Thankful Thursday | I kinda like to be the president, so I can show you how your money's spent

• I am grateful for the rumble of the dryer which puts my tireless kid to sleep.
• I am grateful when I open the blinds in Martigan's bedroom and catch a rabbit in the yard on the other side of his window.
• I am grateful for thunder so loud and booming it shakes the building and sounds like a giant approaching.
• I am grateful that only moments after I come inside from my walk, a downpour starts, and I am grateful for the percussive sound of rain on the metal roof at work.
• I am grateful for the arrival of autumn in grocery stores--mums out front, trick-or-treat candy bags on end caps, orange and black Halloween greeting cards, plastic trick-or-treat pails with jack-o-lantern faces grinning, pumpkin Krispy Kreme donuts.
• I am grateful to come home to a bouquet of orange flowers and a black & orange circle scarf (with little black tassels!), out of the blue gifts from my honey on a day I feel particularly achey and unapproachable.
• I am grateful for the Scooby Doo movies Wolfman and Mads bring home, the familiarity of those voices, the way they feed my inner child and make me laugh, the joy of my son experiencing and loving these characters and scenarios that were so beloved to me and his dad when we were kids.
• I am grateful for Mads singing War's "Why Can't We Be Friends" in the back seat of the car.
• I am grateful for the imprints of last night's rainfall in the sandpit at the playground.
• I am grateful for my 90s era paisley Victoria's Secret robe--thrifted by Grandma and generiously given to me when I expressed admiration for it--because it could've been worn by Vincent Price or Christopher Lee's Dracula; it is flamboyant and jewel-toned, lush and luxe.
• I am grateful to pick up my son's toys from the floor when he is asleep at night, because it reminds me that he is real and he is here--to be blessed with a son is more than I could've dreamed or hoped for.
• I am grateful for the way my husband makes me feel worshipped under his gaze and hands.
• I am grateful for the patience and tenderness and humor of Wolfman as he explains Lio comics to our son.
• I am grateful for the first customer to ask me, "You have a dog?" on the day I've adopted Atalanta.
• I am grateful for a spider web in the trees, blowing in the breeze like a sheet on the line.

"Why Can't We Be Friends," War

Madmartigan, 4 Years Old |

About Mads, 4 Years & 1 Month Old:

• Rather than "cannon ball," Mads shouts, "Canny Ball!" as he tosses his Bumblebee transformer into the full kiddie pool in the back yard.
• When he wears his Spider-Man web slinging glove in combination with his Batman mask, he is Spider Bat (a hero of his own invention).
• He practices new words and their definitions like so: "He's a bandit. He takes things that aren't his. He's a bandit."
• Mads is also practicing good manners and politeness diligently. For example, "Mommy, I would like it if you would please wipe my butt." 
• Mads sometimes refers to his dad as "your husband" when talking to me.
• Mads says, "Mommy, I'm going to throw up on you," and mimics vomiting first thing in the morning. We're working on not making rude noises (vomit, farts, burps) in restaurants, which is difficult when I'm not as strict about not making those noises at home in our kitchen.
• Mads says, "Remember when I was 3, and you picked me up all the time and you were always close to me?"
• This month: Mads wrote his first song, he got his hair cut at a barber shop with his dad, he did a lot of art projects including learning how to collage in his journal.
• Favorite books: Curious George and Batman easy readers
• Favorite movies/shows: Justin Time (always)