Journeying Onward

Something pretty amazing happened at church today.

First, it is Super Bowl Sunday, so we had Souper Bowl Sunday, where everyone brought soup to share, and chipped in to send extra funds to a soup kitchen we support.

Well, you know me. I can't be normal, and I made a very beautiful, quite delicious pink berry soup.

The thing is, no one got it and it was put with the desserts and, heck, even I wouldn't have chosen it over (or with) the iced chocolate chip cookies if I hadn't known what it was. So we have a lot of this left over, in case anyone wants to come over and have a fruit smoothie (because I froze it, so we'll have to blend it up and you can drink it).

But that's not the thing.

If you've been following along, you know that Mal has gone into childcare for services ever since we started here at the beginning of the year. It's so chill now that I don't even give them my cell number.

Today when I picked him up, he was trying to climb out the window, but that's because there's a fun playground right outside, and also for some reason, the heat was set to like 80 in that building (they did turn it down and open a bunch of doors).

Then last week, he sat blithely in my lap for the children's message... and did the same thing today! That's totally new!

But THEN... During the lunch, Mal decided to play with some other kids instead of sit with me and eat.

This sweet older girl was so good with Mal, making sure he didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to, or hurt himself. Her dad even thanked ME, saying that she never gets to be the older sibling at home, so she was having fun.

After I ate, I had dessert. Twice. And ended up in a conversation when I realized that the kids had disappeared, and I didn't know where. For a good half hour, I had no idea where my son was. But I wasn't worried. That used to happen with D at church all of the time, but it's the first time Mal's just gone off and done his own thing and I wasn't worried or suspicious.

When it was time to leave, I found him in the rec room with some older kids. They were being so sweet to him, and he really wasn't ready to go.

If I weren't convinced that I should place membership there, today's lunch probably did it. Meals eaten sitting down and in peace are a big deal for this mama!

We might still be nursing full steam ahead, have zero interest in the potty, and still not ever sleeping through the night, but in other areas, we're gettin' somewhere, people! That's worth celebrating! Can't wait to dance with Lady Gaga in a little while...