Productivity.

I'm so excited - I've actually been productive this weekend, which virtually never happens. Not only have I had a chance to do my weekly cooking, I've also patched the drywall, spackled the bathroom, vacuumed and scrubbed the kitchen. And I made time to work out and write. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I often allow Ragsy to be my excuse for not doing what I need or want to do, failing to realize that he really can play by himself for a few minutes, even though he may not necessarily want to.

I really have nothing interesting to say. Although I was really excited last night when Ragsy used a chapati (flat bread) to pick up his palak paneer (spinach with cheese cubes) instead of bare hands or a fork. It sounds stupid, but it takes some amount of coordination to make the appropriate dimple in the chapati, then get the food into the dimple and wrap the rest of the piece of chapati around it to be able to pick it up. While we were in India, most kids his age were still being hand fed, so it was cool that he tried to do it himself and was successful. Of course, with my cultural background, I stopped handfeeding my son once he was able to pick his food up himself. Although it does make sense when you think about it - Indian food can be extremely messy and, when you eat with your hands, you're much more likely to transmit dirt and germs into your mouth if you're a little kid. Plus, you get it everywhere and if you're eating something with lots of spice, that can burn your face. So having an adult who knows how to manage the food put it in for you is better than risking a painful rash.

Anyway, after dinner, he was reading in bed and, when I got up to do something, he dismissed me with, "Mama, thanks for stopping by." I was a little dumbfounded until he informed me that that was what Mickey Mouse said. My little terror is asleep right now and will hopefully stay that way for at least another hour. He refused to nap yesterday, then woke up this morning at 5 a.m. covered in pee, then flatly refused to go back to bed after he'd been cleaned up, sheets changed and new pants put on. He was exhausted, but apparently didn't care. So, like a horrid mother, I brought him out here to watch TV and promptly passed out on the couch for a half hour. Getting just a few hours of sleep will do that to you.

Unfortunately, my husband has absolutely no excuse for being asleep still at almost 1 p.m. in the afternoon. I had been planning to wake him a couple of hours ago, but since Ragsy went to sleep earlier than usual, I opted for free time instead, with the added bonus of being able to run out to the Y later to get in a long weekend workout. Ah, yes - there's my boring life. Now I'm watching Beauty Shop with Queen Latifa (what? I'm too lazy to commit to watching a whole DVD) after having devoured a bag of popcorn and a handful of chocolate chips. See? I could really use the workout.