Chronicling Our Smiling Moments

This week just absolutely surrounded us with things to smile about.

On Monday morning my dear friend, Mimi, showed up at our door bearing the much-needed gift of potty training treats. A mother to five delightful children, Mimi's figured out a secret or two in her parenting tenure, one of which is that both the potty-trainee AND the potty trainers deserve treats--so she came with truffles for Mr. N and me and M&M's for H. Brilliant, I say! Don't tell anyone, but I've had a hard time keeping my paws out of the M&M's; I need to quit, though, or I'm going to have to start encouraging potty use with something really boring like baby carrots, in which case, our success rates would undoubtedly plummet.

While we're on the subject, I have a little surprise announcement to make: Potty Training is not my favorite part of parenting so far. Shocking, no?
All things considered, I'd say it's going remarkably well. But still, I can't wait for the "training" part to be over and to safely, dryly, cleanly arrive at the "trained" station. (ha!) Soooo, speaking of trains, the first several times H did his business on the potty, he would look up at me with a huge grin across his face and say, "potty train!!" I'm fairly certain that potty train was, in his mind, some sort of commode-clad locomotive, but that's ok...whatever it takes to get him onboard! Anyway, now he's all about the positive self-affirmations, "Oh, I so proud of you!" are the first words out of his mouth after every trip to the john. Here he is in his big boy underoos:

He's cute...

And sneaky. He no longer bothers coming into our room in the morning to wake us up, he just proceeds directly to the kitchen to scrounge up some A.M. grub. Apparently we left the gum within his reach on Thursday morning because when Mr. N went out to see what was going on, H held out a bowl containing seven unwrapped gum sticks and beamed with pride as he announced, "dis is for my bref-quick." He was understandably disappointed when we took the gum away and insisted on a more nutritionally "balanced breakfast."

Lest you think us narrow-minded because we didn't allow the bowl of gum for breakfast, let me assure that we love to try new foods. It is, in fact, one of our favorite things to do, and we had the lovely pleasure of doing just that on our Friday night date.

Please don't ask me to describe the deliciousness of the halibut and crab we ate--it exceeds my capacities for description. And what's even harder to capture is our gratitude for the gracious friends who treated us to such sumptuous fare. It was such a treat to spend a night with a couple of natives--they took us to the quaintest little part of town and treated us to what was possibly the best meal I've ever eaten in my food-consuming existence. Thanks to Reid and Melanie, we now know the darlingness of Snyder Plaza, especially the little German market on the corner, the charm of the historical neighborhoods of Highland Park, and that if one is within five miles of a Houston's restaurant, one must, without question, stop and order the Apple Walnut Cobbler. It was the most divine combination of fruit and nuts and crumbly topping and ice cream I have ever laid upon my tongue.

Other fun things:

A Saturday morning outing to the pet store.
H felt a special kinship with the Pot Belly Pig.

A snap from one of many afternoon trips to the pool:

With our friend C (the little girl I nanny for.)

And while we're on the subject of poolside amusement, on Saturday, the most perfectly-timed surprise was left in a package in my mailbox. Before I disclose the contents, I have to give a little bit of background so you'll appreciate the uncanny timing of the chain of events leading up to the surprise. OK, so it was like 4:15 in the afternoon and we were getting ready to head out to a swimming/BBQ social at a friend's house at 5:00 and I was just lounging on the couch telling Mr. N that I'd better go get my suit on, and I made the comment that I really wanted a new suit. My suit is in great condition and it's not so much ugly as it is just a total speedo-ish racing swim-suit, which is perfect for water-aerobics or lap-swimming (both of which I've been known to do on occasion,) but just doesn't make you feel as cute as you'd like to feel at a summer swim party. Do you catch this shallow drift? So as I'm lamenting my frumpy swim suit, I get this little twinkling in my head to check the mail. So I did. And lo and behold in my mail box there sat a package from Layers Clothing. (If you remember back a few weeks to Friday's Frivolity, you might guess what was in the package.) But just in case you can't guess, I'll tell you -- it was the Gracie Swimsuit that I've had my eye on for over a month now--purchased and shipped to me by my own dear mother, who is an honest to goodness well-spring of unexpected kindness. Can you believe the timing of that surprise? I went to the BBQ with an extra bounce in my step and a mighty tender spot in my polka-dot-tankini-clad heart; Mama bear, you made my week, my month, the rest of my swimmable summer!

On that happy note, I leave you all with the challenge to be similarly kind and surprise someone you like with a dose of unexpected kindness.