Be a Real Man Dad

Jason was playing tonight and informed Kim and I that he was going home teaching and would be back. Kim asked who he was visiting and he responded, "Elmo and Zoe." He proceeded to climb on his bike and then said to his dad, "Dad, do you want to come with me?" Kim was late in responding and as Jason was riding out of the room, looked back at his dad and said, "Come on Dad. Be a real man and come home teaching with me!"

On Friday, Jason and I ran to Idaho Falls to sign some forms for our taxes, after which we went to ShopKo to grab a baby shower gift. Jason is big enough now (sadly) that he doesn't like riding in the shopping cart, so he trails shortly behind me on foot. We parked the car, went into ShopKo and headed to the back of the store where the baby department is located. It didn't take Jason long to find a display stroller to push around. So there we were, mom trying to find a baby gift and Jason weaving in and out of display racks. I stopped at one rack to grab a closer look at an outfit when to my surprise there was a beautiful little girl with big brown eyes starring at me. I tried to carry on a conversation with her and in return on got a deeper stare. I commented to the mother how beautiful her daughter was and turned around to move farther down the isle and noticed that my son was not there. I thought he was close by, so as I continued hunting through the rack I said, "Jason, you need to come over here." I heard nothing in return. A couple seconds later I moved closer to the main isle and repeated, "Jason where are you?" Nothing again. So I walked over where the strollers were parked thinking he would be exchanging the current stroller for a different one (so typical of Jason) but no Jason. This time I yelled, "Jason?" Nothing. My heart started to beat and my mind began racing. I quickly walked to the toy isle and yelled for him again. I heard nothing back so I walked up the main toy isle looking down every isle and still no Jason. I really began to panic now and was beginning to think of every mother's worse nightmare. One more time I ran over to the baby department and yelled for him and there was no response. I really thought someone had taken him at this point. So I began running to the front of the store thinking maybe I could catch whoever had taken my child. I ran through the shoe department, men's department, boy's department, and through the purse department and to my surprise, relief and dismay there was Jason pushing a baby stroller with a purse over his shoulder. "Jason!!!" I yelled. "What are you doing?" As I am about to pass out from my heart jumping out of my chest, he responds, "Look at this cute purse Mom!!" He must have saw the terror in my eyes as I squatted down to his eye level because his face dropped as I started to explain to him that I thought someone had taken him and that he was gone. His response was, "Mom, I am sorry I left you. I just wanted to get a purse." "Where were you going to go after you got the purse?" I asked. "To find you," he said.

I was sick to my stomach for about an hour after this incident. Many questions arose and we had the stranger danger talk. Jason continued to apologize for his behavior and so innocently explained that he just want to carry a purse around. Now that the incident is over and all is well I find myself laughing that my three-year-old son wanted to carry a purse so bad that he left his mom at the back of ShopKo and set out on his own to find the perfect bag. Kim is officially worried about Jason and the escalated level of his purse obsession. I must say, the kid sure does have a eye for a cute bag!!