Mom for a day

Yesterday was my little sister's 6 year anniversary. I told her to go out and spend the day with her husband, I'd take the kid. My Internet was all messed up so I couldn't look anything up on what to do or how to get someplace, ahh, what did we do before the Internet? I guess the same thing my parents did with us - go to the same place over and over again.

First I took the 4 year old boy to the library, I had to return a book and pick some up. We spent a half hour in the kids section which he really enjoyed. We picked out three books and a movie. I don't think he has been to a library a lot, he was so cute trying to carry all his stuff to the front desk. In the car I say, 'so what special things do you want to do today?' he replies he wants to play Lego batman game, but its too nice, so I take him to a park. I gave my park selection some thought. OK, it is Saturday, hopefully single dad's will be at the park, so which park to go to? A big one should have a decent selection of single dad's, hopefully - as I think they get custody on the weekends. The weather was perfect park weather, but yet, the park seemed relatively quiet, bummer. So we play tag for an hour and then he needs a break. I take out some raisins and the kid says "Oh, those are chocolate raisins, my favorite" and I say "They are just regular raisins sweetie" Boy says, "but they are brown, the brown ones are made with chocolate, see, I love chocolate so I can eat all of them!"...I reply, "Oh, right, ok". and that little bugger ate a lot of raisins because his mom told him there was chocolate in them. Sneaky. After his energy boost we play miniature golf. He gets a hole in one on the second hole - I didn't get any. We let a lady & her son pass us - she tells me my son looks just like me but with blond hair. I thank her. Why bother correcting her? He looks nothing like me, but I guess people just say things they think you want to hear. I should be happy she didn't call the police and tell them I was abducting the kid who looks NOTHING like me at all. Boy starts to loose his patience half way through. We quit the game on #15. I suggest to him we try another park (because of the lack of Dads), he was almost willing to go, until he met this adorable little 3 year old boy. They played together for another 2 hours. The kid's Mom was ok, we talked a little, but since I don't really know how to talk to strangers, it was really hard for me and I ended up going to watch my kid on the other side so I didn't have to talk to her.

Oh good, a father approaching. Oh, he is old and ugly. His kid joins my kids group. We chat a little, he tells me my son is adorable and that he will sleep well tonight. Again, I smile and say thank you. Time to leave the park, I pull Boy aside and say, what next? He says "how should I know, you are the adult you are supposed to pick' hmm, is that how his mom does it? I think he should tell me what he wants to do today. So I ask questions so I can figure out what else he likes to do. But boy is getting cranky...three hours of running in the sun will do that. So I suggest ice cream. That was a debate. We get in the car and I say that the 3 yo boy we was playing with was adorable, and Boy replies, 'so adorable I can eat him up!!" HAHA, he Boy isn't a cannibal, we say that to him all the time.

We stop for ice cream and then we head home because he wants some juice. We get home and he wants to play his video game. Sure its only 5 but he did run around a lot, why not? ohhh no, tragedy: there is only one controller, I can't play with him. MELTDOWN time. So, we head over to Radio Shack to get another controller. Then we stop and get a superman balloon in the balloon store, where the clerk tells Boy "Your mommy is so good to you, getting you a big balloon" Boy replies "She isn't my mommy" Clerk looks at me. So I say "No, I am your aunt". We head over to stop & shop to pick up groceries for dinner. No single Dad's there either.

Get back to the house, his parents are home, and I cook dinner for everyone. Mom for a day and I absolutely loved it. Sure, I was a little tired but I had a great time. And where do single dad's take their kids locally? I'll need to figure this out for next time.