Who Are You People (and What Have You Done With My Kids?)

Sunday was just one of those... perfect, magical days. The kind of days when it occurs to you, for a small moment (and then you knock wood and make the sign to ward off evil), that maybe, just maybe... you might just be doing something right with these kids of yours.

It never lasts long, that feeling, but sometimes it's enough to put some wind in your sails.

The day started when my husband had to leave for a work-related function. Jane (7) got up in time to see him leave and then, I swear I had no intention of offering this, I actually volunteered to make her chocolate chip pancakes.

I know what you're thinking: what's so bad about chocolate chip pancakes?

But see, Jane doesn't eat the pancake part. So the pancake is really just a vehicle for her to have chocolate for breakfast.

Which, okay, I'm not ENTIRELY opposed to, as a rule for, um, ME, but with Jane, the sugar rush almost always results in a bad, horrible, no good, very bad mood during the sugar CRASH.

There is usually screaming.

Which messes with my Sunday Zen, you know?

Sunday, however, there was no screaming. AND she helped make the pancakes and cleared her plate afterward. Then Ana (10) got up and I offered to make some for her and she said, "May I just have plain pancakes, please? Chocolate for breakfast makes my tummy hurt."

I began to have the suspicion that my children had been replaced by aliens.

So, THEN, I asked everyone to get dressed because we needed to go to the grocery store. And, by golly, they actually DID.

Our trip to the grocery store was one of the most pleasant I've had in ages... and you know how that NEVER happens to us.

Ana found a book that she'd been waiting to be released and it was 25% off! (Also never happens to me.) Jane found a Polly Pocket set that she really wanted to spend her very own money on--and she was so cute counting out the $5.42 for it that I thought the cashier was going to CRY.

We came home and the girls helped unpack the groceries! And then Ana disappeared with her new book
and Jane opened up her Iron Bead business
and I had a long stretch of time which I used to clean my house. I love to start the week off with a nice clean house. Needless to say, this almost never happens.

At lunch, Ana generously picked one of her beautiful tomatoes and gave it to me for my sandwich. (Our garden is almost spent.)

It was a spectacular day, too, so we did some lounging about outside and then, since my husband was running late, I cooked the steak dinner all by myself and didn't even set anything on fire. The girls ate well, Ana reached page 500 of Bresingr, we had baths, picked out clothes for the next day and everyone went to bed with no protest.

I don't know. It was a perfect day and so naturally, I got sadder and sadder as the day went on. Because that's what I do, I guess, whenever it become apparent that my children are growing up and the seasons are changing and life is forging ahead, whether I am ready or not.