A lull in the hostilities.

After an exceptionally nasty weekend, in which no-one (and especially me) could do anything right, the teen walked in the door after school Monday, threw his bookbag to the floor and slammed the door hard enough to shake the house.

I had the girls in the tub. The preschooler had gotten into the syrup and her hair was basically a helmet from all the sugary goo encrusted in it. The baby had been eating blueberry yogurt and had painted her hair an interesting shade of purple. Complete immersion seemed the only possible solution.

So, when I heard the door and the books I felt grateful I wasn't out there. The baby was ready to get out, but I waited until I heard him gallop down the stairs to the basement, then slam that door, before I came out with her. I left the preschooler alone in there, something I don't usually do, but since she's even more of a lightning rod to him than I am I wanted her out of reach.

As I finished re-diapering the baby, the teen came back upstairs. I picked her up and headed back to the master bathroom where the preschooler was noisily splashing water onto the linoleum around the clothes hamper.

And then he shocked me. He smiled.

It was an apologetic smile, an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry," he said, and held out his hand.

Of course, I forgave him, instantly. It's funny how you can just brush away so much from someone you love, as soon as they say they're sorry. And it was genuine. I really think so. I don't think he was trying to put anything over one me. He really felt sorry. And that made everything all right again.

I shook his hand, smiled back, and told him it was obvious he'd had a bad day.

We exchanged a few more comments, but the heart of it was right there. Apology, forgiveness.

He was a real sweetie the rest of the evening, and today, too. Pleasant, thoughtful, kind - he even hugged the preschooler.

I don't know what's happened, and I'm not looking forward to the inevitable time when he reverts, but I am kind of hoping that maybe this means he's starting to grow out of this stage. Maybe we'll start to see more of this kind of agreeable behavior.