Seize the day.

After dinner, every single day, Daddy gives the kids a bath, then we get them lotioned up, get Fisher his shot, and both into jammies. They each pick a book that one of us reads to them, and then we sing them the bedtime song, give them each a sippy cup of water, tuck them in, give them enough loves to last the night, and blow kisses as we close the door.

Last Tuesday, while Alla was at school, I took Fisher on a run, which looped around the pond, where we spotted newly hatched baby ducks. I was entranced, but of course Fisher was much more interested in the giant lawnmower being used to cut the grass at the adjacent park.

When we picked up Alla we stopped by the pond on our way home, so she could see. I'm pretty sure that it doesn't take too long for little quack-quacks to learn how to fly, so I figured we'd better go right away.

At dinner, she told Daddy that she wanted to show him, too, so we postponed our evening routine to head over to the pond for the third time that day.

When we got out of the car the wind immediately picked up and Fisher held on as though he worried he might blow away. I carried Alla on the walk from the parking lot toe the pond, so she wouldn't blow away, of course.

We made it to the baby ducks to show Daddy and gawk over them once more and then quickly made it back to the car (before we blew away) so we could drive back home and resume the evening routine.

I'm a stickler for routine. But that evening, I was glad we followed our daughter's suggestion and headed out for a change. Those baby ducks have places to go.