After school today, I took Liam and only Liam to the mall to buy him some clothes. We stopped at one place because I wanted him to check out their pants and he stood in the doorway moaning and groaning until I told him that my wallet and I were not going to the store he wanted unless he tried on the pants at this place. So he tried on the pants but we left the store empty handed. We went to his store where he picked out a shirt and some skater socks which he explained to me again for the fiftieth time were clearly skater socks and not basketball socks because the pattern continued uninterrupted all the way around the sock and they had no level of compression. Then we went back to my store because he decided he did in fact want the pants I picked. I held my tongue the whole time I was paying for them but I may have danced a little while he wasn't watching.
After that, we decided to grab a bite to eat. He wanted a steak finger basket at Dairy Queen but I wanted salad with quinoa at Panera. After explaining to him that because he had Whataburger last night (it's been a busy week...don't judge me) that he really needed to make a healthier choice, we compromised with Chipotle. While he was struggling to bite off more than he could chew, he kept mumbling something about not looking at him while he eats. I then explained that not only is it customary but it is also common courtesy to look at someone while you are talking to them and that yes, dinner is the perfect time for a little conversation.
After dinner, Liam and I went to Jacob's orchestra concert. Okay, so I forced him to go to the concert because I didn't want to drive the 20 minutes home just to turn around and head straight back to the high school. Oh and did I mention that when we got to the school, I had to threaten him with grounding to get him inside the auditorium because he wanted to sit in the car and listen to his music, which lately consists of Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones? With a groan and a sigh, he followed me inside and we found what we thought would be great seats but turned out to be kind of lousy seats as we could really only see half of Jacob's forehead and his right foot. Liam was relieved to see that each division of the orchestra was only playing three pieces until halfway through the second division's performance he realized there was a third division. During one of the pieces, at a quiet moment just before a crescendo, a baby sneezed loudly breaking the silence and thereby lessening the effect of the impact of the music and Liam and I both suppressed a giggle and then we shot each other an appreciative smile acknowledging our similar senses of humor.
After we finally made it home, Liam asked me trim his neck...something he never asks me to do between his haircuts...so I jumped at the chance to clean him up a bit. Now as I am thinking about the events of the evening...Liam insisting on some new clothes and caring about his grooming...I am suddenly aware that there just may be a girl behind all of this.
Once he was satisfied with his neck trim, without prompting, Liam, began diligently working on English homework (yes, Liam...yes, diligently...and yes, English). He hunted me down for some new pencils and after he sharpened several of those, he decided he needed to show me the erasable pen his friend gave him as he has never seen anything better suited for English class. I told him that in fact erasable pens have been around for a long time and I offered to grab him some next time I am at the store. Several minutes later, he came back into my room to ask my advice on how to write something. This was the perfect butter cream icing on the Liam and Mom Spontaneous Date Night Cake. Of course, he hates when I call it a date night, but you mamas out there know these are special dates, indeed.
