Mama’s day out

I received many great suggestions about what to do with this gift of alone time. I really wish that I had thought of this sooner, because with my luck, Keiki will come tonight! I think since I couldn’t do much (and had no car) for the four weeks that I was at home before Jacob’s birth, I never thought I’d feel up to doing much this time around. Anyhoo, below is a list of suggestions. I recommend you take any of them, or facilitate one of the following activities for a mom in your life.

1. Go to a movie
2. Lunch at a kid unfriendly restaurant (quiet, no highchairs....)
3. mani/pedi (mainly for the hand and foot massage) (this got a few votes)
4. Spend the day at a bookstore, kick up your feet and read at home
5. Movie, especially one that involves buttery popcorn

These are all my cup of tea! So here’s what I did. I headed out to Ikea for a good walk. I left my credit cards in the car to safeguard myself from impulse buys and made it out with only a $4.99 plastic stepstool for Jacob.

My next stop was a nice little bistro in Menlo Park called The Left Bank, where I covered my caloric intake for the next few days with a Croque Monsieur, greens, and Arnold Palmer. Finally, I sat at Starbucks with an iced tea, apple treat, and Us Weekly. Now I could have just gone home to read (one of the suggestions), but I realized that being out with a magazine or book is a totally different experience. While I love my home, right now it is filled with reminders about what I should be doing, like laundry, picking up toys (or other clutter for that matter), doing dishes, etc. I can’t get it all done without some major tiredness on my part, so it was nice to read my rags in peace.

I arrived home and felt wonderfully productive in my doing nothingness. And I really couldn’t have planned this outing at a better time, as Jacob threw up at daycare and came home early. Half of Madagascar and all of Kung Fu Panda later, he puked popcorn all over the couch, again on Daddy, wiping some on me, and ground his puke-covered body into our snuggler (loveseat) for good measure. So we had a bath while Daddy cleaned up, and sent him to bed with crackers and water. If I had spent the day at home zoning out on tv and choring my body into submission, I’m not sure how much patience or energy that it takes to handle a projectile vomiting 2 year old.

Thank you all who provided feedback, and I hope you listen to your own advice. God bless pampering and the United States of America!