Home of the Four Trans

Nathan and I finally had a day alone together last weekend, a day I affectionately dubbed as “Mommy and Nathan’s Special Day.” I’ve told this story quite a several times, but for those who have not heard, I thought you may find it interesting.

Loi had offered to take care of Justin so that he could spend some time with the little munchkin while I get some shopping done with Nathan. With about 10 extra pounds on me, I had absolutely nothing in the closet that fit me anymore. He thought that I might enjoy a little time out, and would feel a little better once I made some purchases for myself. So, without hesitation, I put on my jeans and a simple cardigan, some flat shoes, pumped, then headed out the door with Nathan in my hand. I realized how much easier it is to take Nathan out now that he’s such a big boy, with no diaper bag to pack and bottles to prepare. I just put on his shoes, loaded him into the car, and off we went to South Coast Plaza.

Although shopping was a great pastime in my pre-Mommy years, it’s become somewhat of a chore…looking for clothes, trying it on, contemplating whether the purchase is worth my money. I’d rather spend my time with my little precious ones. But, the mall continues to serve as an exciting outing. Let me illustrate.

Puzzle Zoo: The Train Table

Some parents may hesitate taking their child to the toy store with the risk of actually having to buy them something. But, as I’ve learned in the past 2 years, the rewards far outweighs the monetary costs. Nathan’s favorite is the train table. He could spend at least an hour playing with the free trains on the tracks of the table. While we were there, he also learned some social skills. He learned to ask for a toy, and even had another boy share his home-brought Emily train with him. I was so proud of him because he did not hoard all the trains like some of the other kids did, but only played with one or two at a time. I also engaged in some train time with him, but when I figured he didn’t need me, I socialized with another mom there and learned some valuable information about pre-schools in our area.

The Carousel: Balloons

Yes, everywhere we turned, there were great opportunities to burn away money. Nathan loves balloons and repeatedly asked for the “big, orange” balloon the moment we entered the mall. Not wanting to carry a balloon bigger than the size of my head throughout the mall for several hours, I decided to postpone the purchase until the very end. However, we spent some time examining the different colors and designs on the balloons before his attention led elsewhere.

The Waterfall Fountain

Waterfalls have become somewhat of a recent obsession for Nathan. We spent about half an hour as he splashed the water with his hands, observed that there was “money” in there, and climbed up the edge only to jump back down so that I could catch him. A little girl runs up to the fountain test the water with her hands only to be scolded by her mother as she was hurriedly pulled away up the ramp. Am I a bad mother to let my son play with this “dirty” water, I wondered? Oh, well. It was a learning experience, I reasoned.

Nordstrom: Fish Tank

Red Fish. Blue Fish. Old Fish. New Fish. Visiting the local Nordstrom for some fish watching was a weekly tradition for me and Nathan prior to me giving birth. We would spend half an hour watching the colorful, tropical fish chase each other, hide, and eat. Nathan would point out to me the various colors he recognized and explained to me what he saw. “Nemo mau do (red), and mau den (black) hiding,” he would say. “Mommy, where is it? There it is! There it is!” He laughed gregariously when he saw a big blue fish chase a small yellow fish. I have to admit that I was intrigued by the fish’s little game as well. I was amazed by how smart the small one was to escape the bigger one by turning a corner and hiding in between the rocks, but only to be found seconds later and forced out by the bigger fish squeezing itself through the crevice. Was this really interesting, or have I been cooped inside for too long?

The Tantrum

So, when we left the house, Nathan was pretty close to his nap time. But, by the time we got to the mall, he was so excited he had forgotten that his body needed rest. Well, 3 hours later, the tiredness caught up with him, and he started acting out. I’ve never experienced Nathan throwing a tantrum in public before. Whenever I witnessed another mom desperately trying to calm her little toddler, I secretly felt grateful that Nathan had never embarrassed me like that. Well, there’s a first for everything. It all started with him wanting to drink his apple juice with a dirty straw that he had dropped on the ground. I told him I’d get him a new one but to no avail. One thing led to the next, with tiredness prevailing over reason, Nathan ended up in the middle of Nordstrom yelling and crying, “Go Away, Mommy! Go Away!” An onlooker asked if that was my child, and I thought, “Duh!” I actually was able to keep my calm and finally was able to convince him that if we did not leave and head for the balloon lady that we’d miss out on buying a balloon. “Huh?” The crying stops and he willingly loaded into his stroller as I pretty much ran across the mall back to the carousel to buy his balloon. By the time I got there–you guessed it–he had fallen asleep. As I was discussing with the balloon lady about which balloon to purchase him, he began to rustle, and she took it as a sign to loudly coo to him assuming that he was ready to wake up. Gee, thanks. Anyway, he was in a daze when he chose the orange balloon with the star design on it, and fell back asleep. I decided to push him around the mall for a little while to get him into a deeper slumber before loading him into the car. So, there I was, this small five foot tall lady, pushing a stroller around the mall with a large, pumpkin-sized balloon floating above my head. Quite a sight.

About half and hour later, I am at the car, loading the bag of toys and the monstrous (and did I mention pricey, $7) balloon into the car, when Nathan decided to wake up. Ah! He refused to get in the car and wanted to go back into the mall…I did as he asked knowing that I would pretty much have to wrestle him to get him in the car seat. Surprisingly, he decided he wanted to go home at that point. Hmm…maybe I should oblige to him more often.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 7:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.