Bucking Routine

Last night Ed went rock-climbing after work (he recently joined a rock-climbing gym), so William and I were on our own. I asked William if he wanted to go home and play outside, or if he wanted to go to Target. He immediately shouted, "TARGET!!!"

He sat in the cart while I did my shopping first, and every two minutes he asked, "digger?" If I haven't mentioned it before, William is obsessed with trucks--particularly construction trucks like backhoes, front loaders, dump trucks, bulldozers, excavators, etc. He also loves garbage trucks, and of course, fire trucks and ambulances. Anyway, I would respond, "Yes William, we're going to play with diggers, as soon as Mommy is done shopping." He waited patiently for me to finish gathering all of my odds and ends and then we finally got to the toy section and to the truck aisle. He played with the trucks for about 25 minutes, I found a $.99 Matchbox front loader that he could take home, and then we went to pay for our loot. After paying, we sat in the "cafe" area and ate pizza and yogurt, and finally headed home at 7:00.

At home, we decided to skip bath and instead, we sat on our bed and played with trucks and watched TV. This is WAY out of the routine for us. We almost never watch TV on weeknights. And we almost never skip bath. And we never change diapers and clothes on Mommy's bed. And we've never watched Jeopardy together. (As I called out the answers, William kept repeating what I said. It was pretty funny.) Of course, William had no problem with the change in routine, and when it was time to go to his room, we did the usual--brushed his teeth, read 3 books, and he went right to sleep. Routines are certainly important, and day-in and day-out, it would be pretty hard not to have them. But it's also quite liberating to buck the routine once in a while, and just see where it takes you.