Just the Two of Us

                                   
This past week was Sping Break which meant we let the kids run wild, play outside in bare feet and enjoy extended bed time hours. Early in the week my oldest daughter slept over a friend's house. That evening my 6 year old wanted to do something fun so I took her to play mini-golf. We go and get our club and golf ball and headed off. She was leading the way. She counted every stroke out loud. The first hole she got 6, I got 3. The second she got 5, and I got 2. She started to wise up pretty quickly that she was going to lose at this rate. On hole three she did three strokes and said, "One" and then another two more, "Two. I got two." I said to her, "I think you got 5." She laughed, "No, I got two. Put down two." So this went on the whole game. Every time I would question her she would just laugh and say, "Just write it down." Cheater. We saw turtles in the pond and a goose sitting on a nest next to hole 7. It was warm and we just laughed and had a good time. We played games in the arcade and then ate cheese fries and she drank an icee. It was a neon green. I told her that her poop was going to glow in the dark after drinking that thing. It looked toxic. We had a nice time.

The next day we got up early and I made her breakfast but I had a ton of work to do. I told her that she could watch a movie, play a game, read a book - whatever she wanted as long as she stayed out of my hair. I felt bad but that's how it goes. I was in my office all morning and she popped in occasionally and was just so sweet and understanding. I called her up at lunch time. "I am going to take you out to lunch today. We can go where ever you want." Her eyes got wide with excitement. "But mom, can we go some where fancy?" I said, "What do you have in mind?" "I want to go to the place with the grapes on it? You know, near the mall." "The Olive Garden?" She nodded, "Yeah, the Olive Garden." Then it occurred to me that my 6 year old thinks the Olive Garden is fancy which made me chuckle. I told her to get dressed and she left the room. I got up a while later to get dressed myself and she walked in wearing a pretty dress and sweater. She dressed up so she could go to a fancy restaurant. We walked in arm and arm and this child was beaming, she was so happy. The hostess asked if we wanted a table of booth and said said, "We would like a table please." We went to the table and she unfolded her napkin and laid it in her lap, like a little lady. Then we played tic-tac-toe on the kids menu. She ordered pizza and a side of mashed potatoes. An odd combination, in my opinion but when you eat at a fancy restaurant you can get mashed potatoes with everything. Afterwards we walked back to the car. "Thanks for going on a lunch date with me." She looked up at me with her big brown eyes, "You're welcome." Love her.