Chicken-Flay

This summer we've spent most of our mornings away from the house trying to do fun things that will keep us busy and occupied. Every week is different and we always have things come up, but we typically like to run our errands, go to the pool, visit the library, or go to Chick-Fil-A... or as Garrison calls it, "Chicken-Flay". I knew we couldn't go to the pool today because I have a show tonight (and it's inevitable that I'll get my hair wet and messy whenever I swim with the little man) and we didn't really have any errands to take care of... so I decided that today would be a good Chick-Fil-A day. I told Garrison about our plans during breakfast and he was quite excited. He has started recognizing Chicken-Flays everywhere we go and loves them all. So once we had a chance to get ready and after I started on some laundry, did a few things around the house, and we made a quick stop at the Post Office, we headed over to Garrison's favorite restaurant. He started pointing it out to me and telling me where it was as soon as it was in sight.

Garrison loves their fruit cups, so I got us one of those plus some hash browns and water for a little snack before letting him play.

As soon as we were ready to go into the playground part, 3 brothers who were older than Garrison went in and started playing. Garrison became really quiet and shy and just decided to sit by me and watch for several minutes. I think he was a little intimidated. They weren't bad or out of control but they were sort of loud and rowdy. Garrison is hardly ever around older kids so he usually doesn't know how to take them. Finally he decided to make the climb up and start playing and sliding down. He had a really good time and even played/interacted for just a few minutes with a little girl who looked to be a few years older than him. And I have to include this funny story: The little girl that Garrison played with came over to me at one point and said, "Are ya'll having a baby?" really sweetly. I told her yes and then she said, "Is it a boy or a girl?" I told her it was a boy and her response was priceless~ "Another boy??" It was SO funny. She said it like she thought it was such a shame that I would have to have another boy. I was trying not to laugh when I confirmed for her that it was indeed another boy. She reminded me so much of when I was teaching 2nd grade and how you never knew what they were going to say but you could always count on brutal honesty.

We had a really good morning at Chicken-Flay and Garrison did great leaving with me like he was supposed to. (Carrying him out crying and squirming and against his will is not something this pregnant mama wanted to deal with.) I didn't know how the exiting process was going to go at first because he kept saying, "Garrsin slide lots more times, just lots more mama". Thankfully I promised him the rest of his apples and some water in the car as motivation to get his shoes on and get ready to leave. I'm pretty sure that's a form of bribery. Guess we'll need to work on him obeying me and leaving nicely when I ask without any motivation...