Friday

Sometimes, when there's a lot going on, especially when it's someone's birthday or there's a reason that we're all paying attention to someone else, Zane gets almost desperate for attention and starts throwing all of his effort into making people give him the attention that he feels he is due. And then he starts doing hilarious and ridiculous things like putting a hat over his face and pretending to be a Minecraft creeper so that he can be in the picture. Or he starts walking around asking people if they can do this with their nose too:

He had a playdate today with a friend of his from school that i really like. He's a kid that i'd be really happy if Zane stayed friends with - smart and nice and well-behaved. His friend came over after school, and the two of them disappeared into Zane's room and played Pokemon and cars and Lego for the next 2 hours until Friend's dad showed up to bring him home. 

(At one point, Houston came downstairs, scandalized, and said, "They're talking about boobs and butts up there!" Me: "Like...how?" Houston: "They're holding Legos up and saying, 'Lego boobs!' or 'Lego butt!'" Me: "I'm...not going up to stop that. It's fairly normal for boys, i'm afraid.")

Zane was SO sad when his friend had to leave. "But we didn't even get to do anything that i wanted to do!" As far as i know, the only thing they couldn't do was look at Minecraft, but maybe Zane had big plans that i didn't know about. 

Tonight was Friday, which traditionally means pizza-movie night, but Houston's not allowed to look at screens, so we had to switch it up today. We had pizza-game night instead. We played "What Were You Thinking," which is a great game to play with different age groups, because it doesn't matter what's right or wrong - it only matters if people agree with you. Even Zane, who was very unsure at the beginning, agreed that it was a fun game. Yay! Beth brought cupcakes, since she'd missed Houston's birthday, so we sang and had cupcakes for dessert, and everyone was happy. 

Houston update: I did end up keeping him home from school today, because not being able to read or write or look at screens seemed like a good enough reason to not go to school. Plus, he's supposed to be resting his brain. I did drag him to school with me for an hour and a half while i covered lunch and helped the teachers, and then to the store for groceries, and then i made him help with chores for a short time. Apparently that was plenty of work, because he ended up taking a nap. However, his head doesn't seem to be hurting much at all anymore, so that's a very, very good thing.