La la la la...

Looking back on last week I realize just how good of a week it was. It just was. We had fun, we went places, we did things, we had fun. Of course, we had our moments, we always do, but overall it was a fun week.

We were anticipating a couple of fun outings over the weekend, including a visit to see Elmo. My friend Lee Ann mentioned they were taking Ivory to Pump it Up to have dinner with Elmo so we made a reservation for Addie and met up. Pump it Up is one of those inflatable jumping places for kids designed to (hopefully) wear kids out and usher them into a peaceful nap and/or night's sleep. They were hosting a night with Elmo including jump time, pizza, goodie bags and photo ops with Elmo. I wasn't sure how Addie would respond to the life-sized Elmo but I wanted to find out. When he's little and safe behind a tv screen she is good to go. When he's big, red and furry and standing right in front of her, well, now that's another story. In fact, she was more excited to see Ivory than she was to see Elmo. In the car I tried explaining to her where we were going and she kept repeating, "Ivory? Ivory?" Forget about Elmo!

Elmo greeted us when we arrived to sign in. Addie didn't cry, she didn't squirm, but she wasn't too keen on getting too close. Even when I touched him and high fived him she was still wary.
Then, we entered the jump zone. We were early (a first!) so there weren't many people there when we arrived. I took Addie's shoes off and put her socks on. Socks? Socks! She was a little preoccupied with the socks at first, trying to take them off. Apparently she is quite the Floridian - no socks!


I was able to distract her with some of the toys they had, which were more interesting to her than the actual bounce houses. She wasn't too thrilled with being jostled around by her jumping mom. Later on she warmed up and jumped and rolled and enjoyed the slides but by far her favorite things were the little house and the car. She was a bit of a car hog and was none too happy when she saw other kids driving her car.



Elmo came in and out while the kids were playing, sliding down the slides, dancing with the kids and generally just hanging out. Addie was still more interested in the toys than she was Elmo, but she would observe from afar.


After the jumping and the running and the dancing we filed in to have pizza. She looked like such a big girl sitting at the table with the other kids, yet she was probably one of the youngest there. Elmo came in for photos and as I knew it would be a gamble I figured he was there, we were there, it was worth a try.


Totally worth it.

After the kids had fun Jason, Lee Ann and I decided it was time we needed some sustenance so we gathered our brood and headed to Chick-Fil-A. Addie and Ivory had a table to themselves and I got to share a booth with sweet Micah.


Oh, it was a good night. It is fun to take Addie to these things and to see how she interacts with other kids she doesn't know, to see how she responds to new experiences. Maybe one day she'll give Elmo a hug!

I am thankful for a good week!