We went to Choo Choo Johnny's tonight to celebrate Cal's 4th birthday. Choo Choo Johnny's is a train-themed restaurant about 10 minutes from our house. At Choo Choo Johnny's, they serve excellent food (I tell people that Dan and I will likely go there for lunch and/or dinner even after the kids have outgrown it), offer a simple selection of ice cream and provide entertainment via its various trains. There's an electric train set up at the front of the restaurant with two giant red buttons for kids to push to trigger the running of the train. Another train constantly circles the restaurant on elevated tracks near the ceiling. A larger, kid-sized train engine sits parallel to a wall near a couple of other video games, begging for kids to go for a ride on it -- for 50 cents, the engine will light up and gently rock back and forth for a minute or so. Or for 0 cents, the engine just sits there; and kids enjoy it almost as much. Perhaps the best train is the one that delivers your food to your seat. A set of train tracks line the oval counters outlined by fixed, low bar stools. When your order is ready, the conductor waitress pushes a train horn; and soon a train with cars carrying your food in plastic baskets is on its way to your seats.
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Cal loves Choo Choo Johnny's. We're on their emailing list for specials and birthday coupons, of which we take full advantage. So it came as no surprise that he wanted to go to Choo Choo Johnny's for his birthday. I think that when he originally mentioned it, he had visions of a big birthday bash on his mind; however, he was perfectly content celebrating with just the four of us.
Choo Choo Johnny's does a little something extra for birthday boys and girls. Birthday boys and girls are entitled to a scoop of ice cream, choosing from the traditional flavors of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry as well as some fancier ones, such as cookies 'n cream, chocoloate chip cookie dough or my favorite (and what used to be Cal's go-to) "Superman" (which I think tastes like cake batter). The scoop is delivered to the birthday child via the train. A lit candle is placed in the center of the scoop, and the conductor waitress walks alongside the train as it encircles the counter, her hands cupped around the flame of the candle to prevent it from blowing out. Once the train arrives in front of the birthday child, the conductor waitress announces that it's So-and-So's birthday and she and the other conductor waitress break into the Choo Choo Johnny's birthday song, clapping as they sing it.
Anyone who's read my many Facebook posts with quotes or "doings" of Cal or read any of my earlier blog posts must figure that Cal is a ham and no stranger to attention from his peers, older kids and adults. He is bold and will talk to just about anyone, anytime about anything that enters his mind. Imagine my surprise when Cal, for the second day in a row (we had a family party for him yesterday), tried to hide from the attention he was getting from people singing to him for his birthday. Here he is already showing a little uneasiness at the start of the birthday song:
And then here he is mid-birthday song, burying his head into Dan's shoulder:
And then all is well once the song and clapping are over and it's time to blow out the candle:
I found this to be very interesting since it is so contrary to what I would expect from Cal. No criticism or concern intended, either. In fact, I smile about this because this reaction to the attention is a little piece of me coming out of that "mini Dan" body. And I love him for it.
We finished the night with a ride on the 50-cent train -- Ella was there first and then Cal joined her. There was no fighting over who would "steer" the train or who would sit where, and I credit Cal with this. Ella clearly wanted to "steer" and clearly wanted to sit on the right side of the seat and was prepared to fight for it. Cal took the high road (another trait of mine) and let her, enjoying the ride just the same.
Happy birthday, my handsome, smart, funny, shy, artistic, stubborn, sweet, sensitive Cal. I love you and am so very proud of you!
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