Associating Places with People

Today as I pulled into the mall parking lot, the boys inquisitively chirped, "Megan? Megan?" It's no wonder, since at least half of our visits to this particular mall involve scouring the clearance racks for ridiculously cheap designer jeans with Aunt Megan. We just met her there for this purpose last week, as a matter of fact. Today we had even more important business to attend to- we were meeting Daddy for lunch, followed by bargain-hunting for winter clothes for the boys to wear next year. Since hearing the tragic news that Talbots is discontinuing their children's line, Mimi and I have been all the more vigilant about scouting out bargains on cute boys' clothes, which are a lot harder to find than cute girls' clothes. Anyway, the boys' association of the mall parking lot with Megan got me thinking about all the other places we frequently go that the boys associate with the people in their lives.

• When we pull into the parking lot at Old Country Buffet, the boys will call out "Mimi! Papa! Mimi! Papa!" because they know that whenever we go there, we meet Mimi and Papa for dinner.


• When we drive by the local Roy Rogers, the boys will say "Babo? Babo?" because the last couple times Granny and Babo have visited, we have gone to Roy Roger's for lunch.


• When we pull into the church parking lot, the boys will exclaim "Daddy! Daddy!" because they know that we always see Daddy at church. Daddy always has to drive separately because he has to show up early for worship team practice. The boys will also sometimes say "Branden? Branden?" asking if their buddy will be there to play with them.


• When we drive by a certain stop light on one of the local main roads, Joshua will say "owl! owl!" because one time when we drove by there he saw a large bird which he must have thought was an owl.


• This doesn't involve a particular place, but when I wake the boys up in the morning and immediately get them dressed, they will ask, "Michael? Michael? Baby? Baby?" because the only occasion for which I ever get them dressed in a hurry first thing in the morning (other than Sunday morning church) is when we go to playgroup, where we see their friend Michael and his baby sister, and more recently their friend Elizabeth's new baby brother who also happens to be named Michael.

There are probably more examples but I can't think of them right now!