Date Night & Emma

We look forward to Date Night all week. We usually go out on Friday night. We love to go to the movies. We have our Harkins cups so we only have to pay $1 for a drink. Date night is supposed to be a time for just the two of us to have some time to ourselves sans children. Well, modern technology has made that a little trickier. Brian and I saw "2012" last night. (I admit we were desperate to see something. It was either "2012" or the ever popular "New Moon". We may have been desperate, but no movie is worth a line for me and definitely not for Brian.) If you go in with low expectations (which we did) and don't take it too seriousy (which we didn't) it was pretty entertaining and the special effects were fun to watch. Before we left I gave instructions for Emma to be in bed by 9 p.m. I really didn't even care if it was 10 so long as everyone was happy. We called her at 8:45 p.m., just before the movie started and said goodnight and how we wouldn't be able to talk to her now since the movie was about to begin. "O.k.", she said. "I'm just going to finish watching my movie and then I'll go to bed.", she said. Twenty minutes later, we got our first phone call. It was less disturbing to answer the phone quietly than to climb over people to get out and talk. She has called in tears before, so we answered. It could've been an emergency...but it wasn't.

Us:  "Hello...Emma? Is everything o.k.?"  
Emma: "Hi! Watcha doin!?" 
Us:  "Emma, we can't talk to you right now. Bye." 


She called 6 or 7 more times. It may sound unfeeling, but I ignored them, knowing she was o.k. and just feeling chatty and she obviously was completely disregarding my 9 p.m. bedtime request from earlier in the evening. She called a last time right when we got into the car to drive home...it was 11:45 p.m.! She said, "Call me when you get to Gilbert Rd." I said, "O.k." Why not?? Why was she still up, anyhow?? I did call her at Gilbert Rd. and the 60. Adam answered and told me she was asleep, but the phone kind of woke her up. Oops.

She left us this note on the door.

She still loved us, even though we ignored her calls. It was nearly midnight when she finally fell asleep...with the lights still on in her room. Hey, it's hard work waiting up for mom and dad. She nearly made it.

Oh, Emma...our little Eveready Bunny.

I kissed her goodnight and turned off the light.

The next day (today) I explained to her that when it's our Date Night and we're in a movie, she can't call us all the time. Then it stops being a Date Night and it also disturbs the people around us. Phone calls are only for emergencies. She said, "Well, can I text you then?!" "Uh...No...not that either." We'll see how she does next week.

On the topic of dates: On Friday, Emma told me in the morning, "Sometimes when I'm in school, I miss Dad, so we're having our own date tomorrow...First, we're going to do my assigned room, then we're going to read scriptures, then write in our journals and then go to Q.T." This was Emma's plan for her date with her Dad. So this morning, after cleaning, Brian and Emma went on their little date, just the two of them and I didn't call or text them one time! Now that's a date!