The Tysons Adventure

We had plans to meet my dear friend from high school and her adorable 14 month old daughter at Tysons Shopping Mall yesterday mid-morning. Well little man apparently had a different plan in mind when he woke up at 3:45AM and decided to play until the sun came up. As I explained in Adventures of a Saturday Night, his nighttime sleeping can sometimes be disturbed by that pesky hyperarousal! Usually within an hour or two, he settles himself down and catches a few more snoozes. Not this time. So I'm sitting on the edge of the bed in the morning discussing with hubby - Should I go or Should I stay home. A common discussion we have. It's one of those inner battles I fight. We can pull thru this, we can do it, we don't have to change our lifestyle - just strap on your boots and get out there! Afterwards I see this image of God looking down on me, "Oh mama, when will you learn", as he grins and shakes his head.

So off we go to meet our friend at Tysons. Everyone was smiling and happy in the car ride. We got to the mall, and little man was asleep in the stroller within 5 minutes. SWEET!!! He was technically 3 hours behind so a nap was great! We shopped and played in the Disney store for awhile. (And a little tip for moms - this is our new playground rather then those germ infested playground pits in the mall. We could spend hours in there finding characters in the big stuffed animal wall and staring at Cinderella) We shopped a little more and then headed up to the food court.

Little man decided to wake up as we entered and wasn't a very happy little man. After about 15 minutes of trying to calm him we packed up our pizza and traveled home. Poor guy was so overtired and cried the whole way home. I rocked him a bit and he finally came around to eating his pizza and then napped again. But back to the food court.....I expected a slight protest from the daughter since I said "Let's Go" in mid-bite of pizza and the germ infested playground is painfully parallel to the food court. But instead she obediently put on her coat and carried her pizza to the car without a complaint. I'm truly amazed by her each day. She's learning inconceivable virtues by being the big sister of a special needs child. So as we were driving home, and little man is crying while princess and I were discussing why we still have 4 more months until we can go to the pool, I was trying to think of something fun for her - a special treat. A HA! So after little man was settled for his afternoon nap, we made strawberry sundaes with chocolate fudge, whip cream and sprinkles and then we settled on the couch for a lovely afternoon of Cinderella together. Ahhh the joys of little girls. She was dripping with delight.

So all in all - it was a fine afternoon. I had a little over an hour of shopping time with my friend, little man got back on schedule and a wonderful afternoon with the princess. What more could a mama ask for in a day?

And I don't think I've shown you all how cute her new haircut is...here's a side view.

Stylin for a four year old!

And thank you all for your inquires and prayers for my Pap-Pap. All is good and he's back at home with Grammy. It will be a slow recovery but he's very happy to be back in his recliner!