fresh cut grass

I love the smell. What's even better is when there is the scent of fresh cut grass combined with true clean air. It's a pleasant aroma, if you will, that can't be captured by even Yankee Candle. Now isn't that somethin'?

The cause for my fondness of fresh cut grass comes after my wonderful start to the day.

Today was one of those mornings that proves to me that I am indeed a good mom. Peanut and I woke up extra early because we were picking up a dog to bring to Richmond to get spayed. She needed to be at Prevent a Litter no later than 8am so that meant we needed to leave our house by 7am.

After we had dropped the dog off, I stopped him on the sidewalk before getting into the car to give him a hug. Sometimes I can just tell when he needs one. Giving the hug back Peanut said, "I'm going to miss Toya."

It's funny when he says he's gonna miss all these dogs we help transport because we have 3 dogs and 3 cats at home, yet they don't seem to be enough anymore.

I pulled him away to get a better look at his face (I have kneeled down onto the sidewalk to give him the hug). Then I said, "You know what this means?"
Him: "What?"
Me: "I'm making you into a dog lover - an animal lover - and that's great because you'll be nice to animals for a long time, even when you don't live with me anymore."
Him, smiling: "Yeah!"

Then Peanut and I headed off to have breakfast together. Not the usual meal where I'm rushing to fix his lunch, eating bites of my cereal in between telling him for the 4th time to eat his yogurt instead of staring at the tv. Or the rush to get his teeth and hair brushed.

Nope, we did what any mom/son should when presented with an extra hour and went to breakfast at a local restaurant.

He picked our seat, which is great fun for him. Of course he sat facing the tv since he had noticed they had the Today Show on. He recognized it because we wake up to it almost every morning; it connects me to the day.

The waitress came and asked us what we would like to drink. I have prompted Peanut to give his own drink/food orders to waitstaff because he's getting older now. He knows what he wants and he definitely has his own mouth in which to disperse certain demands.

When she brought his milk and my o.j., he said Thank You without my prompting. Naturally I beamed and told him what a great kid he was to say Thank You as it showed he had good manners.

His response: "I know. You're making me into a great boy, right?"

I wanted to cry. He'll be 6 on August 18, just days away. When he says stuff like that to me I just want to hug him and never let go. And he reiterated that yes, I am truly making him into a great boy.

Then he went on about how I'm making him into an animal lover, a mommy lover, a daddy lover, a nana/papa lover, a sister lover, a cousin lover and so on.

Then he started talking about forgetting to say Thank You sometimes and he needs to get better. I admitted that sometimes, I, too, forget to say Please and Thank You but have gotten a lot better about it since I make him do it so much.

The stinker looks right at me and says, while smiling, "You can't make me do anything I don't want to do."

I must have told him this phrase 100 times. It's what I tell him when he says something like, "Well Niece made me do it!" My usual rebuttal is the same my mom used to tell me, "No one can make you do anything. You have a choice the entire time."

So damn, he's been listening all along!

An older gentleman who had been dining by himself came up to us and also agreed that this had been a great bonding moment and that I would not forget this day ever. I love it when stuff like that happens, don't you?