Yesterday was a pretty good day.  My wife let me sleep in a little more than normal while she got up to start things for the day.  I got up just in time for breakfast, which is a good thing because my wife's crepes are wonderful!  My son just picks the fruit out and eats it, but hey, who can ever fault a child for eating fruit?    Nothing really out of the ordinary happened the first part of the day, just quality family time (including the dog).  It seems as though my son has a growing fascination with the dog (a 110-pound Lab/Chesapeake mix).  He will lay on the dog and give him hugs, which is so cute!  Sometimes, the dog will grow weary of this, so he will just get up and walk away with my son chasing after him.  My son will also sit by the door and watch the dog run around, laughing until he's red in the face.  Few things warm my heart more than hearing my son laugh.   Later in the day, I went to a cook out at my parents' house.  My wife had to work, so it was just me and the boy.  He pretty much made it through the day without any major meltdowns, except when I wouldn't let him play with the power button on the television, but that one wasn't too bad.  He ate a plate full of baked beans and watermelon, but I think it was the HUGE piece of chocolate cake I gave him that turned him into a "crazed monster".  My wife would never have given him a piece that big, but my son didn't mind.  I told him to not "tell mommy"!  When the sugar hit his system, I just caught glimpses of him running all over the house screaming, laughing, and carrying on.  It was quite a sight!!!   On the way home, I wasn't more than a mile up the road when I saw his head tilted to the side in that ever-famous "sleeping pose".  He was completely tuckered out.  When I got him out of his car seat, he woke and looked at me with hazy eyes and fell back asleep in my arms.  I love that feeling.  It's as though my son doesn't have a worry or concern in the world.  He trusts me and feels comfortable enough with me to let himself go completely and sleep.  I really felt the love flow from his body to mine and back to his.  It's a cycle that will never end.  This was just one of those days that was long, but it recharged my spirits, helped me have a clearer sense of my family's importance, and reinforced the value of love between a man and his wife, a man and his son, and within a family's unity.