Breakfast Date.

Lately, it seems as though each of our kids would really prefer to by only children. 

While that wish must remain a unobtainable fantasy, sometimes I let them pretend that they have no other siblings to compete with. 

A favorite way for us to do this, is to go on a just one kid breakfast date. These dates are great... they give me a chance to focus absolutely on a single kid for a complete thirty minutes. I make it a personal rule to never ever be critical or grumpy during those dates (hey, it's only thirty minutes- I can do that) and this model works well. During our time together, I remind the kid in front of me just how completely fantastic kid they are, and they enjoy every single minute.... what's not to love? 

Most of the time the conversation is pretty routine, but every now and again I learn a little snippet about the sort of people my kids are becoming. 

The other morning Jamie looked up from his pancakes and told me..."I think that music is my thing."

 I asked..."what do you mean by your thing?"

"The thing that I like to do when I'm not doing something I have to do, like school or homework."

I like to play piano and listen to music more then anything else. And also draw... yeah, I'd say that music and art are my thing."

I can pretty much guarantee that this little snippet of sharing was unlikely to happen at any other time or place other than over pancakes at 7:30 in the morning.

So I took a quick photo of my young musician/artist and darned if he doesn't look both musical and artistic. 

I showed him the photo. 

"Ok... now take a picture of me looking like I have sand in my butt so I can send it to Anna."

(the sand in his butt comment is an ongoing joke between him and his oldest sister that never fails to send them both into hysterics) 

 

So here is a picture of my musician/artist son pretending to have a sandy bottom.
Which he thought was a far cooler photo.
Then he asked for my phone so he could text Anna that he had a sandy butt and include this photo as evidence.

Which I had to agree, is very funny in a nine year old guy sort of way.