"Date Night with Traedon"

We have recently noticed that 'talkative little Trae' has been blending into the background lately. He is starting to remind me of a little Chameleon, and content with succumbing to the milieu of the family. Edgar and I tend to be too busy for his silly little ramblings about Castle Crashers or making the 'Eaglairs' do the romance dance (video game talk that I pretend to understand). So unfortunately Traedon is retreating to our basement dungeon to become more engrossed in romancing 'Sweet Tooth Beavers' (I probably won't need to give him the birds and bees talk after he has mastered the game). I miss his quirky little "What if the Dinosaurs were still alive and my shoes had turbo boosters on them?" questions.

So Edgar and I decided to take our 6 year old on a 'Date' with mom and dad. We want to make sure that he knows that he is still important to us, even though our eyes glaze over when we endure endless video game references. He was very apprehensive about the word 'date' and made sure that we were not going to line him up with a 'lipstick wearing woman' who plastered kisses all over his face during dinner (which is what obviously happens on dates, and he will have no part of it). He also didn't want me to misinterpret the 'date' term because it is not appropriate to 'date' one's mother. After we dropped the term 'date', and finally agreed to say "do you want to go to dinner with mom and dad?" and Traedon responded with "as long as you know it is not a date", did he agree to go.

It was so fun! Traedon really opened up and was thrilled to be able to talk to his hearts content, and to have the total attention of his mom and his dad. No big brother interrupting him with "oh my gosh Traedon! Do you really think that would happen?!", or his big sister's 6th grade friend catastrophe's getting in the way of his train of thought, or a 2 year old baby tantrum leading to mom whipping the screaming baby out of the restaurant while dad cleans the thrown plate of mac and cheese off his lap.

We had lots of laughs. He even told me who he had a crush on in his class. I told him that I was so excited to post this new shocking information on facebook. He gave me a stern look and said "mom, that would not be cool". So in the hopes to be cool, I will not divulge her name...only to say that it rhymes with Haily, but starts with a 'B' (and you know who you are, you first grade vixen!). We ordered the 'Molten Chocolate Lava Cake' with which he shoveled into his mouth with the skill and finesse only a 'Harris Man' can accomplish (Edgar and Trae both had chocolate goatees by the end of the treat).

We love you Trae and will make sure you never again retreat to the background!