Miscellania

* Tyler tidbits that tickled me today...

     "Mommy! I been dere before!"

"Where honey?" I looked up with interest. Tyler was watching a commercial for a local jewelry store. Yes, he HAD been there before. I couldn't believe he remembered. "Why did you go there, hun?"

     "To get Mommy a pwesent! ...but you don't like it anymore."

"Aww honey, that's not true! I LOVE the present you picked out for me!"

     "Den why you never wear it?"

He's got me there. It's a locket (you can check it out in my June 21st anniversary post). It's been sitting on my desk for months waiting for me to put photos in it. "I'm sorry honey, I want to put a picture of you in there first."

     "So do it! Pwint one. You know you cried when I dave dat to you. Why you cry?"

"Because, sweetie, I was so happy. It was the most beautiful present I ever saw and it just made me cry with happiness." I still can't believe he remembered the jewelry store, the gift, the fact that I haven't worn it, AND that I cried when I got it. Amazing. Going to print those photos out ASAP.

* We lost our power in a major wind storm today. What does this mean? No cooking for me! Yay! So at Red Lobster this evening...

Just after we placed our dinner order, John took Tyler for a little exploratory walk around the restaurant. This is our standard distraction technique in a place where we know the meal is going to take longer than an hour. Plus Red Lobster has tanks of fish and the BIG tank of Maine lobsters. Mmm. Lobster. That was MY plan for the evening menu. I got the artichoke and lobster dip, and a lobster tail added to my dinner of assorted other seafood. The boys came back just after the appetizer arrived.

     "Mommy! I have a new best friend!"

Yup. Tyler apparently befriended one of the lobsters in the tank. This lobster was paying attention to Tyler and trying to climb out of the tank way more actively than the any of the other lobsters. Ty took this as a sign that the lobster wanted to be his friend. So cute! I didn't think much more about it as Tyler discovered he loved the corn chips that came with my dip. Yay! He is so freakin picky sometimes.

Salad came (with veggies and dip for Ty...I love Red Lobster's new healthy choices on the kids menu). Then dinner. As the waitress placed the dish with my Maine lobster tail on the table, Tyler got a look of horror on his face and screamed:

     "Oh no!!! MOMMY! YOU'RE EATING MY BEST FRIEND?!?!"

Oh dear. I had to do some FAST talking. There was another lobster in the tank that apparently was acting aggressively toward the others. He was head butting them and being generally obnoxious. So Daddy did a fast save by saying I was eating the trouble maker. They only cook the naughty lobsters. ...  I know. Don't say it.

This seemed to mollify Tyler and we finished our meal. On the way out, we paused at the tank so Ty could say goodbye to his new "friend". Uh oh. Where was Tyler's friend? Yup. He was GONE. Now...the restaurant wasn't very crowded and I suspect not many people went for the lobster that night. What are the odds? Oh man, I felt so guilty!! John did some fast talking again and said that Ty's pal must have gone swimming in another tank someplace else in the restaurant. Ty seemed content with that. Ouch. Bad Mommy moment.

* I made a startling discovery while at Barnes and Noble the other night. One of my all time favorite book series (which ended in the main character DYING) now has a new sequel series starting. Anyone ever read Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever? I read the series during my high school years. I got the box set as a Christmas gift. It's amazing to me that my parents succeeded time and again to find great books I had never read before to place under the tree. The last book in the series had been published in 1977. Well guess what! 27 years later and Donaldson has resurrected this great Land and story line. Now I have The Runes of the Earth (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1) in my hot little hands. No telling when it will actually make it onto my night table where my pile of prioritized must reads are stacked. This one may just pre-empt some of the others. I really need to stay out of book stores. I have more books NOW than I can ever finish reading in my lifetime.