Sometimes being a parent is so boring.  There is just so much of doing the same things over and over. Even things that were fun at one time become pretty stale after awhile.  Stevie’s go-to this week was the bookstore.  Yes!  I like a good bookstore! Let’s do that!  Anything’s better than the p-a-r-k, you know.

But a few times at the bookstore and I pretty much had my fill.  Because Stevie could give two flying toads about the books.  I didn’t realize he was so clever to actually want to go there for the toys.

So first things first.  He waltzes into the toy section.  This is where he goes through every single item and picks up anything that resembles a car.  He says “this?” and gets upset when I say “no”.

Then we move onto the Thomas the Train table, where he gets so frustrated when the trains become disconnected or fall of the track, that he simply can’t deal with the emotions that go along with that.  So.  Much.  Screaming.  I remind him that they are very easy to fix.  And then he’s like “haha, oh yeah” as I roll my eyes so far back into my head that I can see the parents behind me rolling their eyes too.

Then if we’re really lucky there will be a story time!  This is the part where I physically drag his body away from the trains to listen to a stupid book about a cat who wears white sneakers or a piece of peanut butter bread who is best friends with a cupcake. He obviously listens to none of this, but spends most of story time loudly saying HI! to the other kids and then jumping up on the stage area to stomp around.  In the middle of the reading he might even shout ALL DONE! to let you know he’s bored.

Then it’s back to the toy section one more time to see if I’ll cave.  Still no.

But if you know one thing about me, it’s that I am no quitter.  I will try and try again to have an enjoyable experience with Stevie because it’s so good for both of us when it happens, it almost makes the 100,000 fails worth the one success.  So when Stevie asked for the bookstore again, I said to myself You know what?  Yes.  Let’s try again, but we’ll do it my way this time.

So instead of the Barnes & Noble down the street, we went to the Barnes & Noble at the Americana shopping center.  Because there, maybe I could pop into Anthropologie, or grab a bite to eat, or just sit on the lawn and soak up the sun if the opportunity presented itself.  (It did not, but that’s beside the point.  This was just another one of the well played fantasies in my head.  Go with it.)

And guess what?  We had a great morning!  At B&N, Stevie quietly looked at the toys.  He went through all the Hot Wheels saying to himself “Stevie haves this one” and admired the others he didn’t have, without asking for anything.  He waited patiently with me while I got a green tea at the Starbucks Cafe.  And I drank that tea and even played games on my phone, while he sat at the train table for a solid TWENTY FIVE MINUTES.  All by himself.  Just driving the trains quietly.  I couldn’t believe my luck!  And when he was ready to go, he simply said “Hey mom, wet’s go eat wunch.”  And I, now feeling like I’d just had a mini vacation with my uninterrupted tea and my games, jumped up and said “Yes!  Of course!  Let’s go eat wunch!”

We made our way downstairs, saw the trolley go by, watched the water show for a bit, played with a bubble gun, and for that moment my fantasies became a reality.  I was having fun with Stevie.  I wasn’t bored!  I genuinely enjoyed myself and I knew he was enjoying himself too.  Ah, so worth it!  I knew you guys would be happy for us.

Oops!  I bought him a bubble gun like a freakin amateur.