High Point / Low Point

Today we tried out a suggestion that Ella's teacher gave us to get the conversation flowing at the dinner table. She said that her family sits around the table every night and they discuss the high point and low point of their day. Her kids are in middle school and high school and they started this when they were little and still do it every night.

We always ask Ella about her day, but I never thought to incorporate all of us in this way. It was really great to hear what a 3 year old thinks is her low point. Don went first, his low point was having to leave for work, his high point was coming home to us. Ella went next, her high point was seeing the horses at the Ecology Center, her low point was that we didn't paint today. It made me want to bust out the paints and forget all about dinner. I never want her to have a low point. My low point was having Ella wake up with an itchy rash on her legs, my high point was playing in the backyard as a family listening to Irish music and drinking a beer with my hubby.

The reflection helped us talk about our day in a fun way. This is a tradition I plan on starting to use every night. Anyone have any other fun traditions they use to get their little/big ones to talk around the dinner table?

Mantra Moment - Make your kids an incredible Part of your life, not your WHOLE life.

Tonight of course we had corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, carrots and spicy brown mustard. Don and I washed it all down with Blue Point Blueberry Beer. Ella hopped up to the table and pointed to the corned beef and asked, "Is this bacon?" Don and I looked at each other, knowing that her favorite food on the planet is bacon, we both answered, "Yes." We felt bad lying but she happily dug in and started eating no questions asked. That is until she got to the cabbage. She poked the cabbage around asking what the soggy leafy green was. We told her it was cabbage, just like her favorite food cole slaw is made out of. I know its bizarre that a 3 year old loves cole slaw, but she really really does. So does her Dad, maybe that has something to do with it. As soon as she heard that cabbage was what cole slaw was made out of she started calling it cole slaw and ate it up happily. So while Don, Lily and I had corned beef and cabbage, Ella was eating "bacon" and "cole slaw."