"You sit wif me, Mama?"

The rule at our house is that you may have desert if you eat all of your supper. I do my best not to push the kids to eat more than they're comfortable eating by not putting a ton of food on their plate, but this incentive has helped a LOT with pickiness at the table.

One night Leve ate all of her supper without a word and wanted a "pop-icle" for her desert (the kids get to pick what treat they'd like to have...a piece of candy, a pop-icle, a little icecream...basically whatever we have on hand except Mama's chocolate!). The older kids didn't care to have desert that night and so when she got back to the table from getting her popsicle she handed it to me to open and said, "You sit wif me, Mama?" I was honored.

The older kids went about their evening; tidying up, playing a bit, brushing teeth...and Leve and I just sat together and talked. She asked me questions like, "Who Strawberry Shortcake's mom?" and "Where Lemon Meringue live?". We sat until the last little bit of the popsicle had slipped from the stick to the table...and we even sat while she scooped it up with her little hand. It was one of those simple times that MAKE a persons' day...to be loved by a child and have them WANT us around...perfection.