Flirty McGee

It should come as no surprise that Ben loves the ladies. He prefers the cougars, really. Pretty four-year-olds can't resist those baby blues, and he can't resist them. But he'll give any little girl a hug and a kiss. Once we went to the mall and ran into Matt's co-worker and her daughter, who I think is about a year old. She was sitting in her stroller as they approached. Ben just ran right up and buried his face in hers. He smothered her with kisses, wrapped his arms around her, and laid his head on her chest. The friend of mine that babysits him while I work also watches a little baby girl named Zoey. Ben can't get enough of her. Any time I pick him up and she's there, he has to find her and give her hugs and kisses and say good-bye.

So imagine his joy when we went to Legoland last weekend, and there were so many little girls to love on. As we traversed the park he greeted any little girl with a hug, maybe a kiss. He said hi to the boys too, and showed them his shoes. Oh, and there were rides and things too.

Ben was out of it that day, probably because we were dragging him to an amusement park when he had a cold. That's why we're awesome. But my sister-in-law got free tickets from her work, and that was the only day we were all available. So we strapped the boy in all doped up on Tylenol and Chestal and made him do it anyway. I'm overstating the cold. At that point it wasn't that bad anymore. Or maybe it was and I'm just making excuses for my poor parenting. One or the other. But in my defense, he had fun. It took him a while to get acclimated, and he wasn't too keen on a lot of the rides. Which was kind of a bummer, because on paper it has more rides that he can ride than, say, Disneyland, which doesn't have much for the toddler set. But in reality, a lot of the rides that he could purportedly ride because he made the height requirement he never would have come near because they were essentially roller coasters. But he went on a couple of things. Notably one, which boldfaced lied about how long the line would take and didn't have a little lego play area until the end when I had to drag him from it to put him on the ride, which he ended up liking. The highlight for Ben was the Duplo play area, which is just a big playground with legos. Admittedly, it's pretty cool. But I feel like $70 is pretty steep for a lego playground. We can take legos to our local playground for free. Which brings me to this important note: this is the second time we've been to Legoland with Ben, and it has been free for us both times. Ben likes it, but I can definitively say I will never pay $70 a person to go there. Unless Jesus is making an appearance. (Speaking of Jesus, I'm pretty sure he was at the mall yesterday. Because I know that the line that wrapped around the building was not for the $20 Santa.)
 

At any rate, we had a good time. We pretty much finished the parts of the park that Ben could do within a few hours, so we had lunch and went to the adjacent aquarium. Ben loves aquariums. If I was a better parent we would go to them more often. Unfortunately for Ben, Matt and I are all talk when it comes to doing fun things on the weekends. But this particular aquarium was cool. It was kind of small, but it had Nemo, and that's all Ben really wanted or needed. There were also legos. So he enjoyed that as well. He refused to touch the tide pools, but that's okay. At the end of the day we took a restroom break in the cafe and Ben played with legos some more. Too bad he doesn't play with his at home very often.

I think the highlight of the day, though, was a pair of little girls he discovered as we were leaving. We were at the main entrance, and Ben was weaving through the ticket booths. He looked like he was playing some kind of hide and seek game, I assumed by himself. But no. After he went a little ways I followed him, and sure enough, there was an older girl playing hide and seek with him. I cannot begin to describe my little boy's joy. He was squealing and screaming with laughter and excitement. He hid in the bushes and shouted, "I'm hiding in the bushes!" (he doesn't really get the whole hiding concept). He ran after her shouting "I'm running! I'm chasing!" She was eventually joined by her sister. Ben just about lost his mind with excitement. I'm pretty sure he forgot we existed.

At one point he took it too far and ran out into the parking lot. When I went and grabbed him and disciplined him, we turned around and the girls were gone. I have never seen this guy so heartbroken. He looked all over. He peered into the bushes and around the booths. Eventually he settled into his sadness and disappointment. His first break-up.

He fell asleep as soon as the wheels started rolling. Poor little sicky. Please don't turn me in for child abuse.

Thanks again, Megan and Alex!