Oh no! They are not like us. They don't have faces?! They are all going to die!

I try to have a date with Calvin every once in a while.  Brian has been very busy lately, but he managed to stay home for Rebecca's morning nap so that I could take Calvin out for a date.  I felt like after our very rotten day yesterday, we both needed to reconnect a little bit.  I took him to Fashion Island in Newport Beach.  It is just an outdoor shopping mall, but it has a few fun fountains, escalators, a trolly and a fun fish pond.  I wanted to write about our date because I had a lot of fun with him, and he said some funny things that I want to share.  No matter how hard I try, I always forget to let Calvin lead the way completely.  I am proud to report that Calvin led the entire date.  I just followed him for 2 hours and we did what he wanted to do. 

When we were walking to the fish pond, we saw some mannequins without faces.  Calvin said, "Oh no!  They are not like us.  They don't have faces?!  They are all going to die!"  I wish I could somehow demonstrate his intonation,  it was priceless.   When he was hopping from stone to stone over the water, I said, what if you were hopping over this strip of water and a fish swam through?  He looked puzzled.  Right then, I grabbed his leg and told him the fish would jump up and eat his toe.  I couldn't stop laughing, he was so startled, but he thought it was funny anyway.  Later, I acted like I was about to put my finger in the water, and Calvin said, "No mom no!  Get away from there, get away, he is going to eat your finger off!"  

I didn't think about all of the Christmas ornaments being up before we went, so that was a pleasant surprise.  It still seems so strange to see a giant Christmas tree up between 5 palm trees in really warm weather.  I just can't seem to wrap my head around that.  I thought that it would be weird the first year, and then I would get used to it, but it's still just as strange. 

Calvin and I spent 15 minutes on the escalator going up and down, over and over again.  I thought after about 10 minutes, he would be done, but to him, it was a thrill of a life time.  He would have kept going, if I hadn't told him it was time to go.  After that, we walked over to build a bear.  I thought he would think that it was fun to watch.  He wanted a bear SO bad, he couldn't stand it.  I took that as an opportunity to explain what Santa Clause does exactly.  His favorite part was sending a text message to Santa asking for a build a bear animal.

I am glad we were able to go out and have a fun time with no interruptions.  I feel like one of the hardest things about having Rebecca around, is that both of the children's one on one time gets interrupted before they are ready for it to be interrupted.  I hope that makes sense.  Calvin tells Rebecca multiple times a day, that it is HIS mommy time, so go away.  I think that having a three-year-old is quite enjoyable lately.  I love that he just sits in the back of the car and has real conversations with me.  It's fun to hear what kinds of things are on his mind, what questions and concerns he has, etc.  I like that he reads the street signs to me so that I know what road we are on.  I like that every time we drive onto California Ave., Calvin tells me that we are almost home because we live on the California road.  He is seriously one of my best friends, and I am glad he joined our family.  Calvin is a good big brother, and son.