Yesterday

The reality of Mother's Day at Bleisenblog was not glamorous self-timed pictures of us frolicking in the garden. Oh no. Those pictures are actually taken a couple weeks ahead of time, so as to allow time to send them to our actual mothers. No, a more accurate picture of what we did is: eat. And have another go at the Lilac Festival.

The eating went well, thank you. Although it is getting ever more tenuous taking Dylan out to restaurants. She is a loose cannon, that one. At breakfast we sat at the counter and she stayed on Aaron's lap the whole time and that worked out well, except for Aaron. I was like, oh, we ordered WAY too much food, and then I was like, oh, you haven't gotten to take a bite yet, have you?

At dinner she pulled the same trick of hanging out on Aaron's lap, but! He can learn, and made her get off when the food came. We were at a pretty nice restaurant (albeit at 5:30pm), one that I get the sense doesn't get a ton of 1.5-year-olds, and we, along with the waitstaff and other customers, were eager to have her be silent quiet. When she started to put up a fight at being detached from Daddy the waiter sprinted to the kitchen and came back with a couple cookies. As soon as we told her he was going to get her a cookie she shut right up. And a couple minutes later said "cookie" clear as a bell. I have never heard her say 1) the word cookie 2) anything clear as a bell. Little sneak. The trick was on her though because they were (really good) oatmeal raisin and she wouldn't eat them as soon as she realized it. Actually she and the waiter became best buddies and he gave her a whole box of toys to play with during dinner and they had a little trouble parting when we were leaving.

The Lilac Festival was better. Dylan got to ride the little train, as no race fights were occurring. And a pony! That was cool. And she remained cage-free. Free range Dylan, we call it. Then we happened upon another set by the Dinner Dogs, who were experimenting with inserting their cheerful music directly into the children's skulls via LOUD, which rendered Dylan too terrified to even look at them. Since the playground and the trucks and the backyard are more unequivocal fun and less predatory pricing, maybe I will learn my lesson for next year. Stay tuned.