I was rather taken with this picture of the family and Bob the cat that Owen drew last night. I like how he thoughtfully made me more slender than his father. HA! My sweet pea. My sweet pea is such a suck up. Yesterday evening he looked at me and said, “Mommy, you’re as cute as a flower”. I thanked him and as he walked away he said “good-bye pretty”. That boy may go far. Anyway….I liked this picture even though Harlan and Hattie (the other cats) didn’t make the cut. Owen looked at the picture and sighed, “poor Hattie and Harlan”, as though he had no control over their presence or lack of presence in the picture.
I got home late last night from a meeting at the school headquarters—-man, do some people talk slowly and ask stupid questions. grrrr. I had promised to make dinner for the two of us however and I must say I did a damn fine job if I do say so myself. I put spiced sauteed salmon fillets on a bed of quickly sauteed watercress and topped it with garlic mashed potatoes with a bit of a creamy fennel sauce on top. It was amazingly good and totally impromptu. This makes up for all those experiments that are o.k. but not worth repeating…. I attempted to take a picture of it as it was gorgeous but I don’t have Lisa’s talent for food photography…..or perhaps her patience as it was almost 10:00 and I was just too hungry to fuss with my plate or my camera!
Leo’s homework last night was to make New Year’s resolutions and write four promises down on a sheet of paper, one promise to your family, one promise to your friends, one to your teacher and one to yourself. This was not to his liking. I’d try to make suggestions (because we weren’t getting anywhere) and he’d counter them immediately.
Me: Maybe your promise to yourself could be to learn more about trains
Leo: I ALREADY know all about trains
Me: What kind of promise could you make to your teacher? Maybe to work hard?
Leo: I ALWAYS work hard at school
It went on in this manner. Basically he already seems to be at a pinnacle of good behavior and knowledge so there is nothing left to work for. My sweet pea. He finally agreed to “keep working hard” and “to put my trains on a table in the basement” and “to help his family”. The spelling and math worksheets are much less exhausting….. Ernie this morning commented that Leo has been a teenager since birth…..
Mmm, the salmon and fennel sauce sound so good. And thank you for the compliment. So far I have never thought of myself as having a talent for taking photos! What I do have, as my husband will verify, is a tendency to let our dinner get cold while I take shots of it. Although a good percentage of the time I say, the hell with it, I just want to eat!