Yesterday we met up with some women from Bartlett Baptist Church to pray in the park. Caleb had a lot of fun running around the park, chasing the squirrels and swinging. He thought the little boy throwing a coke can at a little girl was pretty funny. He laughed so hard and wanted in on the fun so he picked up some of the mulch and started throwing it too. I had to explain to him that wasn't nice and to time out he went. I was pretty excited when my well trained child sat nicely down on the side of the playground for his time out punishment without making a scene when I looked down and saw that he was sitting right beside the mulch, picking it up and still throwing it. Argh!!!

The women got in a big circle, held hands and prayed for our families and ourselves to raise these little monsters, ummm, I mean precious gifts from God. The women with small children kept their eyes open. Ommmmm, I'm telling! Good thing, too, because a couple of us (including myself) had to run after the little munchkins as they darted out to the road. They didn't know we were praying with our eyes open.

I thought Caleb would love the prayer in the park given that he loves to hold our hands and pray. He did hold onto a hand and "prayed" but it went a little long for him. He shouted "Amen" in the middle of the prayer and I had to whisper to him that we weren't quite done.

After the park, I bravely drove us to Costco and managed to keep Caleb in the cart thanks to some goldfish crackers, dried strawberries, pizza, and fruit snack samples. He was getting really squirmy and tired of shopping at the end but I managed to keep him from throwing a tantrum and breathed a sigh of relief once we made it to the car. Then I realized the brownie mix I had bought was opened and I had to return it. You see where this is going, right? Tired, hot child strapped in a grocery cart. Uh-huh. Last thing I wanted to do was go back in the store. I got in the store, explained the situation and ran the cart back to the brownie mix to get an unopened one all the while promising Caleb he could push the buttons for the jeep, garage door, microwave and any other button he wanted to push so long as he didn't start thrashing in the cart. It worked, he stayed fairly calm, and we left the store. I proudly walked to my beeping, lights flashing jeep with my semi-calm child. Yep, he found the panic button.

He stayed awake all the way home and at one point in the trip excitedly yelled out "GRGREE". I think he was in a very drowsy state and thought mom had driven us all the way to Granny's house. That's twice he has done that. I think there is one spot in our route to and from the stores that reminds him of Big Rock. Anyway, we got stopped by the train which I was very excited to show him. Whatever happened to the "caboose". You never see those anymore. It's quite frustrating to me. Caleb made it all the way to the entrance of our subdivision before falling asleep. He woke up as soon as I put him in his crib. And that was the extent of his nap for the day. So so sad for me. I need a nap. I mean, I need him to nap.