Date Night

Alexander has been Mr. Popular for the last month, with a birthday party to attend for three straight weekends. Normally, this isn't a big deal as we're generally pretty comfortable dropping him off for the party -- trusting the parents of the birthday boy to keep Alexander safe for 2 hours.

However, this past weekend Alexander was invited to a pool party, which meant that we needed to send a parent along. Since Jean volunteered for pool party duty, I decided to try to do something special with CJ.

About thirty minutes before the party, I asked Alexander to go upstairs and get ready to go. CJ was curious where her big brother was going, so I told her that Alexander was going to a party, but that daddy and she were going to a special dinner at a restaurant. Well, at the moment, that wasn't cutting it for the Little Princess. Crying ensued, to which I replied, "Fine, then we can stay home." I then went into the garage to finish what I was working on, and I hear CJ screaming even louder inside. I stick my head in the door to find out what the fuss is about, and CJ is standing there with tears in her eyes and says, "Don't leave without me daddy, I want to go to dinner with you!" So sweet.

So after Jean and Alexander leave, I get myself and CJ cleaned up, putting her new dress and "tap" shoes on her, and allowing her to pick out my "nice" shirt. I even brushed and fixed her hair before we left. I played it up every chance I got...

We went to a local Italian restaurant, splitting a salad (she loves salad) and ravioli, and she was so well behaved the entire time. I truly believe she was beaming, and to be honest, so was I. At one point during dinner, she says, "Daddy, I'm having a great time!"

Then, after dinner I let CJ choose where we would go for dessert, Dairy Queen or the Creamery. And like any good Penn State Alum's daughter, she chose the Creamery. She insisted on having her own cone, which nearly ended in disaster when the ice cream fell off the cone. Thankfully I saved the day by catching the ice cream before it hit the floor and jamming it back on the cone to stay. I couldn't believe that she ate the whole thing!

All in all, a successful date I'd say. Good to know I haven't lost my touch on first dates!!!