Tonight my stepson and I went on our own outing, just the two of us. I was so nervous. What if he got bored? What if we didn’t have anything to talk about? Who knows what could have gone wrong.

I picked him up and gave him a couple of choices for dinner. He picked Inn & Out Burger. He had never been. Item #1 I didn’t know about my stepson. I love Inn & Out Burger. He found it odd that they only had like 7 things on their menu to choose from.

I also had a book for him that I had picked up at Target that I thought he would like. Boy did he like it. He immediately started reading it in the car and didn’t want to get out for dinner. He wanted to keep reading. I was so stoked. Not only was it a great gift, but if I could give this kid one gift in life it would be the love of reading. I absolutely love reading. It is a huge passion of mine. And to see someone else reading with the same frenzy {and he is so young} is very inspiring for me.

During dinner we rambled on about all these miscelanous things – movies, video games, school, his biomom and his trip coming up, his dad and I and out current “break”. A comment I found really hard to take was his interpretation of our “break” was that “Daddy doesn’t want to live with mean people.” That was what he got out of his conversation with his dad about why I was living with my parents at the present time. Uhg. That hurt. I mentioned it to my husband when I got back, he laughed and said he didn’t say anything to that effect. He want sure where he got it from. Double ouch. Kids pretty much say it like it is. I obviously need to spend more time working on my anger and how I treat him. That would be another good use of this time apart.

After really great time at dinner I took him to one of those painting places where you pick out a piece of pottery and then paint it. I had to talk him out of a $45 ginormous piece. That was quite funny. Then, he picked out a couple of smaller pieces and I had to convince him to just work on one and then he could work on the other if he finished. He was really easy going. He painted furiously for about 20 mintues, then I looked over and he was zoned. He was watching other people, craining his neck around to see what they were doing. He did this for about 15 minutes before I realized he was tired. It was nice and peaceful to be able to be with him and not worry about talking. We could just enjoy each others company. Then I let him know we only had about another half hour, which really got him working on his dog again. He is so creative. He really does such a good job with things that he can create anything with.

The last time we did this togther he was constantly frustrated about how badly he was painting and how the paint kept mixing with the other colors. I was glad that this time he seemed so much more at ease.

Then about the last ten minutes he kept saying, “But I am not done. Can we come back tomorrow? I really need to finish this.” Cracks me up. I am so glad he had such a good time. He didn’t want to leave his dog so they could fire it. A really good sign.

On the way home he asked me if I could stay over tonight. I said, “I didn’t think it was a good idea, but maybe another time.” He kept at though. Thankfully, I think he misses me.

He also mentioned some other things he would like to do in the future on our nights out like watch movies {ie: rent them and watch them with dad}.

So all in all he is doing okay. I was a little worried. I wasn’t sure how he would take this situation. His biomom constantly tells him she will call and doesn’t or says she will visit and she doesn’t. I don’t want to be like that. I want him to be able to count on me always. I told him, more than a few times, that he can call me anytime.

Kids are so resilient. I wish I was that okay with things.

Looking forward to our next outing and I plan to keep this up when {if, gulp} I move back home.