I have achieved the ultimate feat.  I have conquered.  I have prevailed.

I tired Mario out today!

He got stuck with his mom all day while Maria got to hang with Emi and Eli.  Eli had a dance recital at the Rife Center (big time!) and Sherri called me to see if Ri wanted to go.  That is a no brainer.  Time with Emi and Eli versus time with mom and Mario.  Yeah, E&E every time. 

Mario and I dropped off Maria at 9:45 am.  On the way over to their house, Maria tried to teach Mario some letter recognition.  She is a born teacher taking after all of her Heile aunts.  She showed me Mario’s “grades” when she got out of the car.  She had a letter on the left side of the page and then anything from an “A+” to a “F-” on the right side of the page.  SHe reported to me that Mario had way too many grades under a “C” and two “F-s”.  I really needed to work with him if he was going to get better.  Yes, Ms. Teacher.

Mario and I headed to Giant Eagle first to get a watermelon for tomorrow but ended up with $90 worth of groceries, too.  Next, we swung down to Target to buy him a scuba set since he has been wanting to wear scuba gear for ages (a man after Papa Rod’s heart).  After Target, we unloaded the car and got on our bathing suits.  He agreed to a stroller ride to the pool so that I could get in a little run.  I was drenched by the time we arrived since it was already 88 degrees out at noon.  We “fought” in the pool throwing each other around and swimming away from each other.  We dove off the low dives (Mario loves doing cannonballs now).  We played in the baby pool.  We stayed for an entire three hours, which is long for us, and especially me since I entertained him the entire time.  We got a piece of pizza before we left and chowed it down on the picnic table.  All of the carbs added to the exercise must have done it.  Mario was out within five minutes of hitting the stroller seat.  I walked around town for an hour in order to let him sleep (as soon as you take him out of the stroller, he wakes up – he was like that even as a baby).  He finally woke up, and was in a lovely, cranky, “where am I” mood.  We walked in the house and he fell to the floor in the mud room.  He was still tired!  I could not believe my eyes.  This boy has not taken a nap for us in months, and even if he does, it is usually not longer than 45 minutes and he wakes up energized as ever. 

When he finally did get up, he was still exhausted.  I took a shower and he played on the computer.  We both looked like we had gotten run over by a mack truck.  We picked up Maria at 6 pm, and came home to veg.  We read some books, played in the sprinkler, took a quick bike ride, and both of them were asleep by 10 pm!  I know most parents are saying “10 pm? That is ridiculously late for kids!”  But not for mine – especially Mario.  His normal bedtime is 11 pm or after (even more so when Jon is gone).  And he still wakes up at 6:30 am.  He is super-human.  But not today – I wore him down to the bone.  Of course, I had high hopes that I could watch Veep or Girls on HBO after they fell asleep but I can barely keep my eyes open.  Seems that he wore me to the bone, too.  Rrrrr!