Around Here | Weekend Words + iPhone Photos

One of my professional/personal goals right now is to work during the week and not on the weekends - at least not be in my office and sit at my desk like I do during the week.

There's usually lots of good things that happen (stories to tell) when I meet that goal.

On Saturday I roasted vegetables and a chicken.

The biggest excitement of the weekend was Simon eating everything on his plate without major drama at being presented foods that are not his daily favorites. He ate regular portions of roasted chicken, carrots, and potatoes (vs. the two bites of chicken, one of carrot, etc that we usually encourage). There was no falling out of his chair, no talk of "dieing foods," no digging in to protest with tons of whining (all of which we are all too familiar with).

Initially he wasn't happy about it, but it didn't escalate like it has so many times before.

We sat at the table, the four of us, each with the very same things on our plates.

It was cause for a little celebration.

I think for me one of the biggest things I was celebrating is that it feels like we are starting to be able to reason with him. I'm not sure if that's really what's happening, but it feels like it might be happening. It's one of those things where you almost hold your breath as you wait to see if it's a pattern or a one time thing.

While he was eating it (and while we weren't making a big deal out of it) he said in his matter-of-fact-manner, "Mom where did you discover these foods that I will like?" I told him they were foods that Daddy and I liked and that we thought he would like them because they taste good...and that we don't have any plans to make him eat anything we don't like.

Whatever the reason for this awesome little breakthrough, it was cool.

We celebrated with chocolate ice cream.

I also washed and folded loads of laundry. In our house laundry usually comes out of the laundry room and onto the couch for folding before being put away upstairs.

We made a Target run for some essentials (and a pack of two small artificial lighted trees that were $10 off). Heading out in PJ's and sweatshirts is an easy way to get out the door. We made a pit stop on the baby doll aisle (those dolls move when you walk by them and Anna can't get enough) and the Lego aisle.

We talked about Santa and wishes and making a list and we waved bye bye to the toys.

Anna and I had a little adventure over to Goodwill to scope out the basket selection and came home with these glasses that were $.99 a piece. Significantly better price than the ones I was looking at online earlier in the day.

There are many other stories from this weekend including a really good one about a baseball glove that I'm saving for another day. There's a story about Simon not telling the truth (and as a good friend and teacher told us the other day, that's actually a good developmental sign). There's a story about Anna doing some awesome pretending playing "jump" with a little Dora doll in her Anna-sized kitchen. There's a story about Chris working way too hard. There's a story about me not wanting to wish away the toddler times that are sometimes frustrating and exhausting. There's a story about Simon watching the movie Hook and loving it. There's a story about the two of them sitting at our table on Sunday morning looking through the toy ads. There's a story about how I like having a college football game on in the background in the middle of the day on Saturday.

I love the stories that come from just being here and doing the basic stuff of our lives.

I love weekends at home.