Disaster at the Mall -GROSS!

It seemed like such a nice plan. I'd meet Duane and Wesley at mall after work. We'd let Wesley play in the play area, I'd get an Easter dress, we'd eat dinner in the food court and then buy Wesley's Easter outfit. A nice simple plan, right. WRONG!!!!

It started OK. Wesley played contentedly in the play area with Duane while I went to get my dress. I came back and watch Wesley make friends with a little boy who was probably four or five years old and Wesley's self appointed assistant. The older boy was able to climb on things Wesley couldn't quite manager yet, but that didn't slow them down. The older boy would try to pick Wesley up or take his hand to help him. Very cute.

We decided an hour of playtime was long enough. 2.0 and I were STARVED so the family headed upstairs to the food court. Wesley didn't do much more than pick at his dinner, but he drank his milk and was well behaved. After dinner we went back downstairs and lo and behold - there was the Easter Bunny. This is where things started to turn ugly. Wesley was pretty intrigued by the long eared one, so we decided we'd get his picture taken with the bunny. There was no line, Wesley was in a good mood, so things should have gone smoothly, right? WRONG!!!!

Although Wesley was very interested in seeing the Easter Bunny he was not so interested in sitting with him. Duane put Wesley on E.B.'s lap, the lady snapped a picture and the second the flash went off, Wesley bolted. He didn't just jump down from E.B.'s lap - he took off running down the mall. He has NEVER run away from us like that before. Duane chased him down, while the lady told me the picture didn't come out. So we tried again, only to get the same results. Remember, this is kid who was in love with Santa, so we couldn't figure out the reluctance.

Now most parents would have gotten a clue at this point and left well enough alone. But Duane and I are not most parents. We had already picked out the package we wanted and our son was quickly becoming unruly and we were not to tolerate it. He was going to get his picture taken darn it! Rather than resulting to threats, we resulted to bribes. There was a Godiva chocolate shop right across from the E.B. and we told Wesley that if he would get his picture taken with E.B. we'd get him a piece of chocolate. Wesley still wouldn't sit down, so we stood him up on the bench and managed to get this picture. If you look closely, you can see my hands holding the boy in place. Once again, as soon as the flash went off, Wesley took off. I sprinted behind him and herded him into the chocolate store. Yes, he was being a beaster, but a deal is a deal.

The beaster-like tendency did not end in the chocolate store. He kept trying to run away while I was trying to pick out a piece of candy and pay for it. I chose a raspberry filled star, which has tried before and liked. After I paid for it he begged for a white chocolate duck with some kind of filling. I got the duck too, just to make him be quiet.

We met back up with Daddy. Duane scooped Wesley into his arms and I gave Wesley the duck as we were walking down the mall. Wesley took a big bite of the duck, chewed it up, swallowed and pronounced, "I don't like the ducky," before projectile vomiting all over Duane, himself and the floor of the mall. Now this would have been bad enough in front of a kids store, but it happened just a few feet before the entrance of a semi-upscale women's store. I left the puke twins and dashed into the store and interrupted the saleswoman by saying "Excuse me. Could you please call mall maintenance? My son just vomited on the floor outside your store." Do I know how to make an entrance or what?

I went back out to the guys. Wesley was getting upset because he doesn't like to be dirty, let alone covered in vomit. Oh, did I mention that the diaper bag with the spare clothes was in the car? Anyhow, as embarrassed as I was and as much as I wanted to leave the scene of the crime, I knew we had to own up to the puke. Duane, of course, wanted to take Wesley straight to his car and head home, but I wasn't about to own up to the puke by myself, so we waited for the clean up crew as a family. Some kind woman took pity on us and brought us a big pile of paper towels, so I was able to mop things up a little before the clean up crew arrived.

Once we were able to make our red-faced escape, Duane took Wesley to his car. Stubborn Mommy still felt compelled to buy Wesley an Easter outfit. I ran into the store closest to where I parked my car and grabbed the first 3T Easter outfit I saw. I couldn't get out of the mall fast enough, but I still want Wesley to look nice next weekend.

When I got to my car I pulled out my cell phone and called my good friend and fellow mommy, Kate. I had to relate the disaster to someone who would understand. Kate understood alright. She started laughing so hard she was crying! I think the words "better you than me" were uttered somewhere in there too. And she's right. If you can't laugh at stuff like this, you're sunk. But it'll still be awhile before we have another family night at the mall.