Today was a good day.

It started out with Avadore deciding to be opinionated. Of course, he is two. We had been invited to over for what was referred to as a "play date". We all had a good time, and then we came home for naps.

I put Avadore down probably five times. He would not take a nap. Finally, he gave in. When he woke up, we went shopping. He perused books and other sundries at a local thrift store. Yay thrift stores. Afterwards, we hit the farmer's market where we got apples (to compliment our and add a depth of flavor to baked items), carrots, and a caramel apple for Avadore. It's quite tasty. It's fun to take Avadore to things like that. He has such a great time, the people like to talk to him and play with him and give him little tidbits to eat. He came back after having apples, carrots, and such lovelies. We also watched a train go by.

I spent part of my nap time today thinking about how I can do what's best for Avadore, what he needs, what's important, what's extraneous, and what's harmful. For example, he has a good amount of toys. He has friends who have a great deal of toys (some are literally a toy store), but is he deprived because he doesn't have as many or as many "cool toys"? I don't think so. He has a lot more than children used to have, goodness knows. I'm trying to find the balance between having things, appreciating what you have, and having too much.

I think what's most important is that he has experiences, like looking at things at the thrift store, smelling them, touching them, listening to the sounds they make, or going to the farmer's market, talking to the people, trying the different foods, seeing how apples taste different when you change their color :), seeing how sweet little new carrots can be, watching the trains go by.

It's funny -- I want to give him the world, but I also want him to end up giving himself whatever world he wants in the end.