Being the boy's helper

This morning, after realizing that Hubby would not be staying home all day like he had the past three days (hurrah for long weekends!), the boy decided that he would just have to make the best of it and play with me - life's rough! But since I was a fairly willing participant, he decided that he could just about make do with only me.

Normally the boy likes to play with me for a bit, and then go and do his own thing, provided that I'm within chattering distance, so that he can keep up a steady flow of conversation about what he's doing and how he's doing it. "Mummy, look, see what it is I'm doing" is a frequent refrain in our house. Today, it was determined that since it was so nice outside, after I had hung up the laundry, we would continue to play outside.

I figured this meant watching him pushing his lawn mower around, or kicking a soccer ball back and forth. Apparently the boy had other ideas. He decided he was going to do some gardening, which involved digging in my garden (he has a spot where he is allowed to do this) and then having me pass him his tools as he 'planted' things. I felt like I was a nurse assisting in an operating room, but instead of "scalpel, suction, gauze" I got the demands of "trowel", "shovel", "fork." It was fun though, and it meant we got to spend the morning out in the beautiful sun. Somehow, I don't think he's going to be quite as enthused being my helper to clean the bathroom this afternoon!