By Friday I am often left feeling like I've been plowed down by a steam roller multiple times. Thank goodness Mark called on his way home and asked, Should we go out for dinner? Oh yes. Yes, we should.
That shows my level of poopedness. Eating out with Heath and Stella can feel like more of a chore than eating at home. But having to cook and clean up seemed unfathomable tonight. So we headed to our local child-friendly favorite, Eddie's. Their jukebox is loud. Their food is good. And the wait staff thinks our kids are adorable, so they just grin and distract them from whatever misery they are in the middle of making, i.e. not sitting down on their bottoms in a high chair or booth, trying to open every butter/jelly packet, poking a hole in the water-filled Styrofoam cup, screaming at the top of their lungs when I can't get the mac and cheese cooled down fast enough, throwing a fork into the man's plate in the booth behind us, licking the top of the salt and pepper shakers... Fortunately tonight, the food was out quickly and the kids must have been hungry, because it was a relatively event-free dinner.
Stella has quickly embraced walking, so she insisted on exiting on her own, giving the Queen's wave to everyone. Her slow, sideways shuffle (reminiscent of Tim Conway's Old Man character from The Carol Burnett show) has loosened up remarkably. After dinner we walked over to Earth Fare to pick up some milk and she wandered around the store, following behind various people, waving. The EF staff was already in the middle of an Apple Juice bottle display massacre, and I thought, Oh dear, here come the Ropkos to make another mess. (My behind and a recycling bag caused a nasty red wine display disaster not too long ago.)
Other than a few greeting cards being pulled and some rearranged jars of pasta sauce, we almost made it out without a hitch, until I picked Stella up to hurry the process. She went stiff as board with a full-on lung holler throughout the store, out into the parking lot. Her arms and hands flailing. Her little kitty cat claws grasping for any hair or skin she could latch on to.
Oh my, here comes Mark with an overflowing mug of Cherry Cordial ice cream. We've got a Six Feet Under episode to watch, too. All is right with my world.
Ice cream will make it all better, my dear friend.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it so incredibly difficult to take children to the store or restaurant? I mean really? Last week we went to eat chicken wings with the girls. The waitress cooed over Lucie and said something like, Aren't you cute? Wanna come home with me? And I said, YES. I MEAN REALLY YES. At least let me eat dinner in peace. Not long after, Lucie was already giving the people behind us a performance worthy of Cher, crawling on the floor underneath the table, catfighting with her sister, and blessing me out. That was before we attempted the dreaded bathroom. I feel sure my hair was standing on end by the time I literally dragged her out of there with Bee bringing up the tail. Sigh!!! Gotta love it!