The other day I took the two ‘big kids’ out so Hubby could hang out at home with The Dunk. Little Miss Adorable, Mr. Sensitive and I visited our local mall with the goal of lunch at a food court and a visit to the Lego store.
As a parent in a super-busy household it’s great to spend time with just one or two children. It’s quieter. It’s calmer. And it’s nicer. I refer to it as a date. We go out, I follow the child’s interests, we chat and there’s usually a snack involved.
Time slows down when there’s just two of you sitting at a table and the little things really do become a big deal.
By the end of our food court lunch Mr. Sensitive had developed some skill in using chopsticks and Little Miss Adorable was using one chop stick to lift a noodle at a time to her mouth.
Little Miss Adorable loved using her walker to race through the wide shopping mall hallways, stopping to look at early every little thing we passed. (I nearly lost her in a Hallmark store.) Both kids enjoyed picking out a gift for my sister (a fancy soap set) and Little Miss Adorable proudly carried the shopping bag on her walker.
Little Miss Adorable then proceeded to tell every interested passerby who the gift was for and would open the bag to show them. Most people were polite, and smiled at her, not really understanding what she was saying.
We soon reached Mr. Sensitive’s favorite place – the Lego store. It’s relatively quiet and there’s all kinds of Lego to try out. He was soon busy building. Little Miss Adorable continued to show everyone her shopping bag, opening it and saying, “Auntie.” Again, most people were polite, and puzzled, wondering why ‘Auntie’ was not in the bag.
Eventually I managed to drag them both out of the store with a small Lego purchase (aka bribe). Really, who doesn’t want to go home to try out your new Lego?
Kids happy, parent happy. It was a great date.
NOTE: I was in no way compensated by LEGO for writing this post, I simply wanted to share my family’s experiences.
