A man with a plan

After church last night, we decided to go out for dinner. Jason suggested that we go eat at a local restaurant, Cedar Landing. Luke had his heart set on Subway, however. I have not been able to go back to Subway since the miracle/"shouting groceries" evening, so I voted for Cedar Landing.

Luke pitched a tantrum and told us that he wasn't going to eat if he couldn't go to Subway. He would rather go to bed hungry because he "didn't want their yucky food." He informed us that if he didn't get a Subway pizza, he was going to be mad. Emma gave him much grief for being the odd man out. I yelled at them gave them a lecture for fighting. This evening had potential!

As all good parents do, we started to ignore his bad behavior. Jason begged him to take a look at the kid's menu. Luke refused. Finally, I suggested he order off the grown-up menu. He raised his eyebrows. I mentioned he might like to order a hamburger steak, baked potato, and salad. He actually smiled.

Jason hit the ground running. He said, "Luke, you CAN'T order from the grown-up menu...they don't allow that!" Luke protested, "But I want to eat the hamburger steak!" Jason looked around stealthily and scratched his chin, "I don't know, Luke. Maybe we could order it and the waitress might not notice that you aren't a grown-up. Hmmm....we could try it."

Luke sat up tall in his seat as we ordered. He giggled with glee as the waitress wrote down his order and walked away. Luke marveled at the fact that he and his sister each got REAL cups, not the usual styrofoam ones. Emma got in on the excitement, too. She said, "Wow, they must've thought I was an adult, too!"

(Luke got his version of a salad, which is unconventional--to say the least. He gets ham, bacon bits, pepperoni, shredded cheddar cheese, and tops it off with ranch dressing. Somewhere there is a vegetarian crying.)

We played up the "grown-up" angle all evening. That is, until Luke informed us that he thought he might order from the grown-up menu everywhere we go. That's when the financial reality hit Jason, I think. Jason said, "It's not all fun and games being a grown up. You have to go to work from 8:00 to 5:00. Some days I don't get to take a lunch break. Worst of all, there's no playground at work!"

Luke pondered all this for a moment. Then, in complete seriousness, he said, "My wife is going to work. I am not." We laughed. I asked him, "What are you going to do all day while she works?" Emma said, "Probably lie on the sofa and watch tv!" Luke grinned and gleefully shouted, "Yep! That's what I am gonna do!" (Which really makes me wonder if that's what he thinks I do!) Jason said, "You better find a good woman to marry, then!"

Then Jason asked him, "Are you going to stay at home and take care of the kids?" Luke shook his head, "No way! I'm not going to have any kids!" Emma said, "I thought you were going to have 6 kids." Luke said, "Nope. None."

Luke has it all figured out.