F is for fun outing fail.

AW and I checked out another library story time and this time it was a hit! Tip: give a toddler jingle bells to play with and you shall win their heart forever.  And we made a cute puppy craft. We named him Brownie. And again, as all crafts seem to go these days, AW lovingly destroyed him on the car ride home.

Sorry, Brownie. This is why we are in a no dogs for pets holding zone.  

So thinking that AW has really turned a corner here with story times, I had the great idea that we should check out the story time at Barnes & Noble. We also haven't bought any new books in a while, so two birds with one stone. And Starbucks. Three birds. Bam.  

We were also meeting friends there that we hadn't seen in a while (random shout out here to M&M!  Hey!) so all in all I thought this was going to be a grand success. And this is how it went:

At approximately 9 am I begin telling AW that we are going somewhere fun today.  He says "No.  Play cars." I keep mentioning that we are leaving as I get everything ready to go.  I keep getting met with: "No.  Play cars.  Watch TT (how he says TV, oh how adorable).  Take bath..." This goes on until 10:15 am when I finally just shove him in the car.

10:15-10:45 Car ride there: AW whining. DW crying because AW is whining. Give AW the kindle so he can watch Cars 2 for the one thousandth time. He says he's hungry. Give him Mott's applesauce pack. This is how we arrive at B&N:  

I will spare the picture of the kindle covered in applesauce for HW's sake.  (note:  all turned out well for the kindle and, yes, I realize it may have been a bad idea to give him the applesauce in hindsight).

10:55 Starbucks. Yay.  

11:00 Story time. Not yay. Pretty much the second we roll up to the children's section AW has decided that all the world of B&N is evil and he must cling to me for safety. Meanwhile DW just chills out in the stroller playing peekaboo with himself and his hat flap because no one has time for the adorable 6 month old. Sigh. (Wish I had a picture of this but of course I had no time to take one, so here's an old one of him in the same hat.)

The fun time I thought we would have picking out some new books turns into a rushed, frazzled mess.  AW keeps pinching my legs to get me to go wherever the crazy voices in his toddler brain are telling him to go and he refuses to socialize with the other children or look at the books I am trying to show him.  

12:00 We head to lunch and the whining continues.  The waitress is scared. They can't make the grilled cheese fast enough.  Then AW intentionally spills water on his pants. Why do I keep giving this kid food? I don't even remember what I ate or talked about in the following hour.

12:55 We exit the restaurant and some lady makes a "whoa that thing's big" comment in reference to my double stroller. Hey, lady, no one talks about my city select stroller that way. You wouldn't know a good double stroller if I ran you over with it. It's awesome, so keep your "I obviously do not have any small children" comments to yourself. 

1:00 we are all done and shoved back into the car, wet pants and all. 

Fun outing fail.