How I spent my 10-year anniversary

I got married 10 years ago today. The weather in Princeton, NJ was lovely, and the photographer got this great image of us in the late afternoon light. We then took off for Africa for 3 weeks, seeing South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Mauritius.  

I celebrated my anniversary today by having a date with a different dude, namely, my 4-year-old. He and the 2-year-old go to the same preschool, but they are phasing in new students a little earlier. So we dropped her off this morning. She cried a little before we got in the car (“I changed my mind! I don’t want to go to school! I want to stay home!”) but then she changed her mind again and was fine going with the teacher. When we picked her up she was all smiles.

Our new nanny started this week. She takes a class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That will work out great once everyone is in school, but during the phase-in there are some gaps. So, in the intervening two hours, my 4-year-old and I had some solo time together. At first, he wanted to go to the local playground and ride his bike. Then he decided he’d rather go to the Wawa for donuts (I get that). So we went. Then we came home and planned part of his birthday party. We worked in the garden for a bit digging up the carrots (see picture). We played with Legos. Then we went to pick up his sister. He’d been told it would be best not to mention the donuts, but he couldn’t help himself. That made the smiles disappear when she learned we hadn’t gotten a donut for her too. To make the screaming stop we went to the local grocery store to get her a cookie. Oh well.

Side note: Turns out September 4 is Gretchen Rubin’s anniversary too, albeit 10 years earlier.