We decided to take the kids out for lunch today for a special treat. We opted for IHOP and told them all to get dressed quickly. Jake came back upstairs wearing jeans and pulling a golf shirt over his head. Suddenly he stopped and asked, "Mom, is this formal enough for IHOP?" I told him no, mostly to see what his idea of formal was, but Brian reassured him that he was dressed appropriately.
After we got to the restaurant and had been seated, all three children quickly decided on pancakes. Lila even ordered for herself, "I have da baby cakes p'ease" and completely charmed our waitress. Then they happily settled to coloring their place mats. As we were waiting we talked and laughed, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.
And then out of the blue Jake turned to Evie and said, "So... Evie. Where do you think babies come from?" The tables around us fell silent. Brian and I looked at each other in shock while trying not to laugh at the same time. Evie thought for a moment and then said, "Um... from tummies." Jake then leaned over and said, "Wait a second, " while he turned out the back of her shirt to look at the tag in it. "Ah-ha, " he said, "You come from Taiwan." Brian and I looked at each other with a kind of what-do-we-do-now-is-not-really-the-time-to-have-this-discussion look, mixed with relief at dodging a really awkward moment.
At this point we had been waiting quite awhile for our food and as our waitress walked by Lila turned and yelled at her, "Where's my baby cakes?!" Again the waitress laughed and laughed, and said that Lila was just the cutest thing ever... and I couldn't help but think, "Yeah, the attitude is funny in small doses. Try dealing with her 24/7..." Of course what I said was, "Thank you."
At long last our food arrived and I watched as Jake started his process. We've eaten at IHOP any number of times over the past four or five years and Jake always gets the same thing, the Silver Five. First he eats the eggs and bacon, then he arranges the pancakes in a circle around the plate. Then he eats them one at a time, each one with a different syrup. Counter-clockwise. He gets it from his dad...
All in all an enjoyable day out for all of us. And I'm sure the people sitting around us enjoyed the free entertainment.
2 comments:
I was biting my fingernails to see where that one was going. That Jake is a character! I love his IHOP routine. Your family is so adorable!
That sounds like a great outing! No crying or whining. Maybe a bit of attitude, but it wasn't directed at you and the one it was directed at thought it to be adorable.
PLUS, you almost got let off the hook for "THE" talk.
Sounds pretty good to me.
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