Date with Ten

While Seven was spending the night at his buddy's house, Ten and I went on a date. Except I can't call it a date because, as Ten said, " I can't date you. You're my mother. That's just wrong on so many levels." Yep, I'm definitely his mother.

We went to JCPenney because Dan heard that they had summer clothes on clearance for $1.97. We didn't find much but that's okay because we didn't need much. Ten picked out a t-shirt with skulls and guitars and cobras and all manner of macho, cool, manly stuff on it. Oh, and a video-game-playing monkey shirt which he informed me is not as cool as skulls but it's funny so that falls into a different category of coolness.

Then we went to Chili's where the child managed to amaze me yet again. While we were waiting for our food we played Tic Tac Toe and every single game ended in a draw. I could not beat that little punk. When I saw the waitress coming with our food I deliberately threw the game just so we'd finally have a winner and Ten totally busted me. He grinned and said, "I know you did that on purpose, Mom. But thanks for letting me win."

All through our meal he talked incessantly--when he wasn't raptly studying the fly buzzing around the light fixture. I started to fuss at him and tell him to eat but somehow, through kid-level osmosis or something, he managed to inhale his entire bowl of macaroni and cheese and half my french fries when I wasn't looking. Oh, and all you Mother of the Year judges? My kid ordered broccoli and ate every bit of it. Yeah, that's right, I rock. Then he remined me that last night he challenged me to spell broccoli and, I'm ashamed to admit, I couldn't remember if it had two Cs or two Ls. He got it right. I'll be reminded of this every single time the kid eats broccoli from now until he's twenty. Almost makes me want to ban vegetables.

Then we went to see Wall-E even though I think Ten would've preferred Space Chimps. As we were driving home and discussing the movie he asked what my favorite part was and I told him it was when Wall-E held the umbrella over Eve when it was raining. He said, "You know, Mom, I chose Wall-E for you since it's a love story and you love love and stuff. " I said, "Well, that's sweet but if I'd had my choice we would have seen Mama Mia. Wall-E was a kid's movie with a love theme but it was not a Love Story. " We talked about how a lot of kid's movies have a love theme and all the different types of love: Toy Story (friendly love between Buzz and Woody, a child's love for his toys, and Ten pointed out that Little Bo Peep loved Woody), The Incredibles (family love), Finding Nemo (paternal love), Brother Bear (fraternal love), Wall-E (romantic love between Wall-E and Eve, love of our planet) etc.

Naturally I started daydreaming about love (in general) and a story I'm writing (in specific) and working out plot points in my head and all of a sudden Ten said, "Uh Mom? Where are we going?" And I said, "Duh. Home." Ten said, "Then why are we going this way?" I looked up and realized I'd passed our exit. Sheepishly I told him I'd been daydreaming and he said, "Yep. You were thinking about mushy love stories again, weren't you?"

Guilty. I do so love a good love story. Even if it's a robot love-themed kid's movie on a non-date with the most handsome ten-year-old ever.