To Town with Fern

I took Fern into town with me today.
There were chores and shopping to be done,
and Fern wanted to go out for the day.
Normally, when I have administrative tasks on the list, I would try to go solo.
But I thought I'd give Fern a chance to have some daddy time.


One of the stops on the list was the outdoors store.
There are thousands of conversation starters in a place like that.
We browsed the aisles and talked about the products.
The afternoon could have been spent then and there,
but the list beckoned.

Children can be very easygoing when there is no reason to fight for attention.
Fern was calm and attentive all afternoon.
Kira made sure to pack snacks to keep Fern fueled,
which made things easier for me.


We travelled from place to place with no complaints,
and good steady conversation.
Yes. Steady conversation.
But she's bright and is fun to talk with.


Our family schedule is very unpredictable,
and there's a lot of time feeling like brand new parents.
We know that one-on-one time does wonders,
but we forget to make it part of the routine.

The day in town with Fern reminds me to try harder
to give each of them some of their own time with each of us.
That is a challenge of it's own.
But it's really the best way to get to know them.
And I would hate to miss watching our kids grow up,
and miss out on knowing them as individuals.