Birthdays and boogers

Monday was my birthday.  I told the boys that I wanted two things for my birthday: I wanted to go out to eat and I wanted them to be on their best behavior all day.

TJ and Nolan were awesome until we got back from the restaurant.  Then there may have been a re-enactment of a Civil War battle in the upstairs hallway.  It wasn't pretty.

Sam was an angel all day.  When we got back from dinner, Bill gave me a couple small gifts he had picked up.  Sam was looking concerned during this.  He had signed a rather cute birthday card (as had TJ and Nolan), but Sam clearly felt he hadn't done enough.  He disappeared for 15 minutes and came back with a card he had made himself.  I hugged him a complimented him, but he still wasn't satisfied.  "I didn't get you a present," he kept saying.  I kept telling him that I didn't need a gift, but he clearly thought I was lying.

He left and came back, carrying $2.  It's all the spending money he has.  He wanted to give it to me.  Okay.  Big lump in my throat.  I gently told him that I would never take all of his money, but that it meant so much to me that he was willing to share it.  Sam smiled, then frowned and disappeared again.  He returned a third time with a small, hard ball in his hand.

He explained to me that when Bill was digging the trenches in the yard for the sprinklers, he and Sam discovered that our soil is pretty lousy.  It's basically just clay.  So Sam dug out some of the clay, and spent some time rounding it into the perfect ball.  When it dried, you couldn't even tell it was something a child had made.

I again thanked Sam sincerely, but I also told him that just seeing what he had made was special to me.  I told him that having him behave and be sweet and loving meant more to me than any present.  Sam still looked puzzled, but he finally decided to give me a big birthday hug and give up.  Clearly, moms are too difficult to shop for.

The next day, I discovered that someone had left me a rather unpleasant gift on the wall in the stairwell.  A large booger was smeared on the wall.  One thing that dries harder than Sam's clay is a booger.  Oh, lovely.  I soaked it for awhile and then scrubbed.  Got the booger off, along some of the drywall.  Oh, lovely.  I guess it's a good thing that we hadn't painted the stairwell yet.