Ethan's First Date

Ethan and I went on a date tonight, just the two of us. We actually started our evening out with dinner. Grandpa Dibb was here, so we decided we would eat with him and Daddy and Spencer. After dinner, Ethan and I dropped Spencer and Daddy off at home and headed off to the mall. Going to the mall doesn't seem like that much fun, but this trip was different. Ethan was excited when I told him he got to walk in the mall instead of being in a stroller. We headed to The Disney Store first and on the way we saw a car and a truck parked in the mall. He thought that was interesting. At The Disney Store Ethan was fascinated with the variety of Cars items and I followed him around as he showed me every McQueen and Mater he could see. When we were done at Disney, we went next door to our intended destination: The Build-A-Bear Workshop. Ethan ran straight to the back of the store, where he knew he could get a red heart, and quickly snatched one up. I then led him to the front of the store to show him all of the cool (under $15) bears they had that we could stuff and take home to sleep with. (This was the whole reason for the visit since he now sleeps with my pink and purple Care Bears that he's been in love with for about 18 months. I kind of hoped he would pick a more masculine friend to sleep with so that I could have my bears back before they got totally trashed.) He thought they were nice and soft and he liked all of the different colors, but he didn't seem to be overly impressed by any except for the green (I think that's his favorite color) dinosaur that was over my $15 dollar limit. I let it rest for a few minutes while he ran around the store and checked things out and tried to play on their computers that disappointed him when they wouldn't do anything (they were for naming your bear and we didn't have one). I then took him back to the front of the store and showed him the animals he could choose from and let him hold each again. I asked "do you want to take that one home, or do you want to put it back?" To each, he said, "put it back." Instead of wasting my money on a bear that would definitely not be a good replacement for his Care Bears, I decided to leave that store without making a purchase. Then the fun began...
Ethan just walked through the mall telling me all about the letters and shapes that he saw, spelling the names of almost every store we passed. I think this was his favorite part of our date. He was so excited. When we got to the end of the mall, we encountered a pond (or what ever it's called in a mall) that Ethan just had to throw pennies in to, so he threw about 6 in with glee. After the water, we walked back through the mall and to the car.
I was hoping that our first date would be a little more memorable and "special" than it was, but when Ethan talked the entire drive home about all the things he was going to tell Daddy about when we got home, I was satisfied that he thought our date was special. My satisfaction only increased when he talked Shaun's ear off for 10 minutes after we got home, telling and re-telling him all of the cool things we saw. I really enjoyed my time alone with my Buddy, too. This will have to become at least a monthly tradition.