Ghirardelli Squares

It was supposed to be a special treat for the boy.  He was so good in his bath, getting out when he was told, going underwater (practicing swim class lessons), not running away when I got him dressed. So, he was going to get something I originally bought for myself (and was keeping a secret)...Ghirardelli Squares.  The boy LOVES chocolate and I thought for sure these would thrill him.

Attempt #1:  Dark & Raspberry Squares
I wasn't sure he would like them but he saw the bag and was extremely excited about it.  "It has chocolate and those things...what are those things?"  I explained they were raspberries. "Raspberries! I LOVE those! Those are my favorite food!"  No, no they are not.  This was not where his love of raspberries would begin either.  He took a bite and was instantly disappointed.  No, not in the taste (right away) but in the fact he expected whole raspberries to fall out of the thin square.  They are on the bag, he pointed out, so where are they?  Why weren't they in the chocolate?  Try as I may, I could not explain it to his understanding or satisfaction.  This MAY have played a small part in his not wanting any more of the chocolate.  To his surprise, but not mine, he did not like these at all.  Twist my arm, I will finish it for you.

Attempt #2: Dark & Sea Salt Caramel Squares  
This went a bit better...a bit.  I did not show him the bag of this kind because of attempt one failing in that respect.  After the first, more hesitant bite he giggled a little when he looked at the contents of this square.  Gently, he put his finger on the caramel oozing out and said, "it is gooey, like slime!"  Yes, caramel is actually just delicious slime.  I am ok with this analogy.  To my selfish delight, he again handed over the rest of his square.  His reaction this time was more favorable though.  "I don't like it...only a little bit."  When I tried to clarify by repeating, "Oh, you don't like it a little?" He corrected me and sternly stated, "No, I like it only a little".  Oh.  Ok, that's more specific, thank you.

Ghirardelli, I am sorry but this Booster Seat Review left you with only 1 Goldfish.  Don't worry though, I will continue to buy them and can now rest assured that I do not need to share with the boy.

Courtyard Marriott - Vicksburg, MS

This was actually the first time we actually paid attention to what Larsipan thought about the choices we made for our sleeping accommodations.  Once we began, we realized how much valuable information he was giving us and thought it might be useful to others. 

We exited I-20 at exit 5B and began the short drive to the hotel. For Larsipan (3.75 years old) though, it was an extremely long drive.  In his defense, it was getting late and no nap was had that day.  Upon entering the hotel, he seemed to know exactly where to go.  He loved that there were automatic doors to let him in so he could lead the way alone, pulling his suitcase behind him like a pro (we had a consolidated overnight bag so he didn't actually NEED his suitcase but he insisted he did so - battle not fought).  Off he went leading us along...through the awesome lobby where he had a ton to look at as there was a full bar to the right opposite the reception desk. He instinctively knew to turn left and immediately found the elevator by himself.  Inside, he proclaimed, "these buttons are cool!".  I didn't see anything special about the silver buttons that had a ring around them which illuminated when pressed, but he apparently did.  Off we went up the very quiet elevator to floor 3.  As soon as we exited the elevator, Larsipan was commenting on the decor.  He "really liked the awesome" hallway carpeting in all its red, orange, and yellow glory.  

The room was very nice - we all thought so.  Right away, he had to check out the entire place.  It was small but swanky.  There was a sofa-bed on the wall next to the huge window and there was a King size bed which drew Larsipan's attention with its super inviting look.  Up he went...then down..then up.  After a minute he exclaimed, "this is fun!"  I noted the bed's jumpability as rating pretty high.  Once the sofa-bed was opened up, he was thoroughly impressed that we instantly had two beds!  Leaping from the regular bed to the newly opened sofa-bed, there was a disappointment in his landing.  A few attempts were made to jump but the jumpability of this mattress was very low.  The previous nights the three of us had slept together in Queen beds (Mommy, Daddy, Larsipan) and this night was a King.  This was also the day we adopted Waffle, the monkey doll we purchased at breakfast.  So, in his mind, with Mommy, Larsipan, and Waffle, there were three of us in the bed and the king size was not allowing enough room for Daddy.  This was quickly rectified by simply moving Waffle over a bit so, the night was saved and Daddy was not forced to sleep in the sofa-bed with Vammie.  Whew. 

Next up was the bathroom.  Wow, that was a treat for a kid!  There was a bench seat made of marble on one end of the shower.  This was described as "so silly".  Larsipan ran out to tell Vammie and Daddy about it - dragging them in by the hand to show them the silly shower seat  and told them how "cool" it was that there was a handle on the wall too.  The downfall of the bathroom was the counter to  mirror height ratio; it was way off for him.  Standing in front of the sink, he could not see into the mirror to brush his teeth.  While he was a little upset at first about not seeing himself, he had no complaints about getting to sit on the counter-top instead.  

A couple other faults of the room that Larsipan noted:  "the TV keeps stopping".  We were using Netflix and the internet kept buffering so that was definitely a bad note for a kid!  Also, no free breakfast but we knew that going in - he just didn't.  He really loved the other hotels' breakfast buffets.  The door lock was also way too high for him - he said that was "very bad because I can't reach it.  Yeah, I disagree with his opinion on that one.  

All said - he gave this hotel 4.5 out of 5 Goldfish!  He loved it.  Excellent view from the Booster Seat, Courtyard.