23 minutes

we passed a milestone today.. yes, yes, we had lucas 3rd birthday party - and it was a great time. in th park with many neighborhood friends, my homemade home-decorated carrot cake, a dump truck, a helium ballon, singing the b-day song with party hats and the whole deal - was just super.. and it was beautiful outside too.

but the amazing thing was... about 630 pm the kids were just finished with dinner, and we had an hour to kill before bath. so i suggested a quick family bike ride to the river, and lucas said "truck few minutes" meaning he wanted to play with his truck for a few minutes, so i started to crochet. philippe sat down and checked his email ,and ruby was approaching lucas to play with him. lucas told her "i'm busy ruby" meaning buzz off ~~and i was SO proud of him using his big-boy-words instead of pushing her away~~ so i got her interested in the train set instead.. and then,

LIKE MAGIC, it was quiet in the house! for an outstanding 23 minutes everyone was busy doing their own thing, minding their own business, compelled by their own thoughts. it was a dream come true for me, and i hope we get many many more opportunities to explore this dimension of our household.