To the Mall with Mikey

I went to the Mall this evening with Mikey for about an hour. One hour. I just had to get out of the house. I was feeling totally claustrophobic and tense. I don't really know why I thought going to the Mall with Mikey would ease that. Phillip stayed home and cleaned up the house. We went to the little kid play area. Here is what Mikey accomplished while we were there.

1. Sprinted out of the play area at least 15 times - He runs as fast as he can for as far as he can before I catch him.

2. Tackled another toddler

3. Stole lots of shoes and either ran away with them or threw them randomly

4. Ripped people's bags away from them and threw them

5. Stole a cell phone and ran away with it

6. Got plowed into about three times by very large children - When this happens he basically shakes it off, smiles, and runs away as fast as he can.

7. Stole an unattended drink cup and poured the ice out and proceeded to eat all the ice off of the floor until it was gone

Now keep in mind that I hardly sat down the whole time we were there. This didn't all happen under lackadaisical supervision. I was running all over the place to keep him from or stop him from doing all the things listed above. Now, as gross as it is, I let number 7 slide. Eating someone else's ice off the ground kept him busy enough to not do the other things on the list for about 12 minutes. I think one of these days I need to hire a videographer to follow me around. Someday I might think the whole thing is pretty funny. I don't think I'll try the Mall thing again solo. The problem is that Mikey really needs to get out of the house sometimes. He gets really antsy and bored here. But he's just next to impossible to take anywhere so I'm not quite sure what the answer is. I need to take him to a really big field that's several miles in ever direction and just let him run.

It's a good thing he's cute.