Mommy-Carter Day

Wednesday was our long awaited "Mommy-Carter Day".  I'd promised one to Carter back in December, and had fully intended on doing it sometime in January, but with having MLK Day off, a couple days for my uncle's funeral, and a busier than expected month at work, I could only squeak it in on the last day of January.  As I've probably mentioned before, we're valuing these days more as we count down to Kindergarten in the fall (paperwork came a week ago and registration is next week!).  Once school hits, we won't have the luxury of taking him out whenever we feel like it, and all of his days off will be on the same schedule as Jacob, so he won't get the solo time he craves.  He's never known life without Jacob around, and therefore he values the times when he can have one or more parents to himself.  That was all Jacob knew for more than four years, hence his trouble with his brother's arrival, and Jacob clearly wants solo time too...but for Carter it's like this elusive, magical thing that only happens once in a blue moon.

I mean, to be fair, he gets some time alone.  When Jacob's at practice twice a week, he and I get to hang out.  And Craig very much values TV/movie time on the couch with him in the evenings or on weekends, and most often Jacob has no interest in hanging out for that.  But it's rare to just get time to snuggle or do what he wants to do, without a real time limit or the looming threat of departure for daycare.  Carter asks to stay home almost every day, and it was nice to have one day to say yes!

Craig actually had to be up and out pretty early that day for a work thing, so my dreams of lounging around in pajamas were dashed pretty quickly because I had to get Jacob to school by 8:30.  So I got up and dressed and got Carter dressed, then we dropped Jacob off and headed back home (round trip of about five minutes--yay!) to get some couch snuggle time while we ate our breakfast.  He was allowed some time on his Leap Pad (electronics have been very limited lately!) while I took a shower.  We headed out to the library, as we hadn't been there in a while, maybe since early fall?  He played on the computer there while I picked out books, and he was very pleased with my choices!  We tried to figure out one of the computer games together before hunger took over and we ventured out into a sudden snowstorm to grab lunch.  We went to a local pizza place that we drive by every day on our way to daycare.  I have loved their pizza, but since they don't have a gluten-free option, we haven't been able to go there in a long time.  But I had a BOGO coupon for slices, so I thought it would be perfect for us.  He picked pepperoni, and I picked Buffalo chicken, and they were HUGE!  I laughed when I saw them!  I should have taken a picture, but I'm not sure it would have done them justice.  I managed to finish mine, and Carter ate a big piece before continuing to chip away at it in smaller sections.  He probably finished about two-thirds of it.  I think he was saving room for dessert, which was a giant cookie (sensing a theme?).  They had Holy Cow! That's a Big Cookie cookies.  We've seen them around at festivals, but obviously never gotten one because Jacob can't eat them.  They're sugar cookies six inches in diameter.  I pretty much only consented because they had a Candy Explosion one that looked amazing--chocolate chips, white chips, M&M's, and sprinkles!  We each had a big piece and still had almost half the cookie left!  By the time lunch was over, we were in a great mood, and I wanted to snap a couple pictures to capture it, just in case the rest of the day didn't go as well.

After that, it was back out into the snow to buy Carter sneakers.  His most recent pair were getting a little beat up and I figured it wouldn't hurt to size up.  So we went to Skechers, whose clearance section is usually a gold mine.  After much discussion and debate (and me having to say no to a pair of sneakers with a built-in Simon game knock-off (no kidding)), we picked out one pair for now and one pair that's the next size up.  Believe it or not, those have ties instead of Velcro.  We've hit that point where Velcro is harder to find (at least where it still looks cool) and he'll be needing to learn to tie his shoes anyway.  They'll probably fit him right in time for Kindergarten.  Speaking of which, registration is this week!  How did we get here?!

After that, it was time to move on to the not-fun portion of the day--a quick stop at the bank and a longer stop at Wegmans.  He started to get a little antsy during that stop, but we made it out before things got out of control.  Then it was off to our fun stop--Adventure Landing!  I had promised Carter we could go and play a few games ($5 was my limit).  We actually did pretty well with the games--I wouldn't let him do the four-token ones, but we found enough similar two-token ones (he prefers driving games) that he stayed happy.  We picked out a couple prizes with the tickets we earned, and then we got some bonus fun.  The Wow Factory, the ball play zone that he enjoyed so much at his friend's birthday party, was free!  They run it on a more limited basis during the week (i.e., the guns don't work), so it's free to just go in and run around.  Carter loves to run, so he spent about a half hour doing that!  As we were leaving, suddenly Carter had a case of buyer's remorse on his ticket prizes, and so started the downhill part of our day.  He had chosen a fish-shaped toy that shoots a foam ball, and even though I asked him directly when he was choosing, he decided at that point he wanted to have the similar gun one instead.  I practically had to drag him out of the building and deal with a very cranky kid for a couple hours, because he wouldn't stop insisting he wanted the gun one instead of the fish.  He was so bad I had to leave him strapped in the car when we went to get Jacob, and he continued right through our arrival home.  So much for a fun afternoon.  He did much the same thing after the birthday party there when he decided on the way home that he wanted a different slap bracelet than the one he picked out.  So, perhaps we won't be going back there for a while.  And yes, he's since come to terms with both items, but I do not need that kind of aggravation.

Despite some of the frustrations, I'm glad we did the day.  I know he appreciated it, and unrushed time with him tends to be rare.  The good stuff outweighed the bad, and the good was really good while it lasted.  I still can't believe he'll be five in less than two weeks!  The countdown is on!