There are times that Jacob shares and plays wonderfully with his little brother. But like all of us, he occasionally enjoys time to himself. And now that Alex is independently mobile and wants to play with everything Big Brother plays with, Jacob sometimes feels the need to retreat to his room for uninterrupted play...aka no sharing necessary.
Lately I've been feeling emotional, sentimental, and downright sappy at the thought of my firstborn turning 3 years old. Three! He's no longer a baby or even a toddler. I believe he now officially qualifies as a preschooler, which he will begin attending twice a week in the fall (but that will be another emotional post for me to write in August). When I look at him now, I see fewer babyish characteristics & traits. He just looks like a big boy. I feel like I need to squeeze in as much 1 on 1 time with him while he's little in case I'm too uncool to hang out with in later years.
I also felt that Jacob may benefit from a little Mommy & Me outing. The other day, he opted to eat his lunch on the couch with a TV tray. Alex gets giddy whenever he sees one of these trays because they are perfect for pulling. He's almost knocked food off our laps countless times. So I thought I was doing Jacob a favor by taking Alex in another room so he could eat in peace. A few minutes later, I heard a little whine, and suddenly Jacob appeared in the doorway.
Me: "What's wrong, buddy?"
Jacob: (looking sad & whimpering) "No want you to play with Alex. Want you to see me!"
That comment, coupled with all of the times he has immediately climbed up in my lap after I put Alex down for a nap, saying, "Hold me, mommy", prompted the planning for our outing. So I made plans, arranged for a babysitter for Alex (thanks, Grandmom!), and the date was set.
He doesn't have a car yet, so I drove on our date. :) The plan was to first attend a free Music class through a local Gymboree. I was excited about it because Jacob LOVES all things related to music: singing, dancing, & playing instruments. He has several songs that he sings frequently throughout the day. Some are old classics such as "Old MacDonald" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider", but others are choruses straight out of songs you hear on the radio. While making plans for our date, I was determined to find something new, special, and interactive. The pool was out because we do that all the time, so it wasn't something new or different. Same thing with the playground. I considered one of those indoor play areas where kids can climb on, crawl through, and bounce on inflatables. But that wasn't interactive. I wanted to participate with him. The music class was perfect.
There were about 10 kids total, all accompanied by their parent or guardian. I was curious to see how Jacob would handle a structured class setting, and he did great. A couple of times, he ran across the room shooting webs and doing superhero rolls across the floor, but I only had to call him back over to me once. The rest of the time, he followed the leader's instructions and to my surprise, was also quite outgoing. At one point, the teacher sang three notes, and asked for the group to sing it back to her. She had a microphone, and one little boy leaned over and sang the notes back to her. Jacob called out to her, "I wanna do it!" So she sang in ascending keys, "Bah, Bah, Bah!" Jacob leaned in, put his mouth to the microphone, and repeated them back perfectly. The whole group (including his ridiculously proud mommy) erupted into cheers & applause. We yelled, "Yay, Jacob!" I wish I could have gotten a picture of his expression. He was SO proud of himself and the grin on his face was priceless.
We played different instruments, sang songs, and my personal favorite was the dancing. Those of you who have seen me dance may wonder how I could have enjoyed doing it publicly, but it was so fun to dance with Jacob. Some of the other little kids started dancing independently beside their parent, but I felt so special when Jacob turned to me and said, "Hold my hands, Mommy!" And we danced, spun around, and jumped up & down while holding hands (which was a huge hit with Jacob and much needed exercise for Mommy).
I could tell Jacob was having fun, and this was confirmed when, at the end of the class, he said, "No wanna go home, Mommy." Luckily, we had one more fun thing to do to round out our date. But first, the Music teacher had to give all of the kids a Gymboree stamp. Now I don't know if Jacob saw another child do this or if he came up with it all on his own, but as I was preparing the camera to take a picture of him receiving his stamp, this is what I saw:
He may very well have been the only child in the class to receive a stamp right on his bellybutton. Once the crucial belly stamp was done, he then held out his hands for her to stamp.
I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but on the other hand, I'm glad I didn't. Because that would have meant I wasn't participating along with my date. And I was too busy banging rhythm sticks together, ringing bells, dancing, singing, and enjoying the pleasure on Jacob's face to pull a camera out.
But you know me...I did manage to take a break for 2 minutes & snap a couple of Jacob mastering the art of triangle playing:
After saying our goodbyes (Jacob was reluctant to leave until I mentioned a milkshake was in his future if he followed me), we headed off to our next destination: lunch.
There are not many other experiences cuter than dining out 1 on 1 with your child. Now if they're acting out & misbehaving, there are probably LOTS of things that are cuter. But Jacob was terrific. How could someone not enjoy looking across the table at this?
We ate our chicken nuggets, shared a Coke, and chatted. At one point, he reached across the table and touched my nose.
Me: "What was that for?"
Jacob: "Because I like you."
Do I even have to explain how cute that was?
Jacob was thrilled to see the kid sized Frosty I ordered him. If there was any doubt at all regarding his love for ice cream, it was obliterated during the time he took to savor every single bite of his Frosty. One of my favorite quotes of the day came during his enjoyment of his delicious dessert:
"Milkshakes make me happy."
Really? I never would have guessed.
I had a wonderful time with my date today and I'm pretty sure Jacob did too. He has talked about our music class all day, telling anyone who will listen. As if it wasn't rewarding enough having him all to myself for a couple of hours today, this afternoon he came up to me, threw his arms around my neck and said, "You my best friend. I love you so much."
Sigh. I'm in love after only 1 date.
:)
1 comment:
Sounds like a great time. That's awesome!!! I wish I had read this before I saw ya'll this weekend because I would have inquired more about your date. I'd love to hear more.
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