The excitement of Christmas has the boys on edge, and it has made for some tense moments where they just can't bring themselves to behave. This morning, Daniel was playing with his new remote control car, and sent it down the stairs. This is something he was told numerous times yesterday not to do, with the warning that he would lose the car for the day if he didn't obey. So, the car went down the stairs and then went to the basement. He told Mary that if he didn't get the car back, he was going to take all of his pajamas and clothes and leave (bonus points for preparing for night... something I never did when I threatened to run away).

He stomped upstairs, then came back down and said he needed the blue bag and a suitcase, which were the things we used when we packed for our trip to Evanston over the weekend. I gave him the blue bag. He came back down a bit later and issued one last ultimatum. Give him back the toy, or he would run away. I told him goodbye. He went upstairs and banged around for a while, then came back down and, on the verge of tears, said that he didn't really want to go. I pulled him onto my lap and told him I was glad about that. I figured he was near tears because of the thought of leaving, but instead it was more practical: He had taken all of his pajamas, underpants and socks out of his dresser, and was having a difficult time getting them back in the right spots. 

I went up and everything from that drawer was out and on his floor. We got it all put back. As we came back downstairs, he said, "Dad, as I was packing the blue bag, I thought to myself, do I want to leave and make Dad, Mom and Edward sad, or do I want to stay and make them happy? I decided to make you happy."