A Date with My Little Man

Today, I had a date with my little man.  Just the two of us.  It was different than any other day since we are together every day.  But today, held a special treat.  We left town in the "vancar" and drove for a bit.  Our mission today: Ride The Carousel!  He LOVED the carousel at the mall when we visited my parents.  He has been talking about the carousel ever since.  So today, our destination was to ride the carousel.

As we were driving he asked if Grandpa and Grandma would be there again and if we would have lunch with them.  He even told me the carousel was upstairs...we had to go upstairs to get to it.  I explained that this was a different carousel than the one at Grandpa and Grandma's.  He was diappointed it wasn't THAT one, but he was excited to ride a carousel again.

We arrived...too early for the carousel. It didn't open until noon.  So, we took care of some other store visits we needed to make all the while he was asking if we could go back to the horses.  We had great conversation all morning, every thing was "why?"   One lady asked me how old he is...I said 3. She said, "I love all the "why's"... he is too precious."  We got our errands done and he said, "mommy! check the time! Are the horses awake and ready yet?"  (Yes, I am guilty of saying things are "sleeping" to buy some time when he doesn't grasp time at all).  I checked the time and it was 11:18am.  I said we have 45 minutes and he looked at me quizzically.  Ok, too much - I said, the horses are getting up from their nap and have to have lunch before they are ready to go.  That, he understood.  I said we need our lunch too so we can be ready. Off to lunch we went.

We dined together having the cutest conversations at Panera.  He had his grilled cheese sandwich and I had the new Thai Chicken Salad.  Ooohhh was that yummy! I got my spice on and it was very de-lish!  We prayed before our lunch, holding hands and singing God Our Father for the entire restaurant to hear and join in if they wished.  He ate my bread, drank my drink, and we had the BEST time...

He could hardly wait to get to the carousel after lunch! We arrived straight up 12noon.  We bought our tickets and waited to get on.  We got on and he said, "Is daddy coming to watch me?"  I explained daddy was at work, but we would come again with daddy.  We rode the carousel and he held on tight...his little fingertips white.  As the ride came to a stop, we got off and headed to check out the rest of the rides.  As we left, he said, "can we go to the merry go round at Grandpa and Grandma's now?" 

We did call daddy...and told him all about the 'merry go round'...and about our date.

As he naps, I reflect on the great joys of parenting.  Of parenting and living life again through the eyes of a child.  The Lord has blessed us greatly.  He has given us an extra special gift and we treasure him and all the moments we have together.  My heart is full today and over flowing with love for His chosen child.  These days will go fast - and they will be mere memories before we know it.  I am holding tight to these special moments and times.  This is family.  This is my family.  Today is a day I will treasure. Forever.