Special Kid, Special Parent

It's always nice to come to the end of a day and realize that things went well for a change.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a perfect day, but it was a good day.

My mother started a tradition the year after Big Kid was born.  We started going to Mothers' Day Tea at a historic house in our city.  The first year, it was my mom, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law and my Dad watched Big Kid so I could go. Over the years, the guest list has changed a bit and when Big Kid was a little older, she came too.   We didn't start taking Angel right away; after all, it was a little bit of a break for me and no one expected that Angel would be able to handle it.

Last year was Angel's first Mothers Day Tea and she loved it.  She thought it was great that she got her own little teapot and treats to eat.   She loved it so much that she could hardly wait to go again this year.  The girls put on fancy dresses and their "good" shoes and went to church this morning with Nonna and Nonno.   They told everyone at church where they were going and they were so excited.

They swung by to pick me up after lunch and the girls were just bouncing, they were so excited.  We were seated at a table in the farmhouse kitchen (last year we were in the parlour).  Both kids were thrilled that the resident calligrapher had written place cards just for them and I had to take pictures of both of them holding their cards.

Then we got down to business.  Angel carefully studied the tea menu and I read over the selections for her.  She pointed at one and said, "I want that one".  When it was time to give our orders, Angel pointed to the tea she wanted from the list, Cinnamon Apple Spice.  She told the server that Big Kid wanted the same one too.  Mom and I placed our orders too.

Angel put her napkin in her lap, quite nicely, until it slipped onto the floor.  She was quick to tell me when she had to go to the bathroom and for once didn't fool around in there.  I think the thought of missing anything kept her to the business at hand.

When we came back to the table, our tea was there.  I poured her tea for her, but Angel insisted on using the sugar tongs to put a sugar cube in on her own.  The first thing she ate was her chocolate covered strawberry.  She tried the scone with  strawberry preserves and cream on it, but she didn't care much for it.  She didn't eat much more of her plate, but she must have had about 4 cups of tea!  I didn't fill her cups up to high and she had milk in them, so it stretched out her pot quite a lot.

We ran out of sugar in our bowl, so Angel waited until one of the servers came by and pointed to our sugar bowl.  "We need some more of that."  It wasn't the most polite way to ask, but I think the server could tell that Angel was really trying.  Angel was thrilled when instead of refilling it, the server brought us a whole new sugar bowl that had a lid and was chock-full!  I should mention that Big Kid was too shy to ask for more sugar, but Angel knew that if she wanted sugar, she was going to have to speak up.

Angel was well-behaved at the Tea and the four of us had such a great time.  Angel kept talking about how this was her second Tea and her sister's fourth.  The girls told me later that they love going for tea because it makes them feel grown up.  They like to dress up and have tea in a real china cup.  I have to admit that I like it a lot too.  It's nice to do something with just us girls.  Yes, I still had to answer 6000 questions from Angel.  Yes, she had trouble sitting still and staying in her chair.   But it was a good day and couldn't we all use more of those?