What's Dat?

Yesterday was Jon's day. Since the kids fight over who gets to hold the lunchbox on school days, I petitioned my mom for some of her free ones that were stashed in her pantry. Jon, Maddie, and Ben gleefully carried lunch-bags as we walked into the church yesterday. I dropped off Will, Ben, and Maddie, and since Jon still had a lunch-bag, he was still happy . . . until I buckled him in his seatbelt. Oh, the meltdown, the tears, the sobs! But they quickly faded when we walked into a sweet little bakery and picked up a cinnamon twist to share. (That stop wasn't planned, but I had forgotten the museum didn't open until 10 and we had a few minutes to spare.) Next we went to a wildlife museum -- I grew up in a museum (that's where my dad worked) and this one didn't really fit MY idea of a museum, but it was just perfect for a little kid -- and it was free.

Jon and I spent about an hour and a half looking at the "stuffed" animals -- three lions, no tigers, lots of bears, oh my! Each exhibit we approached, I heard, "What's dat?" and I would tell him. Then he'd rush to the next diorama. Guess what was the most interesting to Jon. . . the lights. . . the rocks. After a few of the first animals, he'd rush to the next and say, "Mama! Look rock!" with such amazement then, he'd ask "What's dat?" After many, many, many enthusiastic wows from me over the rocks, he started showing me all the lights. The animals still captured his attention, but not nearly as much as the rocks and lights that were part of their displays. In the photo above, Jon is looking at the display lights on the back side of the case, not the animal.

We stopped at the playground for a short playtime -- fortunately it was a sunny day; unfortunately, it hadn't warmed up enough to be comfortable yet. The next stop in our adventurous day was Daddy's office. This time we weren't picking Allen up for lunch, but we had brought a picnic. Still too chilly for sitting in the grass, we huddled together in the van to eat, and Jon still thought that was pretty special. We went inside for a short bit and Jon loved acting like Daddy -- sitting in a big chair at a big desk, frowning thoughtfully as his little fingers danced over the computer keyboard making the little tappity-taps. Then he'd check to see if we noticed he was being like Daddy, and when he saw we noticed, he just giggled and started the act again.

The final stop was the grocery store to get Mama's much needed coffee -- I hate running out, and only one store in town carries what I like. As we wandered through the store, Jon was thrilled that he was carrying the coffee. When I told him what it was, he pretended to slurp it and kept saying "copfee, ahhhh!" Hmm. Yeah. He's my son. He thought that was pretty silly, too. We gathered the other kiddos and headed home for chaotic playtime until Daddy got home. Will made this card for him at school today, and it brought such a smile to Allen's face.

It was a fun day. I know I've mentioned how much I enjoy the one-kid days. It isn't that the other days aren't enjoyable, they usually are. It is just such a different experience getting to know one child, getting to enjoy one child, and getting to make just one child so very happy. I've thought about the joy the "Daddy I Love You" card brought to us here, and I realized that parents just don't hear (or read) "I love you" enough. So, for my parents -- Mom, Dad, Shelley, Randy, I LOVE YOU!