Thankful

Had my parents down for Thanksgiving. It's always great that the kids are so excited to see them. They didn't want to go to bed, and then Jack came into our room in the middle of the night to ask when they would get up. Hugs all around in the morning. Jack played Scrabble with Nana, while Kate, humorously, picked Headbandz to play with Baba (where you wear a picture of something on your head and have to guess what it is; Baba was a toaster).

We played Hearts, Parcheesi, and Chess; Emily and I, having each played a lot of Hearts back in the day, really enjoyed it. Even though Kate wanted to get points, and Jack didn't seem to fully grasp the goal, either. Later, out of the blue, he announced, "I really like board games a lot right now."

Went to Cathy's for Thanksgiving. The kids disappeared to play with their cousins for most of it. We reconvened at dinner, and for presents (it was also the first night of Hannukah).jack and Kate each got a present, and when we went home, they immediately began playing with them. Jack's was an electronics projects set, Kate's a Barbie makeup art set.

It isn't often that I see Jack completely enthralled by something. He'd make a project, show it to us, smile, make another one. At one point I was in the kitchen, he brought it out, showed me what he made, and we walked back to the living room. He looked down at the set in his hands and said, almost to himself more than me, "I love this." Like he was filled with wonder about how much he enjoyed it. I don't see that very often. It's pretty cool.

I put Kate to bed. She read to me. She has become a great reader, quickly. Kissed her goodnight, went to say goodnight to Jack. He said, "Tomorrow, will you play with my electronics set with me?" You bet.