through the driving and new relationship in my daughters life with poise and even excitement for her. I did not receive a call from my Middle Little's Assistant Principal to explain that he had been involved in another "incident", which is good for me and even better for him. He is settling well into his grounding and I think has even realized that just because he can't watch television does not mean that I have to be his entertainment. My sweet boy is returning to me after our conversation about the fact that just because he is getting older, does not mean that he has to lose his sweet, tender side. My Littlest Little has finally taken interest in the potty. That's the big one. I knew not to push him towards it. Potty training is one of those things that children have to come to at least half-way on their own or it just isn't going to happen. Every now and then I would ask him if he would like to try. Most times his response was a quick and short "Nope". My plan through the winter was that as soon as the weather turned and stayed warm, I would just strip him down and let him have a few days of outside nudity so that he could see just how fun the no diaper life might be. As the temperatures have stayed up, I decided on Friday to ask once again if he would like to use the potty. You would have thought that I had just received news of the President coming to visit, had you seen my excitement. I stripped him down, got the potty out of the closet, and outside we went. He played while I built a new gate, to keep him in the safety of the play yard while allowing Middle Little to escape the bounds of the house to ride his bike without help.
I have to take a side step here for just a second. My babes are five and six years apart, assuring that they will always be at totally different stages and also assuring that I will be on my toes for a very long time. While Lady Little is off doing all of the things that come with High School life, and Middle Little is at a place where he wants to escape by himself once in a while, Littlest Little feels that he should have no boundaries at all and should escape any chance he can. We had a gate that was suitable for all of the little stages last summer. Lady little was big enough to step over the gate, and I could get Middle Little out while keeping Littlest Little inside without too much effort. This summer all has changed. Littlest Little has a need to try to escape at every chance, and even did once, causing my landlord/friend/adoptive family member, to announce that I might consider contacting Caesar Milan to come train him. Actually, while this was suggested I think it made him feel a little good that his tractor buddy escaped to him. Anywho, after building the new gate, with the full realization that some sort of locking mechanism would be needed, Middle Little and I headed to Home Depot, or as I like to refer to it, "heaven on earth", to find just the right thing. The first gentleman that offered help looked at me like I had two heads when I explained our need for something to lock and almost three year old in while allowing the nine year old to escape the confines of the play yard. Thankfully a second gentleman approached and when I explained our situation knew immediately what we needed. I'm not really sure if he had adventurous boys or if he has great knowledge in the fine motor skills of children at different ages, or maybe just days before he had helped someone else with exactly the same dilemma. No matter the reason we purchased exactly what we needed with an extra or two just to be on the safe side, and headed home. I am happy to announce that even with all of his efforts so far, there has been no escape.(knock on wood)
And so we began our Saturday with one boy naked and celebrating huge potty success. With the day beginning on that note I was at a stage of elation that only parents tired of changing diapers will know, the day as far as I thought, couldn't get better. I spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry while the kidlets played. My husband came home from his flea market expedition with surprises. He brought me two and a half flats of veggies to be planted in my new garden. The three Littles went off on an adventure with Nonie (my mom) leaving me with my plants and garden tools. Peace quiet and dirt. Surely it can't get any better than that, right? While my husband cherished the quiet and rest after and long work week and before another, I laced up my old dirty sneaks and spent 5 or 6 hours digging and planting and sweeping and watering. I even made friends with a rolie polie and an earth worm or two. Unfortunately, I didn't make friends with the sunblock I should have worn and as the sun was going down , the shade of color on my shoulders and back was going up. Just a minor hiccup in what seemed to be the perfect Saturday.
Surely the peace and quiet I had while the kids were having a fun adventure, and my husbands much deserved rest could not be topped, or so I thought.
I haven't ever needed to be "the cool mom". As long as my children were happy, well fed, and well behaved, I could put off cool. That being said if a little cool could be acquired I would gladly take it as an extra bonus.
As evening became night and a gentle rain began to water my newly expanded garden, I cleaned myself up and settled into an evening with my boys by my side and Lady Little off to have some private Nonie time. As I was fixing my dinner my phone rang. I love that my girl texts me just for fun, and the conversation that followed might just have been an extra layer of icing on the cake that was this glorious Saturday. We chatted back and forth for a bit about what movie they had picked out and how my shoulders were now hot pink. She suggested that I should put a signature on my phone. Those of you who receive texts from her know that she usually has a line or two at the end that you have no idea of the meaning or how it pertains to the convo you are having. That is her signature. I don't even know how to set one on my phone and so I responded that she would have to help me think one up. Her response was this.
"Something cheesy like Cool mom or garden knome."
Now yes, she did say cheesy, and again yes, she did spell gnome with a k, but she also, I think, suggested in her own way that I might just be a cool mom. Funny that something I never needed to hear or wanted to hear would actually make my Saturday one of the best ever.