It's a very infrequent occasion that William and I have some time to ourselves, so when Anne planned a princess tea party for Mary Grace and her neighborhood friends for this afternoon, I jumped at the chance to take William to the Strong Museum.
We're members there, so we go there a lot, but usually with both kids. And since Mary Grace is the older, she usually dictates the activities and William usually goes along with it. When he doesn't go along, it becomes a problem because there's inevitably a scene involving screaming and crying.
So today, William got to lead. I let him walk and run wherever he wanted to go and I just followed behind him with the stroller. He played with the drag-race hotwheel car thing for a while, then went to the trains, then to Wegmans, then to Sesame Street, then to the sand box. Over two hours of pure enjoyment later, we made our way back to the car.
He had a great time leading for a change, and I had a great time watching and bonding and giving him 100% of my attention, rather than the usual 50% (or less).
As we pulled in the driveway, William started to doze off. I turned the car off once we reached the backyard and I watched him fall asleep in the rear view mirror. Watching those heavy eyelids gradually win out over his efforts to stay awake was touching. I had a big smile on my face as I watched him directly now. Then his eyes half-opened to see me smiling at him and I got the best reward ever... A beautiful dreamy smile as my boy fell back asleep.
Thank you William. You make it all worthwhile.
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