THIS AND THAT

'Will [he] be dead when I'm a grown-up', my son inquired at dinner tonight about my boyfriend. I gave him a quizzical look to which he replied 'I'm just asking'. 'No', I assured him, though one never knows what will happen in the future. I certainly hope not, I thought.

My son went on to tell me 'I don't want a kid' when he grows up. When I asked him why, he told me '...because they might be negative and mean to each other...'. I stopped him and asked 'Oh, wait, you mean like you guys?' 'Yeah', all three replied in unison. Then they got up from the table and took turns kissing each other. I had to laugh.

After the gym this morning, I set up the Lego table for Saffron so she could work on her new Lego Friends Sunshine Ranch set she got yesterday. As I was making breakfast, she worked on one part after another until she had all 721 pieces assembled. Afterwards, she and her sister played with the set until the evening.

Meanwhile, Sage and I started to read his new Dr. Seuss book What Pet Should I Get?. I had hoped he had made more progress this summer with reading seeing he had five weeks at his father's place. It was not until tonight's dinner that the children informed me they had spent most of the summer in San Antonio with their father's girlfriend and the girlfriend's brother. I was dumbfounded.

When I inquired as to why this was the case, they simply told me that 'Papa was on a lot of trips'. Once again, I was stunned but should not have been surprised. I shot off an email inquiring about this latest development but am certain the answer will be as many times before - that he had to earn the money and that work was more important than family.

Why then the request to take them for five weeks this summer if he had little to no time for them? If he could not be bothered to care for them I certainly would have been able to. There was no need to ship them off to someone they have known for only a few short months when I, their mother, was around.

Whatever the case, the children are with me this week and they are happy to be here. It warmed my heart this morning when they thanked me for the healthy food we had for breakfast which included eggs, Kalamata olives, cheese, whole grain bread, avocado, baby tomatoes, grapes, and raspberries. They devoured it all.

For our special afternoon snack, we had the rest of Saffron's birthday cake. It was a small cake to begin with but a perfect size to last for two days for us four. Sage requested pea soup for dinner and Saffron wanted meatless loaf. There was plenty left over for tomorrow which means I will have time to bake something else for our afternoon snack.

Mealtimes are a great opportunity to sit down together and enjoy good food and interesting conversation. When it comes to children, you never know what they will say next. A little of this, a little of that, and a whole lot of laughter and silliness and perhaps a bit of astonishment at times.