>i had an entire week off (yayyyyyyyy!!) with my 5-year-old (enter sighs and plenty pity here).

don’t get me wrong. i love love love spending time with the little one, but an entire week with an energetic half-decade old little boy means there was little rest to be had. and i needed rest. a lot. still do.

all throughout the week there were the endless questions and requests from dutch:

“mommy, can i have a popsicle?!” (at 9am, every morning.)

“mommy, can i play another video game?” (after playing 5 others for about 2 minutes.)

“mommy, can we go to the pool? the sun is out so i think it’s hot outside.” (in december. in the dc area.)

bang bang banging on the door while i was in the bathroom.

me: dutch, i’ve told you about banging on the door while i’m in the bathroom.

dutch: i’m not banging, i’m knocking because i have a question.

me: (sighing. again. for the zillionith time because some things just aren’t worth arguing.) what’s your question, dutch?

dutch: how old is God?

me: He’s an infinite age, dutch.

dutch: oh, i just wondering since His birthday was the other day.

yep. this is the kind of stuff i get from my kid all the time. it’s good. i’m glad he’s a thinker and all that. but geez louise, sometimes it’s plain ol’ exhausting. that’s why it’s good to break up all that thinkin’ with some kind of brainless activity. like going to the air & space museum. yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, right?

well, he hated it.

dutch started complaining as soon as we stepped in the building. then after walking around for about 2 minutes he said, “mom, i thought you said you were taking me to the most fun place ever?? (’cause yes, i have to admit that this is how i described the place.) this place isn’t fun! where are the video games?!”

i’m like, video games?? boy, don’t you see that space shuttle over there??

he wasn’t impressed.  actually, i wasn’t either. it didn’t seem as fun as it was when i was a kid, but it was his first time. he was supposed to be excited!! but he wasn’t. deflated my lil’ balloon, but whatever.

see, what he really wanted to do that day was go to the mall. to play in a play area that his daycare provider used to take him to. oh, and to ride a “roller coaster.” i told him i’d take him the next day.

i had no idea what roller coaster he was talking about. i mean, really? a roller coaster? in the mall? but after pointing out exactly what entrance we should park near, and pointing to the exact door we should walk through, he walked right down the hall to this…

 

we then made our way over to the play area where kids were running around shoeless and fancy free. squealing and screaming as i’m sure no parents allow in their homes. this area, dead center of the mall, was an absolute wonderland to these children. they chased each other around, jumped up on fake wooden logs, tripped and fell on the padded floor and had a grand ol’ time.

when we were walking out of the mall dutch said, “that was soooooo awesome!!”

yeah, the mall play area.