grass stains: Two more 'firsts' we can check off the list

I feel like I've done nothing but complain over the past several days, so before I get back to that, let's focus on something positive!

Over the weekend my mom came for a visit, and Jakey experienced two exciting "firsts."

On Friday night we met Mom at a yummy Japanese steakhouse, Sumo, for Jake's first Japanese made-in-front-of-you meal. Sumo has a koi pond in the lobby (it doesn't smell bad at all, which always surprises me for some reason, but it's really lovely), and they allow reservations. With our crew, it's always nice to be able to walk in and get a table immediately.

Here we are, just having gotten settled in at our table. Nick and Jake immediately began -- what else? -- a light saber battle with their chopsticks at the table. Although it hadn't occurred to me that this would be their natural inclination, I can't think for the life of me why my brain didn't immediately go there. YOUR brains probably immediately went there; I mean, it is OUR KIDS we're talking about.

Once we'd nixed the chopstick/light saber battle, we settled in for The Wait. That's the only thing I really don't care for about these places ... they don't send the chef over until your table is full. There were six of us, and we had four open spaces.

Luckily, three young women joined us within a few minutes, and our food cart rolled in the door.

Even though our food cart rolled in, we still didn't have our chef, but luckily the waitress brought our ginger salads. GUESS WHO LOVES GINGER SALAD.

Jake dug into that salad like nothing I've ever seen. I don't think he's even ever tasted a regular green salad, but he's certainly seen us eat hundreds of them. He stuck his hands right in the bowl and went for it.

Nathaniel is the only one in the family who DOESN'T like the ginger salad, so he ignored it and started watching the chef prepare the cooktop.

Here's our other Ginger Salad Fan. Nick has only had it twice (the other two times in his life we've come), but he LOVES it. He remembered it from our last visit, which must have been at least 18 months to two years ago. Slightly more civilized than Jakey, he ate his with a fork.

Meanwhile, our chef started our fried rice. Y.U.M. I could eat that all day. Next to Grayson, you can see one of the lovely young women who saved us from starvation by joining our table. They were completely smitten with the boys, especially Jakey.

"More ginger salad, please." After he polished off HIS bowl, he started in on mine. I was so entertained by it, I shared.

It helped that by then, my fried rice had been heaped on my plate. Help me, Rhonda. That is SOME GOOD STUFF.

Next, our chef started the noodles, veggies and tofu. They really sizzled up a storm, and the boys were all very entertained.

At least, I THINK Jake was entertained. It was hard to tell if he was focusing on anything other than the Ginger Salad, which, as any 14-month-old worth his salt will tell you, is finger-lickin' good.

As we ate, we continued to enjoy the show going on on the cooktop. There was plenty of fire and sizzle to keep us captivated.

The chef's hands moved so quickly, they were literally a blur. So were Grayson's, shoveling the food into his mouth. (I love you, honey, but seriously. Your hand is moving as fast as his is.)

Mom ("Mop") and Nathaniel stopped to strike a pose for me about halfway through the meal.

Nathaniel lost interest in the ACTUAL food long before he lost interest in the food PREPARATION. He loved watching our chef at work.

Finally the chef got around to cooking the meats. Grayson had scallops, I had chicken, the boys had chicken and shrimp, the lovely young women had steak and shrimp, and Mom had tofu (which I know isn't meat, but was cooked near the meat).

Nick really liked his shrimp, which he'd never had before Labor Day when our friend Alex grilled them in Chattanooga, but he really likes now.

About this time, Jake had reduced both my salad bowl and his own to THIS:

And then he stuck his fists in it and tried to suck all the juice off of them. He ended up looking like he'd taken a bath in it.

All in all, a very successful outing to Sumo! We are grateful to my parents for treating us to such a nice meal, and to Mom for sharing the evening with us.

Once we got home, Mom broke out the caramel cake she'd made for her visit. It's one of her specialties, and Nathaniel and Nicholas LOVE it. Jake had never had it, hence it was his other "first" of the weekend.

"Hmm. What have we here? It MIGHT be something I'd like to try."