Last Friday, The Family had a most pleasant and amusing evening out on the town. For those of you without children “out on the town” means that we actually left our home. Don’t get any crazy ideas.

It began with The Dada and The Kidling taking a very long bike ride while I went shopping for pots (Not pot. Pots. For flowers. See above note re: crazy ideas). When they returned home at 7:00 pm, well after our typical dinner time, I suggested to The Dada that we go out for dinner. A brilliant move on my part. Note to self: wait until your husband is very tired and very hungry to suggest something he might not otherwise be up for. Brilliant!

We went for a walk whilst waiting for our table, and the evening was positively gorgeous. We staged approximately 37 races, of which Alice won half, before receiving the call that our table was ready. On the way back, we walked down Our Town’s lovely literary walk. The sidewalks have poetry imprinted into the sidewalk and bronze relief panels dot the walkway. The Kidling wanted me to read them to her, and she thought they were pretty nifty. Well, most of them. There was a Jane Smiley excerpt from Ordinary Love and Goodwill that befuddled her: ”I have noticed before that there is a category of acquaintanceship that is not friendship or business or romance, but speculation, fascination.” Upon hearing the excerpt, Alice commented, “That’s strange!” And I guess, to a four-year old, it is.

Dinner was at a tasty locally owned restaurant that sells the yummiest (and fanciest) mac & cheese. They make it with Gruyère and put a dollop of sun-dried tomato pesto on top. Oh, and mint sprigs. See? Fancy. The Kidling was thrilled to learn that this was our destination for the evening. So much so that she insisted on telling our server, “I chose this restaurant because I know I wanted to order mac & cheese,” complete with serious voice, raised eyebrows, and urgently nodding head (Oh, and please don’t judge her for her inconsistent verb tense. She is only four, after all. Sheesh).

While we waited for our meal, the absurd knock-knock jokes commenced:

Alice: Knock knock!

The Mama: Who’s there?

Alice: Doku kiwi.

The Mama: Doku kiwi who?

Alice: Doku kiwi ala sala motu boke glad you didn’t say kiwi again! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! I crack you up! (turns to The Dada) Am I crackin’ your head up?

And then there was this one:

Alice: Knock knock!

The Mama: Who’s there?

Alice: Wait for me to eat this apple first.

And my personal favorite:

Alice: Knock knock!

The Mama: Who’s there?

Alice: Ahnu be tu maka laka roney woopy doopy la ta pa va sala rocky noley va ka ka ka bi ti dolee tutti mooti biki soney loney (Seriously, she went on forever… probably for a full minute. Perhaps longer? Who knows, I was giggling by this point).

The Mama: Ahnu be tu maka laka roney woopy doopy la ta pa va sala rocky noley va ka ka ka bi ti dolee tutti mooti biki soney loney WHO?

Alice: (blank stare)

The Mama and Alice: (joint silly syllable saying accompanied by dancing around in our seats)

The Dada: (raises eyebrows)

Our food came. We ate. It was tasty (this part is boring).

Once The Kidling finished eating, she started up her chattering again. Who am I kidding; she never stopped chattering. At one particularly delightful moment, she leaned over to snuggle into me and told me, “I have so much love. I have so much love in my body that I don’t even want it to go to waste.” Cue melting heart…

Eventually, we finished. As we left the restaurant, I smiled and said thank you to our very patient server. This, however, was not enough for The Kidling. She ran over to her and gave her knees a great big hug. It was darling, and our server was clearly surprised and delighted.

A good evening indeed.