I love that we have reached a place where we can play act the things that were so difficult for us last year. He can pretend to refuse to go to school (to which I respond with lighting a match and telling him that that is his future going up in flames) but we both know he is going to school. I can wag my fist and tell him that if he doesn’t take a shower I am taking away his iPad, his shoes, his bedroom, his underpants, everything but we both know I don’t take things away any more and we also know that he showers on the regular.
Joking about these things keeps us connected to how much we both like this functional relationship that we have. Brief reminders of what the alternative is allows us to remember why we are here, how we got here and that here is way better.

Last night was shower night. I asked if he was taking a shower, he said he might. I have to admit I started getting frustrated after the 5th might so I walked away and started working on our family jigsaw. After a few minutes I heard:

Him: Mom, will you put some music on my iPad?

Me: I might

My Mother: I don’t think he got the significance of that

Him (to my mother): She said she might put the music on because I said I might have a shower.

He took a shower. I didn’t get around to the music but because I haven’t passed the deadline for when I said I would have the music done (we talked about it on Wednesday, I told him it would be done by Sunday) neither of us was bothered by me choosing to walk instead of sit at a computer.