… or big red birds for that matter.

About three weeks ago, DH and Monkey went out to eat together while I had my hair done.  DH decided to take him to Red Robin which in months previous, Monkey hadn’t minded.  Well, apparently this night, he was NOT enthused about seeing that big Red Robin visiting the tables.

DH asked Monkey to give the bird a fist bump.  Monkey backed away from the mascot and clung to DH and started to get upset.  DH gave the bird a fist bump thinking that Monkey might warm up to the idea if he saw Daddy doing it.  Nope.  Finally the mascot walked away but according to DH, Monkey kept asking for the rest of the time they were there, “Where’s that red bird?”  Then later that night he woke up twice saying, “I don’t like that red bird.” 

Last Friday, I thought it might be nice to take him to the circus.  So we drove to the town where the circus was, we took the shuttle from the parking area near the mall to the circus (about a 1/2 mile away) and I bought two $30 tickets for us.  SECOND ROW, RING SIDE.  Bad idea.

He was excited as we patiently sat waiting for the circus to begin and was thoroughly enjoying the cotton candy I bought for him.  A first for him.  I thought, “This is going to be fun seeing his reaction to all of the clowns and the animals.”  I was never more wrong.  First, they turned out ALL of the lights in the tent so there was only a little bit of sunlight streaming in from the cracks of the tent.  That startled him I could tell, so I put him on my lap.  Then the lights came back on in the middle of the ring and the circus’ leading clown came out and started his routine.

Monkey said, “I don’t like him.”

I told him, “He’s just silly.  Watch.  He’s a silly man.”

Then the clown proceeded to climb a rope to the top of the tent and did a move where he pretended like he was going to fall.  Monkey started to cry.  I tried reassuring him that the guy was okay, he was only pretending.  Then the clown dropped from the top of the tent and Monkey wailed.  The clown was okay.  Fine, in fact.  He was attached to some bungee type cords and started bouncing around but that was it for Monkey.  I tried again saying, “What if we sit in the back?  I think you’ll like this if you give it more time.”

“NO, I WANT TO GO HOME!” Monkey screamed practically pulling me up the bleacher type stairs to the exit.  Once outside I tried again.  If I had known exactly what was in the circus show, I probably could have coaxed him back in but because I’d never seen this particular one before I didn’t know that there were horses later (I found this out from a co-worker).  Monkey didn’t even want to use the port-o-potty there because he was too upset.

So we left.  Maybe 10 minutes of circus for $60.  Internally, I was a little pissed.  More at myself for not seeing this coming. As we exited the Main Tent, I said to the front attendant (in hopes they’d offer a refund), “He’s a little too scared of it.  I think we’ll have to leave.”  His response, “Well, maybe next year.”  Hmpf.

But we weren’t the only ones waiting for the shuttle to come back outside.  Another boy with his father were there waiting, too.  It made the sting of wasting that money a little less painful.  Then we waited for about 15 minutes for the next shuttle (mind you, the circus attendant at the front assured me they come “every few minutes” — not sure what his definition of that is exactly).  Finally, I decided to huff it across to the mall parking lot from where the circus was held.  We were about 10 yards from the parking lot when I saw the shuttle coming.  Oh well.

So next year when the circus comes, I don’t think we’ll be going.  Not because I think Monkey will not enjoy it because the circus attendant might be correct in his assumption.  But because I spent $60, no hope of a refund, and a promised shuttle that took 25 minutes to show up, I don’t think we will.  I’d rather pay for him to see Cirque du Soleil.

And as for Red Robin, well, wouldn’t you know it, Monkey ASKED to go to the “Red bird restaurant” tonight?  We didn’t go (I wanted to go somewhere close to home) and he was actually a little upset and needed some prodding to go to another restaurant!