“Sorry. One moment again.” Blair turned around to face Nolan once again. “Chill, bro. The fries are for me. I already got your apple slices.”

“Apple slices. Apple slices.” Nolan kicked his feet and whipped his head back and forth so hard, Blair worried he might give himself whiplash.

“Fine. Fine.” Let’s try this again . “I’ll actually take the apple slices with that one too.”

“And is that everything now?” The employee didn’t try to hide their annoyance this time around.

“Yep. That’s everything.”

Blair was happy when they made it back to the house with no further meltdowns. After getting inside, she cleaned the mess from earlier off of the table and replaced it with their new meal.

Blair had barely finished dipping her first chicken nugget in barbecue sauce before Nolan finished all of his fries. He held the empty box in the air. “More!”

Blair pointed to the untouched bag of apple slices. “Why don’t you eat those? I know how much you wanted them.”

Nolan picked up the bag, studied it, then threw it across the room. “No! No apples.”

Blair took a deep breath as she tried to not completely lose her shit. “You told me you wanted apples, remember? You screamed about it loud enough for everyone in the state of Pennsylvania to hear.”

“No!” Nolan pointed to the fries sitting in front of Blair. “Give me yours!”

Blair gritted her teeth. “Seriously?”

“Please.” Nolan pushed out his bottom lip, and it really looked like he might start to cry. Not a tantrum cry, but a real tears cry. Blair couldn’t handle real tears, so she pushed the box of fries in front of Nolan.

His face immediately lit up. “Thanks! You can have the apples.”

“Gee. Thanks. It’s all I ever wanted.”

“You’re welcome,” Nolan said, completely oblivious to her sarcasm.

After fighting with Nolan until she finally got him to eat two chicken nuggets, it was time to go to the pool.

As soon as they walked out the door, Nolan held his arms up toward her. “Shoulders!”

With how today was going so far, Blair had no doubt he would run into traffic if she didn’t do what he wanted, so she bent down and lifted him onto her shoulders.

“Yay! Go, car, go.” Nolan grabbed ahold of Blair’s head and pretended it was a steering wheel, moving it in all sorts of odd directions throughout the whole walk.

Blair was relieved when he begged to get down as soon as they arrived at the pool. She was even more relieved when they made it through their time there without any more tantrums. Nolan surprisingly didn’t even complain when Blair told him they had to leave so they could be home when his mom got back from work.