This morning as a special treat I invited Finn to come out for morning coffee with me. Nathan and I talked last night and decided that perhaps part of his recent bad behavior has to do with a case of sibling rivalry. His sister has, since her hospitalization especially, received more than her share of our attention, and, as a toddler who now gets into things and spends a good portion of her time expressing her frustration at the toddler-conflict of having a comprehension level that outpaces her verbal ability, she demands our time in a way that Finn no longer does. I'm a first-born as well, and so is Nathan, so we appreciate to a certain extent what Finn's going through. We expect more of him (because he's older), he's obligated to share everything with her, and he often gets in trouble when she's the one screaming ("What did you do to your sister?!"... etc.). So we figure he might need a solo outing with one or the other of us now and then in order to remind him that he is loved and to offer a bit of a "big-boy" reward for all of the responsibilities suddenly foisted upon him with his sister's arrival in our family.

That was a long introduction to our morning, but to get to the point, Finn accompanied me downtown to our favorite brasserie for coffee this morning. I had some reading to do for class, so I told him he'd need to take his book with him and read to himself while I did my work. I had a few misgivings about his ability to let me do my work, but he was fabulous. He drank his limonade quietly and looked at his book and people-watched. Afterward, we stopped by a bookstore at his request and looked for a "monster" book he thought he'd seen in the window last week, then hit the patisserie for morning pastries and the day's baguette. It was a delight to have this little "date" with my son, and given this little bit of privilege he proved himself more than able to live up to my expectations for him. I was so proud of him, and reminded that sometimes we all just like to be reminded that we matter.

As Finn and I walked back to the apartment I told him that this is the start of our last week in Hyeres; Saturday we leave for Paris, then, very shortly, for home. He visibly shivered and said, "Mom, I'm so super excited for Paris!"

I smiled. "Me too," I told him. "I've wanted to see Paris since I was a little girl, and I can't wait."

He squeezed my hand in understanding.