A Date With My Son

We like to do 'dates' with our children. It gets them away from everything at home that could distract them from paying attention to us. It also gives them the opportunity to get out what's on their mind with our complete attention on them. It has filled many a love tank in our household.

Yesterday I was noticing that Ryan seemed quite a bit out of sorts. I don't know if it was the coming down from the sugarfest he's had this week or if it was just one of those days. This is usually a good indicator to me of all my kids when a 'date' is needed.

However, I was tired and he was tired and I thought maybe we'll do it tomorrow. Well, after I fed everyone dinner and he just wasn't interested, I thought maybe I just needed to put my tiredness aside. This was important. I don't ever want to miss the silent cry of my child for my attention. This is especially important in bigger families.

Ryan is the exact middle child and I think sometimes in all the chaos life brings us on a day to day basis, he feels like nobody hears him. What he doesn't realize is that even though his mama is being pulled in a million different directions, I have a sense of when things are out of alignment. It's what we mama's know.

So off we went in the car. A trip to McDonalds was what he wanted. As we were driving along, the gates were opened and out came what was on this tiger's mind. He's tired of living in our current house. He needs a change, he says. I asked him what kind of change that would be and he responded with the desire to move to a hotel. He thought that would be really fun because it's just not really fun at our old house. I asked him why he chose a hotel. He said it was because they have those snack machines. Well, I guess I now know what our home is missing. Hopefully, a vending machine is not on his birthday list.

He had a great time getting his hamburger and chocolate milk and I had a great time driving through the Starbucks drive thru for me. On the way home, he said, Mom, I would like to fly a rocketship to the sun. If I don't make it back, tell Dad I love him. Then he said, maybe he should just tell Dad that he loved him before he left. Oh the things that go through his mind.

He seems back to his happy, hyper self today and I know it's because he is feeling the love. I am so glad that I took the time to spend with him, to yet again get a glimpse of what those wheels are thinking about inside his cute little head. Who knows what he'll come up with next.