First date

Caleb's been suffering from a wee bit of Middle Child angst lately. Sandwiched between an Only Girl big sister and a High Maintenance little brother, our second born often finds himself lost in the madness that is the family of fish. Jacob steals his trucks, Abby locks him out of her room so she can play with her doll house in peace, and mom and dad are far too often preoccupied with refereeing the skirmishes that come with having three kids under the age of 4 living in close quarters.

So to rescue him from the mayhem, and to remind him just how very special he is to me and to our family, I made reservations for us to attend Chick-Fil-A's Mother Son Date Knight. (The knights and dragons theme was a little lost on him, but he was pretty excited about the fair maidens, and couldn't wait to tell Abby about all the "princesses" he saw when we got home.)

He was thrilled about our special Mommy-Caleb outing, but in true Caleb fashion, was also very worried about what the rest of the family was going to be doing while we were gone. What would they eat? Would Abby and Jacob get to do something special too? Would Abby miss him? He's such a sweet kid. And while he loved having me all to himself for dinner, what he wanted most was to go home and play with his siblings and his daddy.

He was very much the gentleman on our date, and followed his dad's instructions to open doors for me and not wipe his hands on his shirt.

So what was the best part of the evening according to Caleb?

"I liked it when you shared your milkshake with me," he told me when we got in the car to leave. "And my balloon sword. And that cow didn't get too close to me." (He's never been a big fan of the giant cow.)

All in all, I'd say Caleb's first date went very well.

So what if I had to wake him up and pick his clothes out for him so we didn't miss our reservation? At least I got a good night kiss out of it.