Conversation hearts

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These are my favorite, although I am 1000% not on board with the Sweet Tarts version, and even the regular ones have become a little too fruity. When I think about these things, I think of the old style, slightly chalky ones--that said "KISS ME" not "TXT ME."

We spent the day out and about today. We went to church, then had two hours to occupy until I had a meeting at two, and then after that we made a run to Costco, had dinner at Taco Time (tots!), and stopped at Borders. Nothing overly exciting, but the kid kept saying, "This is a great day." When pressed for details about what he liked best about it, he said, "Just hanging out together."

My great hope is that we can maintain that dynamic as he continues to mature. And I kind of think we might be able to pull it off. Aside from certain recurrent themes, we don't have an adversarial relationship, and have tried hard to create a family environment that emphasizes mutual support. There are only the three of us, and there are lots of occasions where two of us are lending support to the third. That triangulation takes different forms all the time. In the middle of a tough week, I might hear, "Mom, Dad and I decided we should take you out to dinner," or if the mister has had a boisterous afternoon with lots of kids and is a little fried, I might suggest that the kid and I vacate the premises while he recalibrates. The kid knows that the mister and I will think up fun things for him to do. We're not perfect, and we all fall apart, and as parents, we're not afraid to pull rank, but in general, there is an air of collegiality that I hope we can carry forward.

"These things are fun, and fun is good."
--Dr. Seuss