Our Sunday

I had a lovely morning at mass and then a late breakfast/lunch with my two favorite guys.  John had to work from 3 to 11pm again today, so it was just Johnny and me.  I had plans to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival, which celebrates Japanese American culture, but by the time we were able to go, most events were already over.  I still wanted to get out of the house with Johnny, but I didn't want to go and sit out in the sun (I need a break from the sun!), so I decided to take Johnny to the Flatirons Mall.  He always really enjoys climbing on the dinosaurs in their indoor play area!  I'm really glad that I decided to go there today because I ended up meeting a really nice mom there.  :)

There were some snobby looking rich moms there in a group and they were gossiping incessantly while their children ran amok in the play area.  One of the little girls from the group (three or four years old) was running around bullying little kids - shoving them and yelling at them and getting her friends to gang up on kids.  Well, Johnny decided he wanted to be friends with this girl and was trying to play with her and was skipping along behind her to each dinosaur and she got really angry with him that he was following her.  Johnny doesn't really understand when kids don't want to be his friend, so unfortunately he wasn't deterred by her yelling at him and calling him names.  He still wanted to play with her.  Then when he would go and play and do his own thing, she would climb up on whatever dinosaur he was trying to climb down and get in his way and just sit there so he couldn't get down.  With a huge ugly scowl on her face.  All while the moms talked away about boob jobs and which other friend cheated on who; completely oblivious to the little monsters.  The little girl would get really mean to a kid and then get her friends and her older brother to come and push them over and they would all huddle around the kid and yell at them with angry faces.  Then Johnny went over to show her his Spiderman toy, and the girl yelled at him and then shoved him down on the ground.  She was calling over her posse to join her, when I came over.  They all scattered.  

That was when I met the nice mom - she had been sitting right there and witnessed the whole thing.  She offered to help me if I needed to go and talk with the parents of the girl, because the little monster had been shoving her daughter too and other kids.  The little girl then proceeded to follow Johnny around and shoving him.  That's when I got really pissed and was about to yell at the girl, when she ran off.  I ended up sitting with the nice mom and her daughter (who is eight) ended up playing with Johnny.  What a sweet and patient girl she is, that she helped Johnny climb up onto dinosaurs and slide down them!  The nice mom - her name is Kristen (and this may get confusing with posts, since my other friend is named Kristen, and they both have the SAME last name!!) - and I started chatting while our kids played.  We had resolved to talk to the mom if her daughter tried anything again, but luckily, they all decided to leave a little after we started talking.  Once them and their huge group of wild kids left, the entire play area calmed down a lot and you could feel the sigh of relief among all the remaining parents.  Kristen and I wanted to clap when they left.  Anyway, Kristen is really nice, and her daughter is super adorable.  We only chatted for a little bit before she had to leave, but we exchanged contact information and we have a coffee date or a playdate in the works for the near future. :)

You see the little girl on the right?  The one with the scowl on her face? That's the bully. 

 After they left, Johnny lost interest in playing since he no longer had a buddy to play with. So, I got him a milkshake from the food court (I rarely do this, but I thought it would be a nice treat for a hot day), and he loved it!  He was saying "ice cream" (which coincidentally sounds a lot like "awesome") all the way to the counter and then all the way to the car, in between sips.  For dinner, we had pizza (homemade) because that is what Johnny wanted. :)  We spent the rest of the evening playing and watching some cartoons, before he finally fell asleep.  We missed John a lot, but it was still a good day considering.  I love my little boy!