blue spoon + turning the wrench

last week malena and i went to a yogurt place together for the first time. she has been there many times before with barrett, it is their go to place on dad/kiddo date nights. but one night last week when i picked her up, she asked if we could go in for some yogurt before getting the groceries for dinner. since there was no good reason why we shouldn't have dessert before dinner as a fun treat, we went for it.

when we walked in, i could tell the man behind the counter recognized her from the way that he smiled and said hello to her when we came through the door.

i could tell that she had her routine down. she got one of the small sample cups, and tried the strawberry yogurt. after eating that, she said she was ready - and when i asked if she knew what she wanted, she immediately said strawberry. i knew without her telling me that she always chooses strawberry, and the test cup isn't really needed, but it has just become part of her routine (you know, you need to make sure that it is a good batch of strawberry before you commit to the big bowl. smart girl.).

when we went up to the counter, the man rang up our total. he first tried to hand her a pink spoon, and she shook her head with a big smile on her face. he laughed and then handed her a blue spoon, and they both smiled. i could tell that he knows that she always wants the blue one, but he has fun offering her the other colors first.

she had three toppings on her yogurt, and saved the whoppers for the end (she must get that from you stevie;)). "i always save those for last momma because they are my most favorite." before that, i didn't even know that she knew what whoppers were.

it was such a fun experience getting to see this entire routine that i am not normally a part of, and made me really think about how cool it would be to see all of the other routines at school she has everyday. i bet each one is as interesting as the yogurt one was.

as we were eating our yogurt, i thought about this post (which i thought was so good) and the way that she talks about "turning the wrench" towards kindness. i thought about all of the ways that i can continue to do that with malena (and all of the ways that i can continue to do that myself) so she always keeps kindness a big part of her outlook.

as we finished our yogurt, i took out a dollar and told malena that it would be nice to tip the man for helping us and to tell him thank you again before we left.

so she did, and he had such a big smile on his face as he told her to have a good night. i don't think that the workers at the yogurt place get tipped or told thank you very often (maybe once, definitely not twice).

in that moment, i was thankful for a chance to see every aspect of that routine, and for her invitation to be a part of it.

i was also thankful to know that there is a kind man in this world that knows that my daughter likes a blue spoon. and that he always makes her smile when giving it to her.

so we will keep looking for ways to turn the wrench of kindness for others, and will continue to be so thankful for the ones that turn it towards us.

by the way, dessert before dinner is pretty awesome.

you should definitely try it sometime.

just make sure that you save the whoppers for the end.