My mum and dad and Pop came down today for a family lunch. It was lovely to see them, and it would have been a perfect day except that Bright Eyes got really really anxious and irritable. He had a number of spack attacks against his brother and spent lunch time yelling and calling out and just generally being really difficult.

Mum and I had arranged for a possible 'sleepover' for him at her place, and I was just praying that he would get in the car and go with them.

I asked him a couple of times if he wanted to go: "You can go with Grandma, and you'll go swimming and have fun."

"NO I WON'T. I'LL JUST STAY HERE. I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE."

Finally, as they were ready to go, I said, "What movie would you like to take to Grandma's house? You can go choose it now."

Giggling and excited, he ran off to get Monster's Inc and then hopped straight in the car.

Why is it so? How does this work? I don't understand!

The postscript to this story is that when he got there, Monsters Inc didn't work on Mum and Dad's DVD player. But he coped with his disappointment and moved on! He was happy, friendly, lovely. I'll be enjoying the two peaceful nights.