Call me crazy

I can count on one hand the number of times I have taken all three kids somewhere by myself.  I define this as getting all three kids out of the van and into a business establishment and back into the van when we're done.  Just so you know, Hank is what many call "a runner".  This makes all outings very unpredictable even when we have two or more adults available to help.  The first two outings on my own were disasters and involved Hank being on a leash and having melt downs.  Don't judge my leash.  It's a monkey backpack thing for emergencies when I don't have a free hand to corral him.  I too thought they were lame until I needed one.  The last two outings were at Pump It Up (the bouncy house place) and were very successful trips because we went to a place that was for Hank and very contained.  There was no way for him to run away from me.  These last two outings gave me a false sense of security and today I crazily decided to take the kids out in public.  I took them to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo so Hank could run around in a fairly contained place and also have some fun.  It's not like I would have a hard time corralling Hank there right?  Wrong.  Let's just say he ran away out the front door of the building without me knowing two different times and on one of those times I had to call out to a stranger to catch my kid for me.  Nice job mom.  The only good thing about these running away attempts was that he didn't throw a fit when I caught him and he nicely walked back inside with me. 

We watched the goose the majority of the time.  It kept making it's honking noise and Hank loved it.  He loved it so much that one time when he ran away from me (and actually stayed inside the building) I found him trying to lean under the ropes and he was about 8 inches from the goose's beak.  Right next to a sign that says the goose might bite.  That's when I decided we should probably head on home.

He looks like such a big kid here!

Hank had so much fun today!  I really had a lot of fun too even if I was having one bad mama moment after another the entire time!  I love watching him explore and get excited so that made all the stress worth it.  All in all, no one got hurt and neither one of us threw a tantrum so I should count this outing as a success.  Stressful but successful.


-a