There are days I gush with pride

Yesterday was one of those days.

Larien, 20 months of age today, hands me a book saying, "Read the book." A full sentence! The only way to make it better was if she had added a please.

Inwe has two favorite restaurants, The Trough (an alias of course) and Red Robin. I suspect she likes the Trough because she gets ice cream if she eats all her veggies and because she gets a peppermint at the cash register. The reason we, as parents, eat there: our children leave looking like newborn puppies after nursing and they eat lots of veggies.

Red Robin is a favorite due to the cantaloupe sides and the balloon that she gets if she eats all her dinner. I watched as Inwe approached the hostess, asked "May I have a pink balloon, please?", and waited patiently for the lady to untie the bunch of balloons. She then said, "Can Larien have a yellow one?" After the balloons were tied to wrists, Inwe thanked the hostess. Even Larien said thank you. HUGE wave of pride flowed over me at that moment.