Attaboy & Attagirl

The other day, we were doing things around the house. I was taking a break from painting and Adam (with some help from Zane) scraped up some grass growth from the cracks in the driveway. Adam had gone onto something else and Zane had gone inside, but a short time later Zane came back out and put on his gardening gloves and  headed back to the driveway. He announced to me "We missed some!" And he went back to cleaning it up. By this point he could have been back inside playing on an electronic device, but he wasn't . . .

And although I didn't get a picture to document it, I joked a week or so ago that Vanessa might need to start packing her own lunch while I'm out of town, so Daddy wouldn't have to worry about it. There are specifics for certain days of the weeks to be mindful of friends with peanut allergies. Yesterday Vanessa came home from school on a mission to explain a mission she wanted to start this morning -- she wanted to start taking on the responsibility of packing her own lunch now. We talked about it and the steps I take and how it would need to be done before filling her free morning time with electronic devices. She said with certainty "I can do that." I really had no doubt. The rest of her evening became consumed by planning.

This morning, she went downstairs around 7:05 and began packing her own lunch. Other than having a hard time finding the taco shells. She did really well. I could hear her get the ice cube tray out to fill her thermos. And I heard the cabinets opening and closing.  What a big girl . . .