Mama & Caden's Day. of. Fun!!*

So school is out today to house evacuees from Hurricane Ike and Caden's school is closed b/c CSISD is so we have had a super fun day!

I (stupidly) stayed up late reading b/c I didn't have to go to school today. Oh wait - I have a 3-year-old who has decided to get up at 6:30 every morning now!!! Oh, the joy. But he was super sweet and let me bribe him with Spongebob Squarepants and Dora while I slept. I told him I would get up after Dora and when I did, he said, "No - I want to watch another one" so I got to sleep until 8:30! He watched TV and played with his new trash truck in our bed. So sweet.

When I woke up, he told me that it was not raining and we could go to the park this morning. (He remembered me saying that last night.) So we got up, got ready, and went to McDonald's for breakfast. We sat on the same side in the booth - so fun. Then we went and got my car inspected. Not so fun, but one of those life necessities. But it was cute listening to Caden try to say 'inspected'.

I was going to take him to Tanglewood Park (so he could put rocks in his new trash truck) but when we drove by the park at South Knoll Elementary, he decided he wanted to go there. There were plenty of rocks and also plenty of sun so I cajoled him in to going to the mall and playing at that playground.

We had fun. Caden was very shy and withdrawn at first. I really hope I don't project my social phobias on to him. After a bit, he started running around with the best of them. I think he's too passive at times. There was this little girl who made the most inhuman noises as she ran every kid off of whatever they were playing with. Her and her little friends then picked up the little frogs & bees and repositioned them so they could play with them exclusively. I just figured this out (I'm not the typical playground mama) - if you're wondering who the 'playground bully' belongs to, 98% of the time it's going to be the parent who is paying absolutely NO attention to her child. Seriously, I wanted to spank the girl. And her mother.

We then traipsed back to Macy's where Caden wanted to ride the escalators. He did fine on the way up. As we're walking to the down side, he stuck his tongue out and grinned at the cleaning lady. We stepped on. Caden stepped off. I kept going. And Caden begins screaming and crying. The sweet cleaning lady ran around the corner and picked him up and carried him down for me. I felt horrible. One more reason to get in shape - to run UP the down escalator!

I asked him if he was OK & he looked at me with big ol eyes and crocodile tears running down his face and said, "I cried for you!" Gah! Knife to the heart right there.

So we came home and in a guilt-induced fit I gave him candy. Yeah, I know - lesson learned. He was bouncing off the walls (literally one time!) for hours. I'm just hoping he stays in bed tonight.

*You have to read this as Janice from Friends. If you're not familiar with this, then it's really not that funny & I'm sorry.