Last Saturday, I decided to break the morning routine of chillin' at the house in the morning, and decided to take Ian out, just him and me. (Could I write a sentence with more commas? Sure.) Bright and early, we headed out for Jones Bros. cupcakes at Aksarben Village. First, I must admit... I don't know how Sarah carries so much crap around all the time. Between him, a bag, and carrying yogurt and a huge marshmallow (literally), I was quite overwhelmed. I then decided to take him to the playground. I suddenly realized that he might think we were going to the fountains by the giant obelisk. I didn't have any swim clothes or a towel. I thought if I kept far enough away from them, he wouldn't notice. Of course not. That was complete wishful thinking on my part. He ran for the fountains with reckless abandon and pure cheer, which I promptly trounced by steering him to the playground. He then trumped my trouncing, and proceeded to howl like spidermonkey in heat. All the nice moms at the playground with their robotic children proceeded to stare in derision. I thought we were done. My planned day of blissfully pounding marshmallows and passing out by the swing set went up in smoke.I then decided to make it a task-y trip. We made the drive west out to Costco, where Ian thoroughly enjoyed running around the liquor section, deftly darting back and forth between large pallets of Jack Daniels and SoCo. I grabbed my $10 Starbucks knock-off coffee and figured we were headed for home after that. On my way back, I remembered the park Sarah and I used to visit all the time in the pre-Ian days. It has a HUGE space to run around in. I decided not to give up yet, and made a quick left turn into the park. This turned out to be the best thing I decided to do all morning. Ian LOVED it. (I did too). He had such a good time chasing the birds and running after dogs. I then decided to hide behind the tree and let him chase me, which was definitely the highlight of the visit for me. We then chilled by a tree stump, which Ian enjoyed just standing on. It's the simple times like that I hope I always remember. I hope he somehow remembers it too, even if only subconsciously. I'm glad I didn't give up and go home, that's for sure.
