The Power of Yes

The other day I only had Monkey with me because Princess was on a playdate. I told him that I would take him to lunch as a special date. We had been enjoying our time together and chatting and such. As we were walking into the restaurant Monkey looked up at me and said, "Mommy, why do you keep saying yes to everything for me today?"....I hadn't even noticed that I had been saying yes, but I guess he surely did. It made me think "do I say NO that often?", "should I be more conscious of what I say yes and no to?", "maybe more one on one time with this precious boy is what is needed"....anyway, it was a sweet moment. It made me realize, once again, that I need to be more 'present' with my kids when I am with them...I often fall into the mmm-hmmms, maybes, just a minutes; only 'half listening' just to get from one task to the next. I guess they take notice of those moments more than I realize and I need to be more "aware". I know on the whole I'm doing a great job with AND FOR the kids, but sometimes a little reality check is needed.

I know this picture is totally unrelated to the topic, but I wanted to share a photo from last night's fireworks...it was a really great evening, and none of my children were frightened (but maybe a little nervous at times).