When we arrived at the park today, the little guy was drawn to this fountain almost right away.  He loves water in any form, always has as long as you don't count those first baths.  There were a few kids playing in the water, but not many.  We steered him away from it initially, to check out the rest of the new downtown park.  But, he was still drawn back to it.  Once we had made the loop in the park, we decided to let him play in the fountain.  He had a blast!  The way the fountain went up and down perplexed him and excited him all at the same time.  It was so much fun to watch him experience a simple pleasure of childhood. 

Behind me, I couldn't help but hear other parents telling their kids that they couldn't go in.  It was 70 degrees outside today, so it was a bit on the cool side.  Then, there were the parents who told their kids they could go in, but not get wet (uh, it's a fountain).   On one hand, I started wondering if I had done the right thing.  I mean, he had a bit of a runny nose.  What if it got worse because I let him play in the cold water?  But, this is the kind of parent I want to be.  The kind of parent who lets the kiddo run and play and enjoy being a kid and has a fresh pair of clothes waiting when things get messy.

All of this to say, I'm doing a lot of thinking about 2009.  What kind of person do I want to be in 2009?  What do I want to accomplish?  I'm sure lots of people out there are having similar thoughts.  One thing that the husband and I are doing new this year is having a family meeting on January 1st to make a few plans as a family and begin to fill our family calendar.  Hopefully that will become a New Year's tradition.  Our other tradition, hosting some friends for New Years, so tomorrow…I'll be thinking on all of this while I'm cooking & cleaning in anticipation of our company!