Easter Funny

I hate to shop. As a result, the boys and I almost NEVER go to the mall. Crazily enough, though, we've been there twice in the last month - once to look for an Easter jacket for Jones and once to return the jacket when I decided it didn't work for what he's gonna wear on Sunday.

Anyway.

After returning the jacket this morning, we walked to Barnes & Noble. Jeremy and I want to read the book that the new OJ mini-series is based on, so I was going to buy a copy, let the boys play on the new "barn house" playground, and then get on back home. Oh, and of course, Chick-fil-A was on the agenda.

On the way into Barnes & Noble, though, the boys saw the Easter Bunny. They've been watching a lot of "Springtime with Roo" lately, so the Easter Bunny has become a very popular character around here. I was surprised, though, by how excited they got to see him, as we strolled by.

"Did you see him?" Jones asked. "He's have ears! He have ears, like me!"

In spite of this excitement, it NEVER occurred to me that they'd want to actually VISIT him. I thought they'd be too chicken. To my surprise, though, the entire time we were in Barnes & Noble, Jones kept saying, "Let's go see the Easter Bunny ..."

I figured we'd walk by, and I'd half-heartedly ask if they wanted to go sit with the Bunny, and they'd get very shy and say, in no uncertain terms, that they did NOT want to.

Shows what I know.

After buying my book, we wheeled our way over. There was no line, as there had been earlier. There was just an awkward-looking bunny and a 16 year old standing behind a camera tripod. I stopped the stroller, and Jones didn't want to get out. Not surprisingly. Somewhat surprising, though, is the fact that Freddie DID want to.


He got out and ran over to the Easter Bunny. While he didn't want to SIT with him, he DID want to play with him - high-fiving, shooting him with his Buzz Lightyear blaster, you know, just the normal stuff you do with the Easter Bunny. Then came an even greater shock - Jones wanted to get up and play.

So he did.

The boys went on to spend 10 minutes just playing around with the Easter Bunny. It is made VERY CLEAR on signage around the photo "area" that PERSONAL PHOTOS ARE NOT PERMITTED, so I didn't even try (though, of course, I had my camera). But after the boys spent so much time playing, I felt like I owed the 16 year old photog something, so I said, "They won't sit with him, but why don't you take some pictures of them playing, and I'll buy one."

THIS was the best she got, so $22 later ...

Oy.

Anyway, the fact that they were so chummy with the bunny THRILLS me, because I think - or, at least, I HOPE - it bodes well for our Disney trip next January (hopefully).

From there, we went to the "barn house" playground, which the boys discovered on our previous mall visit. They love it - but even more than they love the playground, they love running around on the padded seats that surround the playground.

These next three pictures kinda perfectly sum up the personalities of my boys - Freddie standing on the phone, wide-open (the last time we went, Jones called this a "racecar." Then again, when has he ever seen a phone like this?). Jones is sensibly holding on to something - being "careful," as he's always reminding the rest of up to be ("It's swippery!" he'll usually add).

Then, you see Jones sensibly sliding on his bottom, while Freddie looks like he skydived off the top of the phone.

After playing for awhile, we ate. Freddie's "sal-dy" obsession continues, and as it turns out, you can get a side-sal-dy with a Chick-fil-A Kids' Meal. With the stroller - which I honestly have used twice in the last year (both times being on our recent mall trips) - I didn't have the hands free to deal with high chairs, so I decided to give Freddie a shot at sitting in a big boy seat (as he always begs to do). He actually did pretty well.

What made me more proud, though, was this. When Jones finished his fries, he said, "Mama, I want mo fries." Without missing a beat, Freddie took his and handed it to Jones, saying, "Here ya go." This boy, honestly, has the SWEETEST heart.

In a related story, Jones got in MEGA trouble tonite for REPEATEDLY disobeying me. He was parked on his bed, pitching a(nother) crazy fit, while Freddie was in our room with Jeremy. Freddie kept asking Jeremy, "Jojo okay?" His heart is ten sizes too big.

Also during lunch, Jones said he wanted to ride the school bus we'd passed. I figured he'd be too afraid to actually ride it but thought we'd give it a shot - after all, I, uncharacteristically, had cash, and trying to ride would be another good pre-Disney test, so we set out to do it.

Turns out, the bus was out of order, but the boys didn't care. They climbed and played on it. Jones sat in the driver's seat, and Freddie kept sliding into his lap to get his hands on the steering wheel, too. What made me proud here was the fact that Jones never pushed him off - or even fussed when Freddie did it.

Any pride that I felt then, though, was completely erased by the insane, crazy fit that Jones pitched when it was time to go home. It was atomic and lasted for twenty minutes, only ending when a security officer heard Jones screaming and peeked her head into the bathroom where we were waiting out "the storm" to see if everything was okay.

It wasn't.

Ugh.

We finally DID make it home, and later tonite, we ate outside on the front porch. Jones has an obsession with picnic tables that started at the lake last summer. We borrowed the Pressleys' the other nite to dye eggs on and kept it for a few days, so he was thrilled to dine al fresco tonite. Freddie, too.  The Easter Bunny is bringing the boys a picnic table of their own come Sunday, and I can't wait until they see it.

Something funny - the boys had pizza and grapes for dinner. If there's something Freddie loves as much as sal-dy, it's grapes, so after he finished HIS grapes, he walked over to Jones's plate and, without a word, started eating Jones's. I guess he figured Jones owed him, since Freddie'd shared his fries earlier in the day. 

After dinner, the boys loved playing with the ants on the porch. And then Jones had another meltdown. And then Jones went to bed an hour earlier than usual. 

And then I sat down to write this really long blogpost.

And then I went to bed myself.

Nite, Y'all.