"Mommy and Me" Day -- Busted!

As an ER doc I work a lot of evenings and weekends, but then I get a lot of random weekdays off, when daycare is open and everyone else is at work. This allows me the privilege of taking one son to The Goddard School and keeping the other son with me for some special "Mommy and Me" time.

Poor Cole got the shaft a week ago on his Mommy and Me day. I had a lovely day planned. First we were going to go to Work of Art to paint, and from there we were going to go to Swift Creek Berry Farm to explore the colorful Mum field and bring some Mums home.

Nothing like having perfectly good plans go down the shitter. I had Cole all excited to paint, but when we got to Work of Art, rearing to go, they were closed ("Reduced September Hours. Back to Regular Hours in October"). Just my luck. At least I had a plan B… or so I thought. We drove all the way to the damn farm and there was not a mum, person, or other vehicle besides mine to be seen. It looked nothing like the seductive pictures of bright fields on their website. By this time poor Cole was sound asleep in his car seat. So much for a stimulating day with Mommy.

So we ended up just stopping at Panera and having a little lunch date. You never know what you’re gonna get when you take an almost-two-year-old to a restaurant, especially when the kids meals come with squeeze up yogurt that can all to easily be turned into a squirt gun.
(Here’s a picture from another lunch date with Oma.)

This time Cole managed to spare his face and got his belly instead.
"Mess!" I exclaimed.
Cole watched my every move as I took a napkin off the table and wiped the yogurt off his shirt. About ten minutes later when I busted out the potato chips, he was getting crumbs everywhere. He looked at me, then looked down at the crumbs on his belly and said "Mess."
I was tickled that he had remembered the word. Then it got even better… He picked up a napkin himself and wiped off his own belly and gave me a "look what I did" grin. This little accomplishment was worth every ounce of the frustration I endured that morning. It’s the sweet and unexpected little moments like this that I cherish as a Mom. I agree with Lennon – Life really is "what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans."

And not to worry… We got our mums. We just got back from "Mommy and Me" outing for Mums, Take 2. This time we went for the sure thing – Lowes!