going on a date

Has it really been so long without a good Ava story? I may have to write down some I know I've missed. : )

But here's my sweet Ava the afternoon of today's story.

What a girl. Notice the outfit?

She changes about 5+ times a day.

Usually it's into some form of summer clothes - here's a summer dress, a sweater of Kate and Olivia's and of course, the beloved flip flops.

Every day before preschool we have a "discussion" that she can't wear shorts or flip flops but she can put them on when she gets home.

And she always does. : )

But on to my story. . .

One late afternoon a couple weeks ago, we were waiting for Daddy to get home from work.

Ava and I had talked earlier on how excited mommy was to go on a date with Daddy that night and how Ava was going to go play with her friends.

"Why are you going on a date with Daddy?" Ava asked.

"Because mommy likes to spend time with daddy. It's special to go on a date with him. Someday when you're married, you can go on dates too!" I replied.

So the girls were playing and I was cleaning up the kitchen so we'd be ready to go.

All of a sudden, Ava came skipping across the family room in front of me and telling me something that out of my interrupted train of thought I absentmindly asked, "What?"

At the same time I asked "what?" I registered what she said (I know you know what I'm talking about."

And as I watched my daughter's bashful face appear and her suddenly getting very shy as she refused to repeat her statement, my heart melted a little bit.

For Ava had skipped into the room happily telling me,

"I'm going on a date mom."

As I told my laughing thoughts inside not to make her more embarressed, I quickly responded,

"Oh, that's special. Who are you going on a date with?"

I wasn't sure what to expect but all of a sudden my little girl looked about 25 (my preferred dating age for her) as she thought about it, shrugged her shoulders and answered with big eyes and total sadness,

"I don't know. I don't have anyone to go on a date with!"

Trying not to smile more, we started talking through her friends.

Are you going on a date with Cole?

"no mom - he's not here."

With Cade?

"No mom (getting giggly), he's not here either." She quickly added,

"It's just pretend mom, not for real."

Phew. Glad we don't have to really have this conversation yet.

With Noah?

"No."

With Levi?

"No."

How about Landon?

Ava paused for a full minute and seriously considered the prospect.

And then my heart kind of stopped again as my much too grown up little girl once more turned to me with the most vulnerable eyes, threw up her hands and said,

"But I don't know if he'd want to go on a date with me!"

Heaven help us.