So yesterday Norton brought his kids over for a visit, and I was roughly as nervous as if I had been asked to entertain the Obamas.

Y’all know how I am about Other People’s Children. I tolerate them. I frequently house them, feed them, and let them camp out in my yard; still, I do not exactly love them, particularly if they are little monsters, and these kids are two and four, so I have to admit I was worried about the little monster factor.

When Norton talks about his kids they seem great, but every parent talk about their kids as if they have rainbows shooting out of their precious little hineys, so I have to admit I took all of this with the proverbial grain of salt.

I cleaned up the yard a bit and washed off all of the outdoor toys, of which we have a little slide, a little car, a wagon, balls of every size, a hippity hop, and basically everything that would make my yard attractive to the under-five set, including a swing set. My yard attracts every kid in the neighborhood for good reason – we have Kiddie Crack.

Norton showed up with the kids in the late afternoon, and I have to admit that they are some seriously good-looking children. So good-looking, in fact, that it made my uterus hurt. The two-year-old toddled up my front steps and smiled at me, eyes as big as dinner plates, and I was pretty much a goner.

The four-year-old was cute and funny and sat at my dining room table discussing his favorite color and his favorite number and his invisible dog Larry and also won me over pretty damned quickly. I don’t know whether these kids were just acting pristine for company fresh from naps or whether they are usually that good, but I was impressed.

I showed them the cats and the hamster, and there was no grabbing or pulling of tails or shrieking, and that impressed me too.

We all went outside to play, along with the J-Man (and the kid from down the street, who I of course have had the entire weekend), and they were funny and fun and well-behaved. I got caught up in a rollicking game of freeze tag that lasted a solid hour, and it was actually a pretty good time. (I almost died from actually getting up off of my fat ass and running, but it was fun.)

The J-Man is notoriously great with little kids. He always likes having them around and is patient and very good with them. I sometimes suspect he likes to play with them more than he likes playing with kids his own age. For this reason I have him volunteering to be a helper at the school’s Vacation Bible School this summer, where he will be a teacher’s aide with the little-kid classes.

Anyway, we had a good time. I was charmed. I didn’t expect to be, but I was.

Norton is a good dad. It says a lot about him, watching him with his kids.

In other news, we painted the bathroom this weekend, and GOD, ISN’T THAT EXCITING??

I KNOW.

I’m so sick of revamping this house.

You have no idea.

This week I have another neurologist appointment, in which I am supposed to pick up a ten-page form that he is supposed to have filled out for me for disability. I have twenty bucks that says he fills out exactly one page before giving up.

How was your weekend?

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