The "Bee" Store

Elias and I went on a Mommy-Son date tonight. Carson is camping with my parents and Al was at class so we had some special one-on-one time. I asked him where the two of us should go to dinner and his reply was, "The bee store Mom!". When I looked at him quizzically he said, "You know, APPLEBEES!!!". I couldn't help but laugh. If you know Eli in person you know he is an incredibly enthusiastic kiddo that is full of expressions. His entire body speaks when he is talking, walking, or playing. Anyone around him knows his mood and intent right off the bat and this time he was completely conveying the "Mom, how could you NOT know the exact restaurant I was talking about when I said the bee store even though we never eat there and I called it by a completely different name" expression. Three years old is fun (and exhausting at the same time!).



So, the two of us headed off to the bee store for dinner. Elias toted along his new 18 wheeler truck from Target and his little Curious George monkey stuffed animal. He ordered a green grasshopper for his drink and grilled chicken with applesauce for dinner. Typical preschooler. I opted for the smaller portion of orange chicken and a diet coke. The various wall decorations thoroughly entertained us until dinner was served along with "honk-honks" accompanying his 18 wheeler play. He hardly ate due to his *$@#** GERD that has been driving him (and us) batty the past two months but a little extra tube fed Peptamen Jr. solved that tonight.




After dinner he wanted to head over to Barnes and Noble to look at books and play with the Thomas the Train sets. We had a blast and Elias was the only kid in the whole store. I found two drawing books to surprise the boys with for our trip to TN the first week of October. Eli didn't notice because he was too enthralled in the trains and then the cupcake decorating book he discovered. When he started yawning I scooped him up and we headed home for bath. Bathtime was a blast and Eli stayed in the bubbles until his fingers and toes were wrinkled up prunes. After getting dried off, new jammies on, and a bedtime story it was time for tube feeding, meds, and bed. Our date was wonderful and it was nice to have some individual time with Elias since Carson has gotten the last two special date nights.