The Tempting Water Fountain

Yesterday was Tuesday. Which meant we were back to Moe's for "Kids Eat Free" night. (I think we only missed the Tuesday right after Macie was born - we were back at it when she was 13 days old!). But this was not a typical night at Moe's. There were a lot of unusual things that had to occur in order to make this evening blog-worthy. So here we go...

First of all, we decided to eat outside (which we never do), as Macie was acting as though she might treat us to another throw-up session. Wanting to avoid that happening INSIDE, we grabbed an outside table (thankfully, the weather was pleasant enough to accommodate us!). As we were eating, there were several older kids (I'd say 4th graders, maybe?) playing at the water fountain that sits in front of Moe's. To describe this fountain to you, it's a circular fountain that has a concrete ledge surrounding it, along with a slab of concrete that goes down the middle, with the fountain on each side. The ledges themselves are probably about 8" wide? Similar to a balance beam, I'd say.

Anyway, these kids were climbing on the ledges, and even venturing down the middle slab, running from one side to the other. BRAVE! I remember mentioning to Dale that I was pretty certain their parents didn't seem them doing that (they were inside finishing up their meal, I think), as I imagine they would not approve.

As I watched the kids playing, I noticed that Ivie, too, was taking it all in, quite intently. I could tell that she wished she were over there with them! So I made a mental note to myself that I better watch her closely when she got up after eating...

As we finished up, Ivie, as I predicted, made her way over to the fountain. This, in and of itself, is not odd, as she plays at the fountain every week. But I could tell that she was feeling a bit more adventurous this week, after seeing the boys' shenanigans. She made her way to the far side of the fountain (the farthest point from us, of course - she's nothing if not clever!), and started to climb up on the ledge.

Seeing this, I yelled to her in my best motherly scolding voice, "Ivie, get down from there RIGHT NOW." She heard me, looked up, and... GRINNED back at me with as mischievous of a look as she could conjure up. I knew I was in trouble (or she was, more specifically...).

Dale had begun cleaning up our eating area and was distracted, while I was trying to settle Macie down (she was waking up in her car seat, hungry apparently, and not at all happy!). Deciding that Ivie was in more danger than Macie, I left Macie to cry and ran over to the fountain. By the time I made it there, Ivie was already about 5 feet out onto the middle ledge, surrounded by concrete and water. GREAT. Visions of an emergency room visit and full-leg cast (a la Jenna Maloy!) rushed to my mind. As I hastily climbed onto the fountain to "save" her, I was cautious not to approach her too quickly, lest she get excited, try to get away from me, and fall into the fountain. Boy, was I not in the mood for this!

Anyway, I succeeded in grabbing her without incident (i.e., either one of us falling into the fountain), although I did come out of it with a scraped-up shin, caused by hurriedly climbing onto the concrete ledge. I proceeded to scold her while walking her back over to our table to rescue Macie, who, at this point, had broken out in an all-out scream. Dale had taken the trash inside, so Macie was sitting alone in her car seat on the ground by our table. I'm sure it was an interesting sight to the college girls who, at this very moment, were walking in the door to Moe's. They glanced over and saw a screaming baby in a car seat, seemingly stranded... I had to laugh at the confused and concerned looks on their faces as they looked around, trying to find the poor baby's parent(s)... I made eye contact with one of them and said, "I got her!". The girl, obviously embarrassed that I had seen the strange looks on their faces, pretended not to be looking and quickly escaped into Moe's.

So, to make a long story short (too late, I know), everyone who was unlucky enough to be outside at Moe's last night to witness this episode firmly believes that I am inept at handling two children. They may or may not be right - time will tell!