There's a Reason We Don't Go More Places With Our Kids

We met some friends for lunch at Breadmen's yesterday and then we all went to the UNC Women's basketball game against Miami. Parts were fun and I'm all for exposing the kids to new experiences, but I got home exhausted and couldn't help wondering why we even bother sometimes.

We parked in one of the new decks behind the UNC Alumni Center, and as we walked in the cold to Carmichael Auditorium, we heard a terrifying thud and then Johnny's hysterical wails. He tripped on David's shoe and landed hard on his left eye. I quickly scanned for blood, and seeing none, I assured myself that things would be ok. He didn't cry for long but it was a doozie of a fall and left a pretty prominent shiner.

We got in our seats at 1:30 PM, just in time to see the both teams warming up to the cheerleaders' cheers and the pep band's horns. It was all too loud for Grace and she said she wanted to go home. I still had ear plugs in my purse, so I pushed a pair into Grace's ears and hoped they would help take the edge off. At 1 minute until tip off, Grace said she had to poop, so I excused ourselves and made it to the ladies' room. Grace wouldn't, however, poop. She wanted to poop at home. I told her we weren't leaving yet, so she cleaned up and we made it back to our seats for the National Anthem to find Johnny asleep in David's arms. Johnny basically slept for most of the first half, being jostled here and there while David and I took turns taking Grace to the bathroom where she insisted on going but refused to "go" every time.

At halftime, the kids wanted to go look for Rameses, UNC's mascot. We didn't find Rameses, but we did run into one of Johnny's classmates, the son of a former UNC football player. Johnny refused to make eye contact with his friend while his friend flatly reported to me that "Johnny hits people at school." I awkwardly smoothed that one over with the youngster and his very large father and ushered the kids back into our seats. Just as the second half began, Johnny decided that he needed to go pee. The urge had just come to him apparently, and not minutes before when we were in the hallway at a restroom.

I really didn't have any desire to watch the entire second half as we were up by, oh, about 30 points, so when I saw Rameses across the auditorium, I watched like a hawk until he exited to the lobby. When he did, I grabbed the kids and said, "Come on, let's go see the Ram!"

There was a mob at the ram and since I didn't have my camera handy, all I wanted was for my kids to have a chance to hug him or give him a high 5. He signed a few autographs and then came our way. It must have been the limited peripheral vision or something, because Rameses rammed right into Johnny and knocked him down to the floor! I said, "Johnny, that was an accident. He didn't knock you down on purpose. He just didn't see you."

"No, Mommy. I think he thought I was a bad guy."