Makin' Momma Proud

Have you ever been so proud of your kid, your heart swells? Are you ever so glad he belongs to you that you want to just cry? Tonight was one of those nights for me. At least at first.

We had a big night planned.
---NOTE...if you are under 25, single, and unattached and think you want to get married and have kids someday, please skip the next paragraph. You may be persuaded otherwise when you find out what "a big night" constitutes for us.---
We planned to go out to dinner at a "family-friendly" restaurant, go shop for furniture, and then stop at Pets-mart for a fun-filled animal adventure. Now, we arrived at this "family-friendly" restaurant at 5 pm, so as to avoid any unsuspecting couples who wanted a quiet, romantic Saturday night dinner. [A "family-friendly" restaurant is determined by a few of the following characteristics: a) no cloth on the tables...for obvious reasons b) well lit...so you can find the food, utensil, booger your toddler drops in their lap and needs back IMMEDIATELY before a fit ensues c) has enough background noise so that when fits ensues, the sound doesn't echo off the ceilings and shatter glass d) serves food quick enough and in portions small enough that dinner can be accomplished in less than an hour...and an hour is pushing the attention span of a toddler trapped in a booster seat.] Anyway, we walk in and Andrew charges the hostess desk. Unusual behavior. The teenage girl working there is immediately enamored with him (who wouldn't be) and asks his name. (NOTE: her two teenage boy counterparts didn't even glance at him). Andrew promptly responds "Andrew Spurgeon" in a mumbly voice. We relate his name to her and she invites him to pick out a coloring sheet and crayons. Andrew charges over to the stack of papers and grabs some supplies. He says loudly and clearly (and with no prompting), "Thank you". We watch the hostess melt.

We all follow her to a table. Andrew is streaming a running commentary...about the football on the television in the bar, about the baby in one of the booths, that we are following her, etc etc. Hostess melts some more. We run into another group of people moving the opposite way, and Andrew bumps into a lady. Before she can say anything, Andrew pipes up "Sorry!". The woman is reduced to a pile of mush, and we walk on by. We get to our seat, Andrew says Thank you again to the hostess, and we settle in. The hostess actually complimented us on Andrew and asked if he was about 4 years old. When we told her he was 2, I swear she sent other servers to check him out. Throughout the beginning of the meal, strange servers would just stop by our table and smile at Andrew.

It just made me so proud to watch Andrew affect these people. He is just such a nice kid. And he did it all without any prompting, which makes me feel like maybe he'll just be okay when out on his own. We had a lovely dinner with no fits (he even said No, Thank you Mommy when I offered him something from my plate). I start to think that I'm pretty good at this Mommy thing to have such an exceptional toddler.

Then we went to the furniture store.

I don't really want to tell you what went on at the furniture store, because you're all probably still beaming from the sweet stories above, but let me just say I was immediately humbled. Andrew CAN be an extraordinary toddler, but he can also just be a normal toddler. No salespeople were melting at his cuteness. Maybe fuming at his irritating behavior. Maybe frightened that he would break something with his flailing on the floor crying. Or cringing in disgust that he would snot all over their pretty couches as we chased him throughout. Pet store was the same thing. Poor little animals.

So the score? One outing UNBELIEVABLE, two outings average toddler antics. I think we have a normal toddler here, folks. :) Thank heavens!