I had girls night out tonight... just me and lil Miss Shilo! It was great. Its not something that happens very often, we try and spend most of our weekends doing stuff as a family since our weeks are packed with work and school. But tonight was special, Ian went to his first Seattle Sounders game so that meant Shilo and I were on our own! I was very excited to have this time with Shilo, she is growing and changing so fast, not a toddler anymore but a little girl, you can talk to and share things with and learn from and teach things to. Our night was simple, but it was great!
She got home from swimming and changed into her "outfit" and we were off. The outfit consisted of pink stretch pants with grey peace signs all over them (courtesy of Uncle John and Auntie Randa), a purple shirt with my little pony on the front and in big letters PRINCESS, pink fuzzy crocs and hair all askew. With night night in tow we were on our way!
First stop, Oobas, our favorite little Mexican food restaurant down in Redmond. Shilo picked the perfect table for two near the window, so we could watch all the people walk bye (of course). We shared some chips and guacamole, a "spritz" drink (with is flavored sparkling water) and we each had the children's bean and cheese burrito. Dinner was very relaxing, filled with lots of conversation. I found myself just staring at my beautiful little girl absolutely amazed at how big she is and how incredibly smart she is. As she is watching cars drive by she is telling me who else has cars that are similar to the ones driving bye. She is counting them, telling me what colors they are and of course making up fun stories about where they are going. Then we saw a police car drive bye and that transitioned into, "mama when there is an emergency you call 9-1-1 and the policeman and ambulance will come and help you." Ahh, they learn so much and grow up so fast! I don't think I could stop smiling, listening to all that she was sharing with me. Eventually in between conversation, we managed to polish off our burritos and our spritz drinks and then we were off to our second location, Toys R Us!
This was a very special treat but one that was very much deserved. Shilo has been holding onto a gift card to Toys R Us since her birthday and we had been waiting for an opportunity to take her shopping. Today was the day and all day long, it was all she could talk about. On the way there I reminded her, only 1 toy and it had to only cost $15 because that is how much her gift card was for, "okay mama, 1 toy and I will be a gooood listener too!" We got there and it was straight to the baby aisle, the girl loves her babies. She walked up and down the aisles very careful not to pick too soon and when she saw something she liked she would ask, "mama, does this cost more than $15?" I would answer her yes or no and she would move on and then she found it, the perfect baby and it was well within budget! It was a bath baby with a yellow duckie towel, a squirt toy, diaper and baby lotion. The reason it was perfect, "mama, this baby has a duckie towel like the one papa sent me! We will be matching!" She proudly grabbed the box that was over half her size and probably weighed as much as she did with all the packaging and looked at me and said, "this is what I want to buy mama". I asked her if she needed help and she proudly said, "no mama, I will carry my baby." Very carefully and very slowly we made our way to the check out counter and she placed her baby up on the counter but not before taking a deep sigh and saying, "wow, my baby is heavy!" The nice young man rang us up and I handed Shilo her gift card so she could pay for her baby. He told her the total and she handed him her gift card proudly and said, "here you go, I was a good listener today, so I get to pay for this myself!" He smiled and told her what a big girl she was, he gave her her receipt, she politely said thank you and we were on our way.
Shilo held onto her baby all the way home with a huge smile on her face, aniticpating how fun her bath would be tonight because she was going to give her baby a bath too. And she did just that, baby's hair was washed and so was her body just as I did Shilo. Then I wrapped Shilo in her duckie towel and she then wrapped her baby in her duckie towel and we moved forward with the bedtime routine: lotion, brushing hair, brushing teeth, and two books. When we are done with books, I turn to Shilo every night and we say the same thing to eachother I ask, "how much do I love you?" and Shilo will turn to me put her arms around my neck, give me a kiss and reply, "so much!" And tonight when she was done giving me loves she turned to her baby and said, "how much do I love you baby?".... it was the perfect end to the perfect night out with my best girl!
