Date Night :-)

This was supposed to be my weekend off - you know what I mean - the single parent's weekend without children --- however, Wasband needed me to trade and I agreed to do it - because I'm nice like that :-)

As it turned out, both girls were invited to spend the night with friends, so once again, it was just Edison and I. Edison was having a super great day today - he had the same underwear on that I put him in this morning (love his little boxer briefs!), he was in a really good mood (no whining), he didn't seem to be tired, he was hungry, it was still early and so I decided to take Mr. Ed out on a date!

Of course he wanted to eat at MARIACHI'S! He always says he wants to eat at Mariachi's if you ask him where he wants to eat but I was headed to Danville and Mariachi's was in the opposite direction. My first thought was fast food but on second thought, since he was in a super great mood, I decided to try something more "grown-up". I asked him if he wanted to eat Mexican at Guadalajara, Steak at Reno's or Chicken at O'Charley's. He immediately said "I want to eat at O'Charwey's" so that's where we went.

While we were walking inside, I said "Edison, I really need you to be a good boy while we are in here, okay?" and he said "okay, Mom, I be a good boy". Yeah, I'd heard that before - this would be a first. Luck was on my side tonight and we were immediately seated. Of course Edison being three and right in the middle of potty training, had to check out the bathrooms. This was a new place you know! Before we ever sat down, we visited the potties where Edison peed. We were in the regular stall (non-handicapped) and it was just the right height to allow him to stand up without touching anything. That was good! Automatic flushing --- that was bad! The boy was almost traumatized when the toilet flushed on its own with no warning. It absolutely scared the child to death! I'm glad he was finished or he would have peed all over the place!! Okay, good! We had that out of the way (for the time being)!

We returned to our booth and the first thing he had to do was take his shoes off. It seems all of a sudden he had a "boo boo" that was really bothering him and he said "mom, I can't wear these shoes, my boo boo hurts weewy bad!" I have yet to find a boo boo on his foot but I detected a slight whine in his voice and decided to choose my battle. Wearing, or not wearing shoes, as long as he was sitting in the booth, was not going to become a war!

Our waiter, Derek, came and introduced himself, told us what the drink specials were and I said, "I'll have a diet." Edison said "I'll have a diet too!" The waiter asked if we wanted Diet Pepsi, Diet Mountain Dew or Diet Dr. Pepper (gosh, I'd never gotten this many choices before!!! Normally, I have to get my own drink - hahaha) I chose Diet Pepsi and I asked Edison if he was sure he wanted a diet drink and his reply was "no, I want lemonade". Again, luck was on our side --- they have pink lemonade!!! We arrived in time for 1/2 price appetizers so we chose Chicken O'Tenders with Honey Mustard and waited patiently for our drinks, our chicken and of course, the rolls!!! Edison had just gotten his menu unfolded and his crayons ready when it all arrived.

O'Charley's is running a special right now. You can add a soup or salad to any entree and get a free mini-desert. YUM! We ordered potato soup. Edison was chowing down on a roll with lots of butter, enjoying his pink lemonade (which he said was "strong") and a chicken strip when our soup arrived. He asked, "mom, will I like that soooop?" and I told him I thought he would and boy, did he!!! I gave him his first bite, he took the spoon from me and I barely got any. What little I did get were spoon fed to me by him. Let me tell you --- the boy likes some cheesy potato soup :-)

Our entree arrived and by that point, we were slowing down. It was some kind of Chicken Penne Pasta and we had a few bites and asked for it to be boxed with our leftover chicken tenders so we could enjoy our desert choice - a mini caramel pie. They brought us two spoons and Edison informed me "mom, this is my ice cream, you need to get another one." He finally decided to share. I let him have the whipped cream, mini chocolate chips and nuts on the top and I enjoyed the caramel and graham cracker crust. We were both pretty happy!

While waiting on our check, Edison needed to go to the potty again. This time he had REAL business to take care of. I told him to get his shoes which by this time had ended up in the floor. He got down under the table and when I looked to see what was taking so long, he was licking his hand and rubbing the bottom of his shoes. GROSS! Why do boys do things like that? I cannot recall that either of my girls EVER licked their hands and played with the bottoms of their shoes. I finally got him out of the floor, up in the bench and got his shoes on enough that he could walk to the bathroom without being barefooted (the thought was too disgusting for me!)

We got to the bathroom and the only stall available was the handicapped one. It's too tall for him to stand, but he needed to sit this time anyway. The trouble was, he could barely concentrate on the task because he was scared to death that the toilet was going to flush! I told him he had to sit very still and just hurry up and get finished and then he wouldn't have to worry about it. Mission accomplished! He did what he had to do and the potty didn't flush until we pushed the little button after he was finished --- yay!!!

While waiting for our check, I said "Edison, this was the best date I have ever had". Of course, he didn't understand that it was the only date I had had in 20 plus years!! He leaned over and hugged me and said "This was the best date I ever had too" and with his sweet little lips, he kissed me right on my lips, looked me in the eye and said "I wuff you, Mommy!"

This date will be a hard act for any man to follow. I "wuff" you too, Edison!