Judah had his girl friend over this evening. After practice the boys met her in Sherman where they were meeting at an animal hospital. Her dad is a veterinarian and according to my son they live in an enormous house. I had to work in the afternoon, so while I was gone the kids who were home straightened up some things in the house. I do want to make an impression, but having an above averagely well-kept home is not the way I’m going to make it. I did re-tidy the upstairs bathroom.

It was later confirmed in the evening that this is now an official girlfriend. She’s very cute and I can see why my son is liking her. The other night I was sharing some mom thoughts that were met with rebuttal and contention from the other kids. All I had said to him was that the more attached you get to a person the more it hurts when it doesn’t work out. He has had some heartbreak before so I know he isn’t completely unaware. But several of them thought I shouldn’t have said that.

They were cute getting their pictures taken. Ellie and her mom had looked up different poses they could use for the second shoot. When Ethan took a girl for the first time I remember during the photos he was looking around confused and didn’t know what to do with his hands while standing next to her. I told him that it was okay to put his arm around her on her waist so he did. The girl’s mom looked at me and told me good job for saying that. A similar situation happened with this one.

Instead of looking around in silence he said out loud to everyone, he just kept asking, “What do I do with my hands?” I never told him to put his arm around her. One time, after a minor pause, her mom told him to go ahead and put his hand on the bridge rail where they were posing. I almost said it multiple times but for whatever reason I held back. These things would work themselves out and they did, with different pictures from the last ones. Laura commented they looked like experts now.

I had photo bombed the family chat for the second time with all the pictures. So anyway, the evening was nice. For a while they played catch in the athletic field with the other kids and Zorro. Dad and I walked along the lane and yes it felt like one of those moments when all is right. Dad made a campfire in the backyard so for a while everyone was in the backyard sitting and talking by the fire. It felt like one of those times where I really needed to be engaged and more fully present.