The Stranger at “Cops ‘n’ Robbins”

BoyWonder recently completed his first sticker chart. Ten nights of sleeping in his own bed without coming in to snuggle with me in the middle of the night. Woohoo!

The reward for mommy’s uninterrupted sleep was a trip to Baskin-Robbins for an ice cream cone. (Tuesday is $1 kid scoop day, by the way – smashing deal.) It was BoyWonder’s first Baskin-Robbins experience. He kept calling it “Cops ‘n’ Robbins.” So funny.

So after perusing all of the options, he chose a chocolate chip cone, and we sat down together while he ate it.

BoyWonder and I spend a lot of time together, but rarely alone and away from home. So this was special. And a little odd. He was busy concentrating on his cone, so he wasn’t in much of a talkative mood. So I pulled out the phone and took some pictures.

Note the lady with the red hair behind BoyWonder’s head. She’ll come in later.

BoyWonder kept eating, and I asked him some questions. Mostly about his ice cream cone. Questions like, “Is it yummy? Can Mommy have a bite? No? Not even one little bite? Just a smidge?” No dice. He apparently has forgotten that I gave birth to him.

I can’t blame him, though. He really enjoyed that ice cream cone. And since he was so busy enjoying it and not very talkative, I started checking Facebook on my phone. Then I chastised myself for being on my phone while on a date with my lil’ guy. “Don’t be one of those moms, Annie!” I silently scolded. So then I put the phone away. But then BoyWonder was so cute eating his ice cream cone that I felt compelled to bring it out again to take more pictures.

After a few minutes, that red-headed lady got up and headed toward the exit door next to us. I saw her stop out of the corner of my eye, but I was too busy trying (again) to cajole BoyWonder into giving me a bite of his ice cream to give her much thought. When I finally paused and glanced at her, she was just standing there smiling at us. Then she said, with such kindness and sincerity, “You are such a good mom. I’ve been enjoying so much watching you just . . . be yourself with him.” I said, “Oh, thank you so much,” and she left.

Such a simple gesture, stopping to tell a stranger something like that. I wondered if she had noticed my schizophrenia with the phone. Or if she could tell that it was a special outing for us. Or maybe it was just BoyWonder’s sweetness overflowing. But it really made my day.

After she left, BoyWonder requested that we change seats. He wanted to sit where the lady had been sitting.

Here he is stealing my sample spoon and telling me all the reasons why he wouldn’t share his ice cream with me.

Mmmm….this is sooooo goood, Mommy. Don’t you wish you could have some?

Oh, gee, look at that. It’s almost gone. Hmmmm….

Hey, this little spoon comes in handy. Look at that! The cone actually breaks apart!

Oh my. We have a bit of a mess on our hands.

Here Mommy, can you hold this, please? (Bwaaahaahaa!! Mommy wins at last!!)

Look at that happy face. 🙂

Lessons learned from this outing:

1) It’s way more fun to say “Cops ‘n’ Robbins” than “Baskin-Robbins.”

2) Cops ‘n’ Robbins on Tuesdays makes for a cheap and fantastic kid date.

3) Strangers saying nice things is surprisingly mood-boosting. I’m going to pay more strangers compliments from now on.

4) Four-year-olds are cute eating ice cream. Even when they won’t share with you.

* FYI, Baskin-Robbins in no way paid me to eat their ice cream or write this post. But Baskin-Robbins, if you’re listening, I’d be more than happy to have you pay me to eat your ice cream and write a post about it. Just sayin’. 

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