Applebee’s and Skinned Knees

Mad Dog’s Nan has been staying with my in-laws and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. We are so lucky to have her nearby. We are so lucky to have her in our lives in general. Per her doctor’s and nurses’ advice, it is important that she has planned activities everyday. One such activity is meeting me and the boys out for lunch.

I had decided to venture to Wal-Mart with T.Puzzle and Full Speed. This is always a decision fraught with danger and uncertainty. Nine times out of ten it is extremely stress-filled and anxiety producing. Today, they were surprisingly well behaved. This means that Full Speed was not picking up whatever I had in the cart and pretending it was a fire-arm of sorts and make-believing he is shooting the other patrons of Wal-Mart and T.Puzzle was throwing only a level 2 tantrum (he was upset that we weren’t purchasing a gift bag that had Lightning McQueen on it- he insisted it was his and cried “mine! mine!” but only for a minute or two). During this shopping excursion I received a text from Mad Dog’s Mom that Nan had finished up with the visiting nurse and if we could meet them for lunch. I agreed and chose Applebee’s which is right across the road from Wal-Mart.

Since the outing to Wal-Mart had been pretty good and I wanted them to be newly entertained while we waited for our lunch orders, I went against my better judgment and let them each pick out a toy. Full Speed chose a dinosaur and T.Puzzle chose a giraffe that he kept calling a zebra.

We left the store with our treasures in tow and headed to the restaurant. Applebee’s is literally 1 minute away from the store parking lot. So much can happen in a minute. The boys were getting agitated with each other and I said “the next person who hits their brother with their new toy will get it taken away!” Of course as soon as I pull into my Applebee’s parking spot, T.Puzzle immediately hits Full Speed over the head with his giraffe/zebra. I had to follow through with my threat of toy removal no matter how exhausting or how intense the end result is. T.Puzzle immediately launched into a level 7 tantrum. Tears are streaming down his face, Full Speed is taunting him because he still has his toy and I secretly start to wonder what the drink specials of the day are. Well, since taunting takes a lot of energy and concentration, Full Speed didn’t look where he was going and trips violently on the curb to the sidewalk. He skins both knees and proceeds to lose it. I manage to get both my crying children through the front door. We had managed to arrive before Grandma and Nan so when the hostess asked how many I said “three and two on the way.” I had to say it rather loudly to be heard over the yelling and screaming. The hostess was young and I assumed childless. She was looking my boys with a slightly horrified expression. I tried to make light of the situation that hopefully one of the people meeting us would turn out to be Supernanny. She wasn’t amused. When all was said and done, we made it to our table and the rest of lunch was a little crazy. It seemed to do Nan a world of good to be around the high energy of my guys, but I must admit, those martini specials were awfully tempting.