To the Beach

“Ax, today we’re going to the beach.” “Noooooooo!!!!”

“We don’t have to go for a long time.”

“Nooooo!!!! I want to stay home.”

“There’s going to be a lot of time to stay home after the beach, darling. It’s a beautiful day. Come on.”

“Noooooo. I’m so tired.”

“Well I wanted to go look at balloons for your birthday party on the way. Do you want to go to the balloon store?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” And he ran and got dressed in a flash.

So we went to the balloon store, this everything store in the Mexican part of town where the person who helped us had tattoos on his arms and neck and face, and was very friendly. Ax wanted everything in the store, I told him no, no, no, today we were just looking at the balloons.

Then we got back in the car and he started campaigning to not go to the beach. I pushed forward anyway, him seething in the back seat. The thing that motivated me was a good friend and her kid were planning to meet us there and when I called to bail – yes I did that – she mentioned how much her kid was looking forward to seeing Ax. So I told him we had to stop by.

We got to the beach, parked, I opened the door, and he ran out onto the sand. He was mister happy guy. I was so confused. But I took the win. We stayed at the beach for SEVEN hours. He was in the zone. When I told him it was time to leave he said, “Noooooo.” I’m looking forward to the end of this phase.