Ice Cream = Happiness

Yesterday as a family we decided we were going to escape the monotony of home life and go somewhere really out of the ordinary. So it was with great excitement that we picked up our little boy from daycare and headed off to the great unknown… McDonalds Playland! You see, Wyatt has never actually played in the indoor playground. He has probably only had Chicken Mc Nuggets a few times in his life. (I know some of you are taking great objection to this and some of you are applauding us.)

Wyatt entered the plastic vortex very mystified. He watched the other kids playing and listened to their screams, unsure as to whether they were shouting with glee or wretched fear. But, it wasn’t too long before he was bounding up the stairs and hanging from the various plastic hangy-down things (technical term). He was stinky and sweaty and I swallowed hard and held my breath as I joined him in the tube slide. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fit, but alas, we emerged from the tube intact and with an obscene amount of static cling. Like most kids, Wyatt was absolutely absorbed in play land. Brett came in the area with food and we tried to lure Wyatt out with chicken nuggets to no avail. He barely let Brett eat his sandwich and kept shouting from the tower “Um on Daddy, Um on. Um on Daddy, Um on” while flapping his appendages like a chicken wing. Which we figured was his version of the ‘come hither’ motion we have done to him hundreds of times while coaxing his little feet to move faster. He was adorable and we had so much fun playing and exploring with him. Much to my surprise Brett did not cause the play land to collapse. Thank God for steel reinforcements! Once I decided it was time to go, I braced myself for the fit that was about to commence as we would have to carry his panic stricken, dead weight, temper tantrum body out of the structure. So I thought quickly. “Wyatt do you want some ice cream?” He popped his little head out of whatever hole it had been in and peered through the mesh screen. “Yeah!” he shouted so loudly that it caused another mother to audibly crack up. He marched his barefoot little self straight out so quickly that I had to catch him before he ran behind the cashier’s counter.

We ordered him a kiddy cone, which he held with both hands never taking his eyes off of it while walking to the car. The normal screaming and back-arching that has become his M.O. didn’t occur and he slid right into his car seat. We thought he was so cute with baby sized cone that we snapped a picture. I smiled and asked him if he liked his ice cream cone. To which he replied, “Yep. Happy!” (Mother’s mental note- February 25th 2009 Wyatt is able to identify his emotions.) In my mind will forever be etched the image of Wyatt’s first self-proclaimed HAPPY moment. See McDonald’s can’t be all bad! They hook ‘em early, those genius marketing strategists!