Wednesdays with Leo; S.2, Part 3

"When you come next week", I told Leo last Wed., "you'll be the first to see the cabinets being put into place."

And so he was.

 Leo cracked up when I told him I wanted to take a picture of him sitting where the new sink will be.

Seeing as how the house was in disarray, we decided to have some quiet time at "Ma's house" first and then head over to Martha's for some outdoor playtime and lunch.

Leo and I spoke about all the pumpkin decorations we saw during our drive and he mentioned that he had 3 pumpkins on his front steps ~ decorated by him and Luca.  

"So what about Paul?", I asked.  

"I think he's too little to paint pumpkins but I know his favorite color is blue," ~ (Cookie Monster!!) ~ so as we spent some quiet time, I printed up a pumpkin picture for Leo to color for Paul. 

He wanted one for himself as well, so 2 were printed and colored. 

Driving to Martha's, I told Leo that I had quite a busy day ahead of me:

I had to drive back home from his school, get Poppi's truck and drive back to Martha's to pick up the hand truck. Then I had to bring the hand truck home and drive Poppi's truck back to Enfield to pick up the new dishwasher.

"What!! You're driving Poppi's truck?! You don't know how to drive his truck!"

"Of course I do.  I drive it all the time."

"What?! How can you do that? Did Poppi teach you how to drive it?" 

"No.  I've always known how to drive a truck, Willis."

"That's silly, Arnold!  You driving a truck."

"But it sure does sound like you're going to have a busy day.  Just like me.

First to your house and then to Lucia's house and then to school and then back home. We are 2 very busy people today!"

This is where we found Lucia when we arrived; in her tire swing and not quite sure what to do with herself.

Martha grabbed Leo and placed him in the toddler swing which, of course, caused Lucia to want to be there as well.

                                                         These 2.  Could they be any cuter?

And then it was time to play house.  Leo cooked us some yummy burgers and hot dogs, complete with ketchup.

It's such a treat to be able to go to Martha's and play with Lucia when Leo visits me.  Sometimes he'd rather not, or so he's told me in the past.  But I think that as long as we land here first, or come back before he heads off to school, he's a happy camper.
Martha and I spoke to him about visiting "Ma's house" with Lucia when it was in order again and he seemed to like that idea.

Last week Leo told me he had 5 costumes to choose from for Halloween.  And then he proceeded to ask me which one I wanted him "to be".
Yikes!  I don't like these questions because I'm always afraid I'm going to give the wrong answer, as in, does-he-really-want-to-be-what-I choose-and-I-really-couldn't-care-less-who-he-chooses...

So I deflected.

"When you wake up on Halloween, or when it comes time to trick-or-treat, I'll bet you'll know exactly "who" you want to be!"
"But I want YOU to tell me who I should be."
So I chose the pirate costume and all I can say is that Leo became instantly quiet and that the subject was just as instantly dropped.

I wondered today if Leo would ask again...or make any reference to his costumes.
Nothing.
Which has me confirming my initial instinct: don't tell a child what you want him to be for Halloween!

I'll let you know, of course, whom Leo becomes on that eventful day.