First overnight
Maybe I’m trying to get too much done at once. I want to establish patterns early on. I think that makes more sense than making changes later. Right now we’re all dealing with changes, and one change is pretty much like another.
The pajama party went well. We got sushi at Whole Foods, came home to eat it, and watched Robots. Then I took him back to Beth’s house. (It’s hard not to type “and then took him home,” but as I said, I want to establish patterns early.)
Thursday Beth had to go to work early, so she brought him over around 7:30. She wasn’t going to come in — and I didn’t expect her to or even ask her to. But the boy was excited to show her his room with the balcony. So she came in after all. It’s a small house, easily seen in 3 minutes. She didn’t say anything to me.
Some time on Friday, Beth called me at work and said, “You didn’t say you wanted to come to Shabbat dinner, so I was thinking that the boy and I would do it alone.”
“I didn’t want to presume,” I said. “I didn’t want to invite myself over.”
She said she’d think it over, called me back a few hours later, and we ended up having Shabbat dinner at her house.
I make a point of not using my key when I go to her house. I knock, like anyone else would, and wait for her or the boy to open the door. Establishing patterns. I’ll have to give up my key at some point, I know.
Tonight, Saturday, I picked up the boy at 5:00pm, went out for sushi (I know how to cook, but I haven’t brought any meat into the house yet. I’m not quite ready to decide on that). We came back and watched another movie (Lilo and Stitch). Around 8:00pm it was time to go upstairs
He said he wanted to go home. I told him he was home. My home. Smart kid: “You know what I mean, Dad.”
But we went upstairs. I had gotten a toothbrush identical to the one he uses at Beth’s house. We brushed, got him into his pajamas, and in a little while, he fell asleep. So he’s asleep just across the hall from me. He says his room is too bare. Tomorrow we’re going to IKEA to look for bedroom stuff for him.