Some afternoons with kids are just sub-par. Things started off so well today, what with a surprise chocolate donut with sprinkles as an after-school treat, a trip to the pet store to purchase two replacement fish (no additional deaths; just the original two), and a(nother) game of Forbidden Island.

Oliver, however, has been crying on and off since the pet store over a kitten named Garth that he desperately wants. One of the checkout women actually put her hand over her heart as she watched me attempt to console his tearful demonstration. Look, I love kittens and think there's little cuter than a darling face just begging you to take him home. Had I not been convinced T would consider moving out, I'd probably have adopted tiny Garth. But we have a burgeoning menagerie over here, so I kept telling Ol that "right now we just need to get these wonderful new fish home before their air runs out."

Of course the air situation wasn't that dire, but really, I had to get that boy out of that store!

We returned home, played said game of Forbidden Island and then Oliver remembered Garth, the "kitten with the blue necklace (collar)," and lost his business anew.

Jack, meanwhile, was all smiles and thrill until some invisible lever switched into the Hyde mode, and he went bonkers about Tom's request to "clean up the seaweed you spit into your own bath tub [another incident that left Oliver in mournful, aggrieved tears] and all over the floor." Jack actually said this request was unfair.

All you can do is laugh in a situation like this because that response and attempt at a decent argument is beyond asinine.

It was with real happiness, then, that I tottered off to back to school night in another pair of fabulous heels. And now I'm home and feeling newly grateful and incredibly inspired about the truly excellent teachers that guide my children through their school days. Wow.