Another week, another Mommy Day! For any new visitors to this blog, I started a tradition a few years ago where I take a day to do something fun with each of my four kids, individually, over the summer. One-on-one time can be challenging with a brood, so I decided to start using some of my work flexibility to make it happen.
This summer I have already been to the American Girl Cafe in NYC, and to Dave & Busters (with a side trip to Benihana; I’m thinking of returning to Dave & Busters to find out if I’m still on the leaderboard for that piano game…).
Today was my youngest’s turn. He had wanted to go to Sesame Place, the Sesame Street-themed park about 40 minutes from my house. This turned out to be two-on-one time, rather than one-on-one time, since my mother-in-law is visiting us, and she came too. My little guy was thrilled to have his Mommy Day become a Mommy-and-Grandma Day!
We didn’t stay that long, which is probably the best way to handle a hot amusement park with a little kid (in fact, it started thundering around the time we left so they were closing rides anyway). We rode the swings, the “balloon ride” (spinning containers that look like hot air balloons that go up in the air), various rides that went around in circles, the merry-go-round, etc. We got ice cream and bought a bubble wand, which my son enjoyed using all over the park. And that was it. He was so tired from running around everywhere that he conked out in the car on the way home.
It was fun to spend time chatting with him and he behaved pretty well, all things considered. He’s often mischievous, and trouble sometimes follows him around. For instance, on Monday I took him and his 7-year-old sister to visit cousins who are spending the week near the Jersey shore. We met up at the Atlantic City aquarium. My son managed to get himself barbed by one of the touch tank stingrays. Hundreds of kids paw those things all day, and somehow my kid is the one howling and bleeding after a touch tank encounter (a little antiseptic and bandages from the aquarium first aid kit; nothing serious).
But we did whatever he wanted at Sesame Place today, and all was good. No stingray injuries! I tend to find these one-on-one days pleasant — so we all come out ahead.
Photo: Obligatory Sesame Place cup. We own a lot of these.
I love reading about your mommy days! This is a tradition I look forward to establishing when our 17 month old son is older!
I’ve been doing this with my 2 kids for years now. They are 17 and 14 and still ask when their day is and talk about what they want to do in the weeks leading up to their day! Such great memories!
Love that tradition! I’m an empty-nester now, but did a similar thing when my kids were younger (I only had 2, so easier for me to pull that one off). My youngest one kept her dates going up through HS. My older one grew out of hers by middle school. So it’s so interesting to see how different kids in the same household can be!