A Night Out WITH the Kids: part 1

PART I: WAITING

We often go out to eat and we almost always take our little ones with us.  With Corey’s work schedule it is very difficult if not impossible to have an early dinner, however we do try because on those occasions that we are out past our kids bedtime they inevitably get a second wind and are recharged to the max. 

At that point they have no control of the words coming out of their mouths (the filter between their brain and their mouth has already shut down and is sleeping quite soundly).  Their energy levels have sky rocketed and they can NOT under any circumstances stop moving or even slow down because this may mean that they will fall asleep in a public place and possibly miss something.  So they are literally bouncing off the walls or just flat out climbing them.

So here I am “Miss I want to do everything right” torn because I don’t want to get on to them too much since it is OUR fault that they are up so late.  However, they should know to use their manners in all situations, no matter what distress their bodies are under… tired, hungry, hurt, or just having a bad day.  (I really wish some adults could learn this too). :-) 

But then it’s all about perspective right, so I could look at it from the angle that I am setting them up for success, teaching them to use their manners in tough situations and pressing their limits.  Life is a Baby Boot Camp. 

Then there are those times that I am too exhausted myself to be Sergeant Mom and I let them just be wild & have fun.  Once again, it isn’t their fault that they are up so late and if the kids & I did eat earlier and go to bed on time then they wouldn’t get to ever see their dad.  So we go out.  After all, it is much more important to me that my kids have a relationship with their dad.

Of course, during the nights that they are absolutely insane I am begging my husband to change his work hours knowing that this will hurt our income.  I have no problem downsizing and moving to a smaller home… once they start school this will probably have to happen anyway if Corey wants to spend time with them.   For now I believe that he is absolutely enjoying the way it is.

Corey loves the outlandish, sometimes rude, things that the kids pick up and repeat.  It’s not just him.  They make me laugh too, but I would find it a LOT funnier if it was coming from another child’s mouth and not my kiddos.  Just the thought of our little angels saying some of these things will make him giggle to no end. 

Here a few examples to that I am referring would be from one particular night… yes all of this happened… and yes it all happened in the same night.

While we were waiting for our table of 10,  (Like I said we go out with our family… it isn’t just the four of us and they have many cousins around their age). The kids wanted to pretend that they were monkeys, so they were literally climbing on us and once they reached the top we would get showered with kisses.  (Ok, what parent is going to turn that game down).  Then someone gave them balloons, which somehow magically became swords, so sword fights between the three kids and well Corey too broke out.  It wasn’t long before the sword fighting was old news, not to mention that we were probably detouring more patrons from walking into the restaurant.  

As if I needed further embarrassment, Lauren was tapping on my body playing her own version of the game “Meany, Miney, Mo” by tapping on my chest going from one boob to the other, Then she changed the words to “Boogie, Boogie, Booby”, which made her laugh hysterically.  Normally we have a huge LIST of words that we DO NOT SAY and well booby is on that big bad list, but this night it became obvious that I needed to pick & choose my battles.  So I flipped her around on my lap and crossed her arms across her chest (as if she was in a straight jacket)  & started my own game of “Free Yourself”… I WON.  This game lasted until it was time to be seated.  Yes you read correctly, we still were waiting for a table.

I think the hostess was at her wits end when she was picking up menus for us and began to show us to our table when Evan exclaimed at the top of his lungs, “LOOK OUT DAD, SHE’S BACKING UP”.  Laughter erupted around us and my face was flushed with embarrassment as I explained to her that it was a line from a movie (one that Corey repeats often).

(To be continued…)