Not To Be Left Out

I don't always do things "fair and equal" amongst my boys. Crazy, because my mom counted out each number of jelly beans for our Easter baskets, and my sister has a freaking spreadsheet to keep track of her kids' Christmas presents. I just grab a handful of candy throw them in the basket. The dollar amount is sometimes equal at Christmas but not always, and never the number of gifts.  Upsetting I know.  But in someways I make sure that no one is left out.

Immediately following my date with Micah. Jack started asking, "what about my date?"  I thought we might put it off a week or two, but no, Jack scheduled it as soon as possible.  Monday the first thing he says to me after getting off the bus, "Mom, are you excited for our date?"  How could I not be, when my little boy is so eagerly waiting for our time together. Or maybe just the ice-cream.

As we walked to the car together Jack told me he had been looking forward to our date all day.  Made my heart melt.

Our first stop was Barnes and Noble. Jack had received a gift card for his birthday and this seemed to be a good time to spend it.  He quickly walked through the kids area and grabbed any book that caught his eye. We were left with quite the pile.  After sitting and reading several of the books, and having a brief chat about how much things cost, we narrowed it down to two books. Both Star Wars, of course.

And then it was time for what I know had to be the best part of the evening. Baskin Robbins ice cream. Jack wanted a double scoop, we compromised on a single scoop in a waffle cone.  I had rocky road, of course, and Jack had rainbow sherbet. To each his own.

Finn was not to be left out and soon began asking for his 'date'.  At first we were going to Molly Moon, I was giddy! And all by himself, Finn was very clear. But then he thought about it some more and decided that Jack could come, then he guessed Micah could come too, and of course dad could come.  Um, that's everyone then.  On Thursday night I got dressed up to go to a baby shower and when I came downstairs Finn said, "It's our date!". Oh dear.

Today I found myself with a few extra minutes of alone time with Finn. What the heck, I thought, it's not a well planned date, but it's a date non the less. And so we made an impromptu stop at, you guessed it, Baskin Robbins. Finn had chocolate, I had none. I figured three ice-cream cones in one week was a bit much. Sigh.

I don't know how long the boys will think that going on a date with mom is 'cool', so for now I am going to enjoy it. I have moments of missing not having a girl (mostly just the cute clothes) but I had no idea how amazing the relationship between a mother and a son was. I feel truly blessed to say: these are my sons.