Date Night

Anna and I had a little Mother-Daughter date night yesterday.  She's been feeling out of sorts and left out recently and in need of some one-on-one time.  I'm not entirely sure where this stems from - as out of all the Party kids, she gets the most attention - but for whatever reason - she felt it, it was valid, and I needed to address it.

I must admit, my first reaction when she shared with me that she was feeling needy was twofold - first, that she was once again being dramatic and second, defensive that I've not spent enough time with her.  As a working parent of three children, I often feel like I'm stretched incredibly thin, and am doing the best I possibly can for everyone.  And to hear her tell me that she was feeling sad and lonely felt like a kick in my gut.

So to remedy the situation, Deonne and I looked through our uber-busy calendar to find a night when I could take her out - just the girls.  Through a weird series of events, it turned out great.  I ended up leaving work early yesterday (and am not thinking about the pile of unaccomplished tasks awaiting me on my desk), picked her up at school (a surprise in and of itself as she is usually picked up on Thursday by my dear friend Nici who takes her to tap class) shuttled her to tap, then took her shopping to pick out her Daddy's Christmas gift.

We had a quiet dinner together at T.G.I.Fridays (not my first choice but it was an actual sit-down restaurant located in the mall we were at) and followed it up with the biggest hit of the night - seeing Tangled together.

Talking to her Daddy before dinner arrived - geesh - she looks like a teenager!

This child is not excited to see Tangled at all!

She jumped up and down and squealed with delight when I told her we were going to see the movie - she's been dying to see it since she saw the first trailer last summer.



I look like one tired-droopy mommy.  I didn't want to post this picture - because I look so awful - but did anyway.  Someday I'll look back on this and say 'who cares', right?



It was so nice to have some one on one time with her - to hear her silly stories - to see her carefully choose her gift to her dad - to hear her shrieking with laughter and giggles during the movie.

I wish I had more time to this sort of thing more often.  So many days it seems that while I do have her around - I rarely get to listen to her or learn her personality.  It's such a rush to get her off to school, then pick her up, rush home to cook dinner, review homework, have a bath, and tuck her in bed. 

Which made our time together particularly sweet.

I hope to do it again very soon - and to plan date-nights with James and eventually Jack when he gets older.

It was a really fun time, I love you Anna-boo!