The Brilliance of Timeout

Recently, Benjamin has started putting himself in timeout. Really, he does. When he gets into the recycling or sits/stands/crawls on the coffee table, we tell him that if he doesn’t get down he has to go to timeout. Last weekend, upon hearing the threat, he acted first and promptly sat down on the floor for his timeout – on his terms, of course. So now his daddy and I can add a new entry to the list of “cute and brilliant things our son does.” With every new trick, we are more amazed by this little person.


Last Saturday, Tim and I had a bit of a timeout of our own. Valerie answered our babysitting plea so that we could go out for “date night.” There was a time in my life when I secretly rolled my eyes at the notion of married people going out for date night, but I can assure you that I no longer roll my eyes. Getting dressed up (sort of), leaving the house without a diaper bag, and seeing a movie (!!!) is a wonderful experience when you’ve been deprived of this type of fanfare for a while. We went to Mockingbird Station for dinner (Italian and very good) and a movie (Julie and Julia; loved it). We topped it off with a trip to the bookstore. Knowing Benjamin was having fun with his Aunt Val, we were able to really relax and enjoy our evening. Our timeout was just right.

Finally, tonight we had a mid-week timeout. Along with our friends Alissa, Lydia, Katie and her children Zoe and Sam, we went to Cool Thursdays at the Dallas Arboretum. Sometimes I have a difficult time going anywhere on a school night, so I was hesitant to venture out of our cozy home this evening, but the arboretum was so great! The weather, company, and music couldn’t have been better. To feel fall creeping into the night air and see the sunset at White Rock was reason enough to go. Although Benjamin went to bed late and without a bath tonight, this break from our routine was the perfect timeout for our little family.