A couple of weeks ago, during our nightly bedtime routine of one of us lying in bed for a few minutes with Big Dude after reading, he asked if we could go on a date.

Be still my beating heart! What a sweet guy. The answer, of course, was YES!!

He wanted to go “to the pancake place with the blueberry and raspberry and yellow and brown syrups,” also known as IHOP. We picked a weekend morning and this past weekend that day rolled around, so off we went! Little Man had a morning with Daddy and Big Dude had pancakes with Mommy at “the pancake place.”

My kids are by no means angels, and Big Dude certainly has his share of trying days. On our “date” he was his charming self, politely asking for his preferred drink and not getting upset when the blueberry pancakes came with blueberry compote instead of without. He waited patiently for his food to come back out and humored my attempt to teach him a beloved game from my childhood (we called it “the dot game” where a grid of dots is drawn and each turn a person can make a single line, unless they close in a box, in which case they keep going until their move does not close in a box). He took some selfies and we played a little bit of a hungry-caterpillar type game on my phone until the food came back and then he ate like a champion! (Phew!)

We’re still working on his selfie skills…

Adulting can be hard. Parenting is often much harder! Then there are the days like this one where behavior is awesome, there’s no attitude and you get that sense of maybe I’m doing okay with this kid. There are many blessings for which I am grateful, and days like this one are high on the list.

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Do you plan special events or activities for one-on-one time with one of your kids? I’d love to hear stories of solo-kid time gone well and awry! Is there anything you would avoid doing again?

Happy trails, and may this holiday season be bright and full of joy!