I went on a date. . . .

Friday last week. Jeremy had lacrosse across town.

I picked up Brody from daycare, and decided on the spur of the moment to take him out to dinner.

And there was Red Robin. www.redrobin.com

Now, of course, we haven't always had good luck with restaurants (see Johnny Rockets post in June).

Friday was ridiculously fun.

We were seated at a booth that faced the whole restaurant. Brody in a booster.

Yes, he is a big boy.

Immediately, Brody is mesmerized by the cacophony of sound and distraction. He does also immediately notice that the table right next to us has a tower of onion rings, because he points to it and smiles saying "Whoaaa. . . ummies! Ummies!" Then he noticed other tables were eating too.

Next came the cherished sugar packet sorting. We ordered our food.

As an aside, kids' menus are way better than when I was growing up. Brody ordered the grilled cheese and fries, with a strawberry smoothie.

The onion ring table left after their meal was over. Which I only realized when Brody looked at their table, and asked "Where?" while using the sign for where, his little arm bent in confusion.

The smoothie arrived. Brody smiled. When I asked if I could have some, he said "No." And then looked at me while he moved the smoothie to the far side of him.

Then Brody began to realize he was hungry. I got a little nervous. I had no food with me. He kept pointing to other tables' food piles, saying "ummies" and signing "more" and "please," and telling me to "stay" (that's what I tell him when I get up from the couch to get him some milk, so now he tells it to me when he wants food) (and yes, I do the hand gesture and it is a dog command, but it works).

At the moment right before the meltdown, our lovely waiter arrived bearing all of our food. Brody actually held his arms up and yelled "Yay! Yay!"

Apparently, the kids' grilled cheese is on Texas toast. This did not deter Brody. He ate the whole sandwich, and if the piece he had bitten off was too big, which it often was, he used his free arm (not hand, the forearm part) to shove it back into his mouth.

By the time dinner was over, Brody had gotten accustomed to having a waiter. Every time he appeared, Brody said "More? more?" knowing that the waiter was going to be giving us something else - be it more smoothie, food or crayons.

It was a fantastic date, and we will be back. Screw Johnny Rockets.

Vive la Red Robin!