Yesterday I got up with Grant around 7, and we spent the day together. The twins were there too, but they are really chill right now, and I was able to give G Unit enough attention that he was just awesome all day.

First thing in the morning, we all walked to the Farmers Market. Grant’s cat, Eleven, followed us there, and played with the twins for awhile, while Grant and I shopped.

We bought honeycrisp apples, a cucumber, and a handful of honey sticks. I sat on a bench and drank my coffee while the twins played with some kids they found, and Grant divided his time between me, the water fountain, and the big kids. Eleven took himself home when a fire truck went screaming by, and we met him there when we walked back home.

Bob had gotten up early to help build King Street Park, which was going up in one day, with the help of a lot of volunteers. After we returned home, we all got changed out of our jammies, and we went to visit Bob at the site. I dropped the twins off with him, and Grant and I went to the grocery store.

On our way, we stopped by Wendy’s and I got fries and iced tea, and Grant got a jr Frosty and a small fry. He was thrilled with our vintage Wendy’s, which was fully empty, and we spent our time there trying our every. Single. Table.

Apparently I did not get Grant changed before our grocery run.

We got our groceries, including a bunch of Gatorade for the park volunteers, and went back to the park. I gathered up the twins and we all headed home.

At home, I did a little cleaning up and gave the kids lunch. I tried to get Grant to nap, but he just “helped” me do some crossword puzzles. He was very “helpful,” and absolutely sincere. We also did a giant floor puzzle of Thomas. Then Bob asked us to come back to the park, so we went back, grabbed some rakes and spent a few hours shifting mulch around.

Grant was awesome. He used a rake, he did what he saw the grown-ups doing, and he was actually helpful! The devil works hard, but Grant works harder. We did this for hours mind you. He took breaks to play with a little girl there (who he told me in confidence is his best friend), but mostly, he raked.

After the ribbon-cutting, I needed to hustle the boys back home (Eleanor stayed a bit longer with Bob) so I could clean the kitchen. My parents were coming over for dinner, and the house was a mess.

While I did the dishes, Grant kept busy with Henry. He also got his backpack out and was carefully packing and unpacking his swim stuff.

After my parents arrived, Bob suggested we pick up some cheese and other nibbles while the manicotti cooked. Quite naturally, Grant and I went to the store (second time that day!) He insisted on taking a purse, just like a grown-up.

Back at home, I fed the kids first, and then the grown-ups sat down to eat. Grant carried his bowl from the kitchen counter over to the big table, because he always likes to sit with the grown-ups. He sits (ish, usually a combination of hovering around the right place setting) and he makes conversation, and he beams at everyone. While we lingered over our plates, he finished up, got down, and played with a large cardboard box and one of his bigger cars.

After my parents left, it was time to bundle him off to bed. He has a box of books he loves (the box looks like a book, and inside are 12 small board books), and we only made it through four of the books in it before he asked for cuddles. He was getting comfortable and closing his eyes when he whispered to me about the tractors at the park. At bedtime, Grant has started to bring up things that happened during his day that he needs discussion around. Sometimes it’s how loud motorcycles are, whether fireworks are scary, if we did something particularly fun, etc. Last night, it was the two tractors that were moving the mulch around. One was little(er) and one was absolutely massive. We whispered a little about how cool they were, and then he drifted off to sleep, clearly exhausted by his very good day.