In the car on the way home from church we experienced a developmental leap in Rosie. The question: what to do about lunch? Lisa suggests we go home. Rosie pipes up from the back seat "I want to go out for lunch." What does she want? "French fries!" I ask "How shall we decide? How about if everyone says a bit more and then we make a decision together?" This receives universal approval.

Lisa is feeling poorly and might not be able to finish a burger, fries, etc. which are not very good re-heated. She also notes that we have already purchased food of precisely that kind which is in the refrigerator. On being asked to say more about going out, Rosie says that "it feels good" and she likes it better. I note that these are all very good reasons. Silence follows. I start the framing process which will illustrate, it seems to me, that Mama has identified the slightly more weighty reasons, when Rosie interrupts with "Mama? Why don't we take you home, and then we can go out to lunch?" We laughed loud and long, celebrated Rosie for being both clever and hilarious (almost always a winner), and went out for burgers and fries, which everyone finished handily. I love my family.  -- Brandon WilliamsCraig

Please sign in to comment :-)