Date

When it was just Abe, I was great about taking him on "dates."  Obviously that is pretty easy to accomplish when you have just one child.  I have never taken Jack on a date, and it hit me last week that he is going to be 4 next month.  I feel like he has grown up so quickly and it makes my heart hurt a little.  Jack is an awesome kid, and I love to spend time with him and hear his thoughts on life.  (For example, we were talking about the Brontosaurus on his shirt the other day, and hours later he said "Mommy, I think we should get a Brontosaurus.  And keep him in the back yard.")

So, I asked him on a date.  We decided on last Wednesday.  When I asked what he wanted to do, he thought maybe take a walk around the block and then go to the playground.  Very sweet (and cheap), but it was getting dark and it was still nearly 95 degrees outside.  So, we went to see "Ice Age" in 3D and out for ice cream.  But we stopped at Toys R Us first because he is just so darn cute.

After we had dinner, I told him I was going to change and then we could leave.  He said (with a huge smile) -- "On our date?  Just you and me?"  I knew then I had made the right decision.  We were climbing into the pilot and he had one of Abe's Playmobile guys.  I mentioned how cool I thought it was, and he said "Yeah, but Abe has all the coolest ones."  He didn't say it out of jealousy or frustration, he was just stating a fact.  I looked at him and realized that although it is fantastic for Dar and I that we rarely buy any toys for Jack or Charley, it would be nice for him to have something of his own.  It isn't that we don't buy them anything, or that they don't get birthday and Christmas presents, but in all honesty, we have discouraged people from buying them toys because we just feel like they have so many.  And they do.  And most of them rarely get played with (a post for another day), but at that moment, I wanted Jack to feel like he was special enough to have his own "coolest" toy.  And he didn't ask for it, which is even better.

So, we stopped at Toys R Us, and that in itself was awesome.  It was fun to walk up and down the aisles with just Jack, watching to see what caught his eye, and taking time to talk to him.  When we got to the Playmobile aisle, we looked at a lot and he really liked the jet.  We were looking at it and I told him he could get it if he wanted, and I wish I had a picture of his face.  Priceless.  So we got the $6.99 jet and headed off to the movie.  "Porter" the pilot and the jet came into the movie, and we had the best time.  Afterwards, we stopped for ice cream, sat next to "Our Fountain," and then came home to show the jet to Daddy.  It was a late night for my little guy, but so worth it.  Countless times he would just say "Mommy.  I just love you."  And wherever we walked he reached for my hand.  I was seriously overwhelmed.  So thankful and blessed.