Damn That Ice Cream

I don’t know what came over me today; I just wasn’t thinking. It had been such a good day for both of us. We went for a hike on the Old Indian Trail to the Lake Michigan lookout. It was about a mile each way, and on the way back it started to rain. The thing is, we both took it in stride. Anyone who has been to Disney with me knows that I am FOUL when I get rained on, but for whatever reason, this didn’t affect me the same way. I was actually civil when Richard (my knight in shining armor) met us at the trailhead and drove us back to the Lakehouse in a warm van. I didn’t even have to call him. He knew to come and find us. I just love that man.

Later in the day, Hayes and the neighbor kid had a blast swinging, playing in the sandbox, playing croquet. They were incredibly kind to each other and played like only little boys can. Every croquet mallet became a machine gun. And his fever seems to be on the outs. It’s very low grade if there at all.

Feeling invincible, I took Hayes to go play mini golf this evening and, as is our usual practice, to get ice cream after. The mini golf was a blast. He was so encouraging and sweet; he didn’t even want to keep score because it was our first time out. This is a golf rule we have. We didn’t stop at our usual ice cream place, but at a stand on our way home. And I realized tonight, at bedtime, that the strawberry ice cream he had, must have been full of red dye. (In my defense, it looked like vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries in it – I do realize looks can be deceiving.)

He was a MESS. Of course he was. He couldn’t get himself together after his shower in order to get dressed. He kept getting out of bed, finding new reasons to cry after the first wave of tears was spent, complaining that he was so tired he couldn’t get to sleep, making unreasonable requests; typical dye reaction stuff. I don’t even think he brushed his teeth. It just wasn’t worth the fight. I am such a dork. How did I manage to do that?! And things had been going so well.

Oh well; as they say, tomorrow is another day.