In which L walks to the doctor's office full speed ahead

So today L had a doctor's appointment to get his HPV vaccine at 10 am.  The doctor's office is only about 10 blocks from our house and when we were ready to leave, I said we were walking. 

L: Why?
M:  Because I need the exercise.   
L:   But I already worked out today!  C'mon!...  I'm tired.  Why do we have to walk.  (keeps insisting)

The above conversation clearly isn't our exact  words;  I'm trying to convey that L is a bit on the confrontational side.  Plus he has some trouble with please and thank you.  This is something I've been trying to explain to L: the "catch more flies with honey" concept.  V is especially sensitive to L's tone and she responds to it with a complete unwillingness to make concessions, and that is not who she usually is...  That's not a complaint about V; in fact I'm grateful to her for keeping me aware.  It's hard to explain how easy it is to just stop noticing the tone except when it goes waaaay overboard, and I'd miss a chance to work on a life-lesson.

Back to today: I refused to drive.  and I told him that I wouldn't change my mind. 
L:   "You're showing me that you'll stick to your guns when faced with a reasonable request."
M:  "I'm showing you that I won't reward rude behavior."

So, L walks out the door full speed ahead calling over his shoulder, "Okay, let's go to the doctor's."
I was out the door 30 seconds later or so, but L was walking fast.  I managed to catch up to him at one stop light but then he pulled ahead again and I was 1/2 a block behind him the whole way.  I was getting that terrible stress-response laughter that I get and trying not to giggle so that I could conserve my oxygen... but, of course, there was something funny about it.

Anyway, in the doctor's office they asked us to stay for 15 minutes after the shot to make sure L wasn't going to have any reaction/dizziness especially since it turned out that he hadn't eaten any breakfast (Oops... maybe I should have driven, I was thinking).  Plus it was hot  hot  hot.  But when we left there, we were fine.  All was forgiven for everyone.  

I made him a lovely breakfast... cheese omelet, sliced potatoes heated in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper and fresh garlic, whole wheat sour dough bread from the farmer's market, toasted with butter.   When I asked him if the food had been good, he was picking up the last crumbs... and he said, "Okay." 

I will continue to try to get the message to L: trite but true - a little manners go a long way.   He is a good kid but he has been blessed with the adolescent sense of (I'm stopping because it is just too complex to describe here).  You'll have to take my word for it that he can also be a doll.

And I really do need to do more exercise.  puff