Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Jack must have had a great time in the Church Nursery today, because he didn't even acknowledge me when I came to pick him up. He was too busy sharing Cheerios with one of the nursery workers. The ladies always tell me how good and sweet Jack is, which would make any mom feel good, but then I always wonder if maybe they're just being nice. Today, they told me how much fun Jack had in the pink Jeep walker. The one lady almost took a picture, but didn't know what Jack's dad would think if he saw him cruisin' around in a pink car. :) I told Jon the story as we were leaving church and we both thought maybe a walker would be a good thing to keep Jack occupied and out of trouble.
Jon had wanted to go gate shopping anyway. Jack had breached my frugal attempt at a stair blockade on more than one occasion.

Instead of a door gate, Dad was pretty intent on purchasing this gray, plastic corral thing that I really did not want in my house. So we decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Babies R Us and Target, with a stop for lunch on the way.

The interesting part of this decision is that this is something we never could have done in the past few months. Since I thought we were going home right after chuch I hadn't packed any lunch for Jack. But, as we've been transitioning away from baby food recently, I figured we could make it work. And we did! We went to one of our favorite lunch stops - Jason's Deli. Besides the great food, I love this place because they have free mufins, crackers and frozen yogurt. I'm a sucker for free stuff! They were also recently rated as a top kid-friendly restaurant in Parents magazine. So, while Jon and I dined on a Taco Salad and a Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich, Jack chowed down on a gourmet hot dog, organic apples, organic whole milk, cornbread and gingerbread muffins, half of Daddy's pickle, graham crackers, and a few licks of Mommy's frozen yogurt. I also ended up picking a large portion of this food up off the floor before we left, but all in all it went well. It seems so simple, but this is a new freedom for us. I think we're going to enjoy it!

After an extra-long lunch, we explored our options at Babies R Us. We found a few walkers and let Jack test drive one down the aisle. He then proceeded to go backwards throughout the store (he never figured out forward motion), laughing all the way. Jon and I were getting a good laugh too. Too bad for Tank, his current weight exceeded the limit on all 3 walker options. :(

While Jon studied the ugly, gray, plastic corral. I inspected double-strollers. Man those are big! And we also checked out toddler beds. (Will Jack every lie still enough to sleep in one of those?)

Anyway, I'm proud to say that by the end of the day we finally came home with a gate! And also a small car/push thinger on wheels. Jack's not crazy about sitting on the car, he usually takes a nosedive off the side. And as for the pushing option, he hasn't yet realized he's supposed to move his feet at the same time, resulting in more than one face plant. I wish toys came with average attention spans listed on the box, along with weight recommendations. This new toy was good for about, eh, 7 minutes of fun. And then he was off to some new adventure. But not upstairs. Surprisingly, now that we have a gate, he doesn't even attempt to climb the steps. It's like they don't even exist. In fact, it's worked out so well, that I think we may need to get another one for the kitchen.

A little basil anyone?