All Aboard the Butter Train // Baraboo children’s photographer

Have you ever thought it was safe to take a shower when you were home alone with your two-year-old, because you set her in front of the TV when Elmo was on… only to come downstairs and find said two-year-old making a train out of a stick of butter and “driving” it all over your kitchen floor?

No? Well, aren’t you a lucky bear.

“I playing trains, Mama!” she announced with glee. And just as I noticed the empty box of baking soda, she added, “It’s snowing on my train!”

And you have a choice, at moments like this, to get mad or get the camera.

To resent the sometimes messy side-effects of having kids, or to recognize that you needed to mop the floor this weekend anyway.

To lose your temper, or to try to find the magic in a stick of butter when hundreds of dollars of shiny, grandparent-bought Thomas the Tank Engine trains are sitting not 20 feet away.

I’m not always the best at keeping perspective, but I try. Happy weekend, friends.