My Weekend With the Boys #2

There are things even little Gerry can teach me about life. Like how relaxing colouring in a colouring book can be. Or the best stress relief can simply be us chasing each other around the park and laughing. Or how good dry Cheerios can taste when they are dumped from the bowl onto the floor (apparently), because that seemed to be the only way he’d eat them.



Go nuts kiddo, I’m not sweeping up any more Cheerios. My floor is clean. Does that make me a bad dad?



Nick’s bond with me is almost as strong now as when I left. He’s still burdened… I can tell by his posture and his unwillingness to talk past a certain point. Him, Gerry and his mom are going to be moving in with his soon-to-be step-dad soon and I think that’s causing him anxiety and more than a little guilt. Recently, Nick and I were talking when he asked me who I live with. When I told him that I lived by myself, he got really sad because he thought I was lonely. I told him that a lot of people come to visit, and I go out to visit a lot of people, and it’s okay, because I choose to live alone. And he’s welcome to visit and stay over anytime he wants to.



I think it has set in that mom and dad aren’t getting back together, but I don’t want him to choose sides. He tells me he doesn’t like his step dad, which I don’t think is true, but I think he’s saying it to try and make me feel better. I distracted him with other talk, because I don’t want him to feel like he needs to do this for my benefit. There will be times he’ll do this (as well as times he’ll tell me he hates me and likes him better), but I’ll deal with that as it comes. Soon enough, the topic is dropped.



We watched Newcastle United somehow not beat Swansea City Saturday morning, even though Newcastle absolutely, satisfyingly dominated for 75 minutes. Good news for the Magpies is that midfielder Cheik Tiote and central defender Fabricio Coloccini are back in after injuries. The bad news is that Tiote and Newcastle’s star striker Demba Ba will both be gone for January for the African Cup of Nations. There’s going to be little joy for the foreseeable future, even if the team avoids the injury bug. Oh well.



I had to arm-twist a lot to get Nick outside Saturday afternoon. He’s turning into a total couch potato and I’m none too pleased about it. We did get out, however, and of course he and Gerry had a blast once we were outside. We walked to the grocery store and picked up meat pie for dinner and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I cooked dinner while the boys played. We ate, had ice cream and I indulged Nick a small glass of 7-Up with some popcorn after I put Gerry to bed. We watched Star Wars Episode III, which is Nick’s favourite Star Wars film, and I find absolutely dreadful. I have to stifle the urge to laugh out loud when I see Heyden Christensen and Natalie Portman *ahem* acting their way through a scene, but Nick loves it so I can deal with it.



Sunday was our designated lazy day where we played, snoozed, watched TV, surfed the net, and played video games. Usually by late Sunday afternoon, the boys start missing their mother, and are visibly showing it.



She usually comes at about 6, but this time it was almost 8 before she arrived to pick them up. She was unusually cheerful and chatty as well, but I think that has a lot to do with her moving out of her parents’ house, where her and the boys have been living for the past year. Who knows? The boys run off with mom, but Nick has actually been giving me big hugs before leaving. Last night was no exception.



The aftermath is clear after the boys leave. Toys are scattered everywhere, dishes stacked up beside the sink and virtually nothing is where it’s supposed to be. I’ll deal with that all tomorrow. I pour myself a gin and lime, take some ibuprofen and put my foot up. I have Black Books queued up in the DVD player and turn it on.



I sincerely hope Annie can make it work with this guy. Not because I particularly care about her happiness, but because it may provide Nick and Gerry with a little stability and it's something they sorely need.