Sooooooo, I decided to run some errands today. The kind that I can do while the munchkins are happily and safely strapped down in their seats and I remain in the comfort of my air-conditioned car. But, since we didn't leave until after Nathan woke up at 11:30, hunger pains were sure to play a part and I was ready for it (I thought). One of my errands was near a MacDonald's I've never been inside of, so my brave (or could be not-so-smart) self decided to take BOTH kids inside a restaurant I've never been inside of, BY MYSELF! Are you picking up on the foreshadowing?
It started to rain 2 minutes before we got there. I decided to get our food through the drive-thru then go inside (waiting in line inside was going to be too much). Katherine already had her mind set on going inside and I really didn't want to feed Nathan soupy baby food while teetering myself above him in the backseat. So we go through the drive-thru, get our food, and the rain stopped. Whoo hoo! Good sign.
I load up the purple-princess-dress-wearing little lady, the attach-to-the-table toddler seat, the over-packed diaper bag, the squirmy little boy strapped inside his car seat, two To-Go bags of food with drinks and we go inside. Put the little lady on her side of the bench, attach the toddler seat to the table, wipe down table with antibacterial wipes, take squirmy little boy out of the car seat and put him in the toddler seat, place Gerber stars in front of him, set out food for little lady and the straw to her apple juice falls on the ground. Uh Gross! I do the best mom-wipe-down of a 3-inch plastic straw possible; because going up to the counter to wait in line to ask for another straw with two children either waiting with parafanalia at the table or with me at the counter is TOTALLY out of the question.
Little lady proceeds to eat at her normal turtle pace, while I do my best to keep Nathan from licking the table or spreading his food-covered mouth of love all over the toddler seat that I really don't want to have to wash after only 2 uses. I somewhat successfully feed myself and Nathan, do my best to keep Katherine from causing the people in the booth behind her to slink down into their seats from Katherine's glaring stares of wonder, convince her to eat about 3/4 of her cheeseburger, all of her apples, too many of my french fries and keep all the trash neatly in a bag for easy throw-away.
Although, there was about 10 minutes worth of both Nathan and myself being done with eating while we watched and pursuaded little lady to continue eating instead of pressing her nose against the window to watch the passerbys, or quit figiting enough to fall out of her seat.
Ah ha! I'll entice her with the Happy Meal toy. I open it up and proceeded to play with it all the while telling her to finish up so she can hold it. The acorn attached to the squirrell then goes shooting across the table, down onto her bench and under my bench so far back that I can't reach it, not even with my generic Croc flip-flops taken off and used as a reaching tool.
Fine, we'll wait while she continues to eat, and eat, and eat. It seemed like 43 minutes, but was more like 4 that passed and she proudly and loudly proclaimed, "Mommy, I'm done!" Hallelujah, we're outta here. "But what about my acorn?" she asked. Without making this story any longer, I couldn't convince her that we didn't need it, so little lady, in the purple princess dress proceeded to crawl under the bench seat to retrieve her squirrell's acorn. Do I even need to go into detail concerning the cleanliness of the floor under my seat? I'll save the typing.
By this time, squirmy boy, who's been strapped into the car seat so I could fold up the toddler seat, is starting to get fussy and loud. I break out the antibacterial wipes and give Katherine a trucker's bath right there in MacDonald's. Our trash bag was filled to the top with our food wrappings and a total of 12 wipes. It was time for us to leave.
My overflowing muscle-bulging arms (I wish) were unavailable so my voice had to be the only tool to direct little lady where she needed to go. Being 3 and all, she has no clue that taller people are waiting for her to get out of the way so they can continue on with their daily lives, and it's all so much more interesting than mommy's voice barking out commands. Our departure, even though it was from the table literally closest to the door, was almost as eventful as our stay. A kind young man, probably without child, held open the door for the muscle-bulging, arm-filled mother with two kids squirming and not listening to her anyway. I thanked him and we walked 10 feet to our car. Yep, we got that lucky to park in the absolute closest spot also. It took what seemed like forever in the 90 degree heat to load up everything and finally sit down in the A/C, then sigh. Then Katherine asked, "Mommy, where we going to next?"
I now remember why we don't go inside to eat, just the three of us.
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Nathan is cutting more teeth which means sleep has become optional; at least for him and me.
This one would fall under the category of "What are they thinking of at 3 years old?": One of our errands was to return a movie. Katherine asked what it was about and I explained that a man was looking for a girlfriend.
Katherine: And she has 2 legs?
Mommy: Uh, yes, she has 2 legs.
K: But 4 would work. She could have 4 legs to walk.
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