Our first hiccup was our Friday outing. I planned for us to go to the Galleria where Jake loves to ride the little mall train & the carousal (and maybe selfishly I could pop into a few stores). We make our way to the train loading station & Jake is so excited. That is when I realize that I forgot to get cash to ride the train. Have you ever tried explaining an ATM to a 2-year-old? I had no choice but to leave the train station so we could walk ACROSS the mall to the ATM to get cash. Needless to say, Jake did not understand & was not happy. He starts yelling & shaking his umbrella stroller so bad it was about to tip over. So I get the bright idea to get him out & carry him. Carrying a 42-pound mass as he is screaming & clawing at me to try to get down while pushing the stroller was not easy. I felt like I was wrestling Hulk Hogan. He was trying so hard to get down & I was wearing a sundress. I'm pretty sure we flashed everyone at the mall. And when I say he was yelling, I mean a yelling cry. Not just crying, not just yelling, but both of them combined. He was being SO loud. At least when you are so focused on trying to get to your destination with a screaming child, you don't notice as much all of the glares from other shoppers. But you know they are glaring. Their are 2 types.... The ones glaring at you in annoyance because they don't have kids (which was me 5 years ago) & those with a sympathetic/relief look. Sympathetic because they have probably been there, but relieved that they are not there now! So we FINALLY make it to the ATM, which happens to be right beside the carousal. Jake darts off towards it with me running behind (with still no cash). He runs under the rope to the carousal that was about to start. The sweet lady behind the counter gave us a free token so Jake could ride. The carousal was full, so I just threw Jake on the nearest animal. He was fine for about 2 turns until he looked back & realized that the elephant (his favorite) was 2 behind him & he was not on it. So he starts getting upset again. He is trying to get off the animal he was riding & kept crying "my elephant". I'm not very tall, so trying to keep him on this animal going up & down was not easy. I didn't think that it was EVER going to end. Again, lots of stares. I wanted to scream "I'm not rewarding my child for bad behavior! I made him skip his nap so we could get back on schedule. I did this!" But you can't, you just have to let them stare like you have a horrible child. Thankfully, the carousal tied him over long enough for me to stop by the ATM. We finally got to ride the train, we rode the carousal again & got the elephant (& I paid the nice lady back!). Certainly wasn't our finest outing, but he still had a good time (while he wasn't screaming).
But on to the happy times! On Saturday we played outside for a long time. First I filled up a tub with soapy water. I let Jake wash his bath toys. He love it! Another cheap outside activity!!
The Bush's bough Jake & Jackson a slip-n-slide. Jake never got the hang of running, slipping then sliding. But, he did like sitting on it playing with the sprinkler on it. (Please excuse the bare bum. For some reason, he is going through a stage that as soon as his swimsuit & swim diaper are wet, he wants to take them off. Figured in the privacy of the back yard, it was okay. Hopefully he gets this out of his system before the beach.)
Just doing a little nude sunbathing
And a drink of water
We also went to Tree Top (which is a family adventure center with video games, go carts, putt-putt, etc....) It was a little too old for Jake, but he still had a great time. He was fine just pretending to play the games & hit the buttons. Fine with me (& my wallet!). I was so busy trying to keep up with him, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures.It was such a nice weekend & so nice to get to spend some time just the 2 of us. Jake is growing up so fast, so I just want to savor all of these moments.
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