Early Mother's Day

We went to Cracker Barrel the weekend before Mother's Day to celebrate my mom while my dad was in town. Cracker Barrel is forever associated with my dad because on his many trips to Detroit working with GM, he ate countless meals there. Enough that he has the triangle thing memorized and, unlike me, never ends up as an ignoramus. It was busy, as most Sunday's are, so he took Joshy over to teach him checkers while waiting for service. I could hear Joshy cheer from the table every time he took one of dad's checkers. What do you call it? Kill? You kill the Queen in chess and a checker can be Kinged. (Pause while Laura, now having interest peaked, researches the origin of checkers) Did you know that there are remnants of checker boards in the British Museum found in Egyptian tombs? It seems like the game, in its current state, known as Draughts in England, most resembles a game known as Alquerque first mentioned in the 10th century when brought to Spain by the Moors. The rules were first written and the rule of crowning introduced in the 13th century, followed by the first English writing containing the rules in 1756. Crowning was introduced at the same time the terminology of Queen was introduced in chess...so it seems they are related after all. Interesting. Okay, back to Cracker Barrel. Checkers. Cheering. Moving on.

Ben has been slow to speak, mostly due to his ears which have been fluid filled, practically sense birth. I have tried not to worry but it is hard to let it completely escape your mind when your 17 month old still can't say Mama. That said, we had ordered him a drink with lid and straw to keep him busy while waiting for food. When it came, the straw was meant for a normal glass and doubled the size of the cup. Ben immediately grabbed the drink and tipped it far enough that I was envisioning an imminent spill, trying to get to the straw. I went to grab it so that I could have John trim the straw when that boy yanked it away from me and yelled "Mine". Never have I been so thrilled with misbehaving. Since then, he has been babbling far more and finally beginning to communicate through sound. All he needed all along was for me to try and steal his drink. As he could clearly see, what did I need with his...I had my own...

Happy Mother's Day Mom. You are very loved.