My Post Thanksgiving List

I have found myself laughing a lot this week, despite actually venturing out on Black Friday with a pinched nerve in my neck (Really! What was I thinking?!). After reading a number of other people's lists, I decided to write my own...everything will have to do with the kid, of course!

OK...I am thankful for, in no particular order:

• My son's use of choice words...like "Oh barnacles!" and "Tut-tut, wooks wike rain" and "Oh tartar sauce" and the newest and maybe the best "Oh fiddlesticks!" Which I will admit sounds a lot like "Oh pisticks!" And I try very hard not to laugh while I correct him.
• The way he always tells me good morning the second he wakes up.
• The way he offers to be very, very quite in case I want to "rest" which is what he calls it when I fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the day. (In my defense, I work nights.)
• The way he offers to do the dishes, and really means it...I find half dirty dishes stacked neatly on top of the clean ones in the sink strainer.
• The way he offers to help me move heavy things, 'cause he's "soooo strong!" (Picture a small boy flexing chubby arms here.)
• The way he shows me just where to rub his face, his feet, his arms, his hands, his head and his back just before he falls asleep in my arms.
• The way he sings Christmas carols, Fa La La La La, but then says his name is 'Ucas.
• They way he introduces me by my actual first name to strangers.
• The way he says, agreeably, "Maybe later" when he asks for something at the toy store and I say no, and then puts it right back and doesn't make a scene.
• My mother...I am endlessly thankful for my mother.

And, you know, this list could just go on and on. As hard as being a single parent can be, and as much as I never planned to raise a son alone, I am thankful a million times over to be this child's mother.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.