An unplanned evening

Had a bit of an entertaining end to the workday today. When I got home from the office, my wife was reeling from a nasty headache that came on mid-afternoon and only got worse from there.

So I scooped the boys up, picked up our daughter from a play date, and did what any self-respecting Dad does when his wife needs a few quiet hours to herself: I took them to McDonald's.

I know, I'm a heathen on so many levels. But it made them happy, and I got to just sit and watch them be themselves.

When they were done eating, we went to the Play Place (Rule #1: the only fast food restaurants worth patronizing are the ones with attached play areas. Rule #2: see Rule #1.) I let them run themselves ragged while I sat on the bench inside and observed the chaos. They seemed to bounce from one spot to another, which I expected. What I didn't expect was how much they enjoyed being with each other.

Time out: we have three very bright, engaged, and intensively aware children. They can either fight like cats and dogs or be the most poignantly important people in their siblings' lives. And they can change from one state to another in mere seconds. End of time out.

Tonight, thankfully, they realized Mommy wasn't feeling well, and as a result they stepped up to the plate. Big sister Dahlia looked out for little guy Noah and shepherded him down the slide like a little doll, careful to make sure he didn't get hurt. Big brother Zach watched out for both of them and kept me updated on where they were within the giant 3-dimensional maze of plastic tubing.

When we were done, they all dutifully put their shoes on, grabbed each other's hands and headed out. We went to the Loblaws across the street to pick up some groceries. In the store, each of them helped out. Zachary fetched items from the list and brought them back. Dahlia counted prices (she's going through a serious numbers phase these days) and got bags for the fruit. Noah held my PalmPilot from his perch in the cart.

As we were walking down the frozen foods section, heading to the checkout aisle, Dahlia put her arm around her big brother's shoulder - pretty amazing given how small she is, and the fact that she never does this. Even more amazingly, he returned the favor. They walked arm-in-arm all the way to the checkout counter before turning back to help me unload the cart.

I'm not sure what these kids did with my real children, but it was a joy to watch this unfold in front of me.

I keep reminding myself that it's these little slices of time that our children will remember most.