happiness is.....

this very moment. I'm sitting here after dinner on a spring evening with the windows open and listening to my kids play in the back yard at dusk. They are lost in play....having a ball. They are free of commitments and schedules and obligations. That's what I want their early childhood to be about. They are learning how to entertain themselves with no help at all, just using their imaginations and backyard. It makes me happy. I am happy that they are making up their own game. They have some storyline going about driving a train to the soccer field. I've given them a 15 minute heads up to come in for bath and bedtime, and I get a reply...."Mom, can we have 18 minutes?" Ok, 18 minutes.