J'door toi!

So how do you teach a toddler, after encouraging him to throw balls for months, that he cannot also throw the wooden blocks you just bought him? They're the perfect size for grabbing and they go a long way. That's what I'm up against. We bought him the blocks after his 18 month doctor's appointment last Friday. The doctor asked how many blocks he could stack and all I could do was stammer, "Uh, he doesn't have any blocks." What kind of mother am I? My child has no blocks! We've had much fun stacking the blocks together since then and I kind of want to call the doctor and amend my answer. One thing that concerns me is what happens when the tower of blocks comes crashing down. I'm a little worried that my son has inherited my tendency not to deal well with frustration. Dern.

Yesterday Jackson started his fall session of mother's day out. There was a week and a half break between the summer and fall terms and let me just say that I have gotten used to having those five hours twice a week. We dropped him off and then we headed out to Prestonwood Baptist to get some books for a seminary class Curt is taking out there this fall.

Let me interject an important fact here. My idea of the perfect day is to roam around a wonderful mall with someone I love while talking about interesting things and finding somewhere great to eat lunch. My husband's idea of the perfect day is to be far, far away from a mall. Even when we go to a mall together, he likes us to go our separate ways and meet back up when it's time to leave. This is not a matter of character, rather one of preference, but it takes away much of my shopping joy. Our last Friday afternoon date included a trip to a mall, where we had a lengthy and serious discussion about our unfortunate shopping incompatibility. So I knew it was not going to be a mall day. But y'all, Prestonwood is right next to The Shops at Willow Bend. It was almost physically painful to drive by it and not go in. The thought of floating in and out of stores without a stroller sounded heavenly. A little no-purchase fall preview was calling my name. And then we took a right turn onto the toll-way and the mall faded into the distance.

A few minutes later the toll-way escorted us right by the Galleria, which houses the Grand Lux Cafe. Thank You, Jesus. Curtis said we could have lunch there if I made no attempt to enter the mall and shop. Again, painful. Tasty, but painful. I kept thinking about the girls trip I'm taking next weekend with my mom and sis. If I can just make it seven more days...

After lunch we separated for an eyebrow wax (me) and a trip to Lowe's (him). Later I met hubby at Lowe's (with a lovely ring of I've just been waxed redness around my forehead) so that I could help him pick out a new front door for our house. Thank You, Jesus. When the previous homeowner came by one day to see what we had done with the house, she couldn't believe we hadn't replaced the front door. It's that bad. I picked out the front door of my dreams and...Hubs said yes! He said yes! I was so excited that I wanted to call all of my friends.

I have several theories as to how this might have happened. One, because I didn't throw a fit about going into the mall and therefore my husband was in a good mood at Lowe's. Two, because he loves me and knows how much joy I will get driving up to our cute little house with the cute little front door. Three, because the door he really wanted ended up being $600, thereby causing my door to look very economical. Either way, thank You, Jesus. And thank you, Hubs! I'm going to love it!