But after an hour Ben was up, and he and I were on our way to the Wal-Mart. He was quite put off too. He decided not to go with us to the airport, and seemed to communicate to his mom that he thought she was just going there and coming right back. Too bad for him that he was wrong. So he guilted her a bit on the phone and then as we were almost to the Wal-Mart he said, “Dad, why don’t we go to IHOP?” And we did.

Ben made up for his disappointment with eggs, pancakes, fruit, and hash browns (that he eats like they are fries). It is a good place for me to eat too as they have Egg Beaters on their diet menu. The picture was taken there and sent to his mom who got it while in between flights in Chicago. She was happy to get it, as Ben was all the food.

But the hard part is that he is wide awake, all jacked up from the meal, and I am home with him alone with a lot of work to do. Of course I have been here before and certainly can do all that I need to do in the morning when they are ALL asleep. In Latin the word for a Tirman child is “lazibuttes” or “lazibuttai” in the plural. All of them would sleep till noon if I didn’t make them get up. So tomorrow morning may be my best bet for uninterrupted work.

So I am off to scrub the syrup and whatever else is on Ben as he has been soaking in the tub the entire time I have been typing. Little boys can be a stinky lot, and I thought I would do this preemptive strike. He was however pretty sticky, so keep me in your prayers.

We have already survived over 8 hours! I may be old, but I intend to go the distance!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!