Gentle Hands & a Hassle at the Library

Yesterday Christian had a perfect day at daycare.

Sidenote: He's been having difficulty getting excited and not knowing how to chanel it so he pushes the closest kid next to him.  My advice was to jump up and down if he felt like pushing.  I've only seen him do it once.  I saw him get close to doing it to Victoria the other morning just because he was so happy I told him I would, in fact, make him his moatmeal (oatmeal) right then.  I saw his excitement while he ran down the hall and she was standing there and he raised his hand and I said, "Don't even think about it!" Instead he hit himself in the head with his pack of moatmeal and continued to the kitchen.

So, in fact, he did have gentle hands all day long.  I didn't expect it to happen so soon.  This has only been an issue for a week.  I didn't have a plan in place yet for the bad or the good.  I got down on my knees and kissed his soft and chubby little cheeks saying how happy and proud I was of him.  Then I whispered in his ear, "Good things will happen tonight because you had gentle hands."  He never got his coat and boots on so fast.  On the way to the car, while holdingmy hand and looking up at me he asked over and over and over, "What we gonna do?  What I gonna get?" 

Hmmmm, I don't know.  I fessed up. 

"I'm not sure.  We could go out to eat anywhere you want!"  I answered excitedly dreaming of not cooking.

"No! Me eat at home!"

"We could go shopping for a new toy!" I answered excitedly dreaming of checking of the items on my Walmart list.

"No! Me go home!"

"What do you want to do at home?"  I was hoping he wanted to watch a movie so I could cuddle him and relax.

"Fway trains!" (translation: p=f  & l= w)  Hmmmm, that's easy and cheap enough.  If I knew how to do the tracks, smoke etc.

I agreed as I dialed Mark's number to see how long until he came home.  He was already there!  Yes!  Daddy could implement the reward!

The train didn't come out until after dinner.  Then Victoria said, "What do I get for my good day?"  Her good days are at about 95% but she still should get rewarded so that continues I suppose. 

"Well, if you could do anything, what would you like to do?"  I asked her.

"Go to the library."

And we were off.

We picked up my book on hold, a few books for Mark, a book for me I saw on Oprah last week (shocked they had it in stock - even though it was a rerun) and then Victoria played with puppets and chose a couple books.  Then she found a Scooby Doo movie and kept looking.  I started looking at the fun kids' CDs and found the Polar Express for Christian and Beauty and the Beast for Victoria. 

It took us over half an hour to check out.

Then it all started to unravel faster than a sweater caught on a metal hook.

At the self check out (V's most favorite part) it said I owed $11 in fees.  Totally my fault.

No problem.  We stumbled with our arms full over to the help desk to pay it. 

Cash or check.  Oh, yeah, I used my last check Monday.  I didn't even have two dollars in change in my wallet. 

We hid our goods on the top shelf in the corner and headed over to the bank.  My friend had given me a check for $15 the other day and I needed to cash anyway.

I was in line and couldn't find the check.  I pulled around the bank again to the ATM the was TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE!

Seriously???

I had my favorite librarian talk to V while I ran into the entrance of the bank.  Even though I could still see her, I've never left her in the car before.

We headed back to the library.  We self checked and were on our way. . .

when the alarms and red lights started blaring LITERALLY like we were two sneaky little thieves.  I showed the lady my receipt.  All 14 itmes are on there I assured her, red in the face. 

She spent several minutes re-checking everything out.  One of the CDs was giving her a problem apparently.

I couldn't get out of there fast enough.  I looked back and said, "Come on Victoria, let's go!"  She wasn't budging.  She didn't want the alarms to go off again.  I stood on other side assuring her the problem was fixed.  By now, several nice ladies were watching and laughing.  Finally she came sprinting through. 

As a treat for all of our hassle I treated us to a chocolate chip cookie and apple juice at Cafe Cravings on a plush leather love seat in front of a fire.

It was all worth it at that moment.