The Face of Evil...AKA Chuck E. Cheese

I have seen the face of evil and it's name is Chuck E. Cheese! I got the bright idea to take Artem to Chuck E. Cheese tonight with my friend Brenda and her two girls. I think my blood pressure was in the extreme range after our time there; it was wild! Artem was a champ and Brenda's girls are angels but omigoodness, that place is an absolute zoo! I was worried it might be too much for Artem but he did great. After 3 slices of pizza and a few nibbles of my salad bar Artem was ready to play games. First stop, the carousel. He wasn't sure about it at first but after a minute he warmed up and loved riding it and stayed on it for quite awhile.

Not too sure about this:

This isn't so bad after all:

He also loved the car especially the horn and I got such a kick out of watching him turn the steering wheel because it made me think back to the days when I was little and thought turning the steering wheel and pressing the accelerator actually made me go. Another little girl kept trying to join Artem on the car and moved in to kiss him, but Artem wasn't having that; you know his heart belongs to Layla. (Side note: after rocking Artem to sleep tonight I was laying him in his crib and he woke up and said, "Layla?" I told him Layla was at home with her mommy and he nodded his head and closed his eyes.) After an hour and a half my nerves had all they could take of Chuck's place and I called it a night.

We've seen some new attachment issues with Artem this past week. I got my hair done and Auntie Wanda came over and watched him for the two hours. He has seen Auntie Wanda a hundred times and knows her very well. He was fine when I left and didn't cry but he kept going to the front glass door saying, "Mama, truck, all gone". When I got home he smiled when he saw me and let out a happy shriek but after Wanda left he got mad at me and for the next hour until naptime he was mean to me. He would hit me and do things he wasn't supposed to do even after asking him to stop. After naptime, he was fine and back to his usual sweet self. Randy thought maybe he was mad at me for leaving him because he never treats me like that. He's always so affectionate to me and loves to lay with me and read books or just rock in the rocking chair. I don't know what it was about.

I was interested to see how he would do at Chuck E. Cheese with all the people. I didn't carry him around, I let him walk but stayed close to him and was happy to see that he would walk ahead of me a few steps and then stop and look for me. After he saw me, he smiled and then kept going. He did this every time we would move to a new ride. Artem continues to turn away from strangers that stick their hands out to hold him. Our neighbor tried it last night and he shook his head "no" and stepped back to me. However, he is warming up to kids more and more. This week at library time he waved at the kids and said "hi" when he saw them and tonight at Chuck E. Cheese he said "hi" to a little girl and tried to touch her hair. She was African American and had her hair in little braids all over with barrettes so I think he was fascinated by all her hair bling. But as soon as she leaned in to kiss him, he was done with her. I told you, he only has eyes for Layla!

Layla hugging Artem at library time: