My Favorite Little Boy

About 7 years ago I did a study abroad program in Puebla, Mexico. (Dang, did I just say 7 years.....am I getting OLD?????) We were accompanied by two awesome married professors that had this family ritual that they shared with us. Whenever we met together as a group, the 10 students and 2 professors would share their "highs and lows" since the last time we met. Since we were all living in separate host family homes and had different assignments (either classes or, in my case, an internship at an elementary school during the day), these sharings ran a pretty big gamut. I can remember at least a few of mine...

High: I got on the right bus today and made it back to my host family's house! (This scared the heck out of me the first day, so I was so happy I didn't end up in Guatemala or something!!)

Low: I forgot to ask for "no ice" in a drink and ended up sick for 2 days.

High: (Day 1) My host mom made quesadillas for breakfast this morning!

Low: (Day 53) My host mom made quesadillas for breakfast this morning...again.

OK, you get how the game is played.

So, the past few days, I've been asking Alex during dinner to tell me his favorite part of the day.This may eventually lead to the whole "highs and lows" ritual, but we have to keep it simple for now.

So, yesterday's was Elmo...of course.

I don't really remember the ones before that.

Today, though, I asked him, "What was your favorite part of today?" and he didn't even look up from his food. In fact, as he gave his answer, he was already sticking his next bite in his mouth. It didn't take a second of thought.

He answered, "Mommy."

OK, I'm the one in the corner, still wiping away the tears.

Here was our day...

-Got up, went to stroller strides. He played, raced cars and airplanes, rolled in the grass, played on the jungle gym and in the DIRT with 5 other little 2 year olds.

-Came home. Took Dan to work.

-Ate some lunch. Took a nap.

-Got up, went to the park. Played on the playground, swam in the pool for about an hour.

-Went to the afternoon stroller strides (I'm going to be sore tomorrow!). Played with one of his best little buddies Maia. More playground, more laughing, giggling, chasing and a lot more DIRT!

-Picked up Dan from work.

-Had acai bowls for dinner.

...and the best part of the day was MOMMY.


I anticipated the next words out of his mouth to be "And from now on, I want ice cream for dinner every day, and a pony and a new tricycle and oh, extra hot fudge on that ice cream." But it seems that it was all sincere.

I love that kid.