I'm sure I'm not the only one going through this

The Mother and I have had a pretty decent relationship for some time, particularly after I managed to deliver up The Emperor/ First Grandson in fairly good condition. She shows her affection for him by basically letting him do whatever he wants when she's in charge.

So when she's in charge, he's in charge.

I left him at her house today because The Husband and I both had to work, and she was on leave. So the Imperial Chicken and I showed up unannounced, with his latest school project (2 painted Easter eggs) and gift (6 chocolate Easter eggs), at Grandma's house. Poor Grandma. I suspect she had plans.

Usually The Chicken will never let me leave him at Grandma's so I was really surprised when I asked him "Do you want to come with me to work, or do you want to stay at Grandma's house?" and he turned to me, looked at me seriously with his huge brown eyes and asked "Are you coming to get me later?" When I said "Er, yeah", he said "I want to stay here," and wandered off to play. Maybe it's a sign that he's getting more mature. He always seems to get right to the point when we have to sort these things out. Anyway, I was relieved.

In fact, it's just like when we tried to get him to sleep in his own bed. We asked him straight out if he would like to sleep in his own bed tonight. He looked at The Husband and I with the same huge brown eyes, and said "Are you coming?" When we said "Er, no", he said "Then I don't want to." Just like that. So cute. Makes my hair stand.

Anyway, this pregnancy is making me all rambly.

We went to pick him up in the evening, after work, and I had one of those wonderful heartwarming discussions with my mother that I really enjoy. Apparantly, in the course of the last 5 hours, she had allowed him to eat all 6 chocolate Easter eggs. Just what the doctor ordered. 6 low-quality chocolate Easter eggs. And then he couldn't eat his dinner because he was full. Put in a few mouthfuls of Emperor Porridge, and everything comes up again, porridge, chocolate syrup and a few unidentifiable lumps.

"You shouldn't allow him to eat so much chocolate" says my mother, to me.

"But I didn't allow him to eat all 6 eggs. YOU did. I wasn't even here!"

"Well you shouldn't have left 6 chocolate Easter eggs with him!" said my mother, who is never wrong.

"I didn't leave them with him. I left them with YOU. You could have said NO. You could have thrown them away. You could have hidden them. You didn't have to let him eat them."

"Anyway. You shouldn't allow him to eat so much chocolate." says my mother, who is never, ever, wrong.