You're only taking ONE of your children?

This past Wednesday we took my 2 1/2 year old to see Elmo Makes Music (Sesame Street Live).  It is the first time we have taken him to anything like that and the day turned out to be great.

Much to my dad's disbelief we decided to leave my daughter, who is 1 1/2, at home.  She obviously does not have a long attention span yet and I was worried that she would get too fussy sitting in the same spot.  I didn't want to ruin the day for my son who I knew would enjoy it.  Which he did.  The first half of the show he just sat there in awe...his little mouth hung open and I don't think he ever blinked.  He is very recently potty trained so I was worried he might have an accident since he was so preoccupied.  But they did an intermission and I told him Elmo doesn't come back on until all the kids go potty so he quickly agreed. 

The second half of the show he got over the amazement a little and started singing and bopping around.  Of course that is about the time they came around with those @#$%  $10 Elmo balloons (balloons are his favorite!).  He asked for one and I told him maybe later and that was the end of it believe it or not.

After the show my husband and I took him out to lunch to a "real" restaurant and he did great; it was actually a relaxing meal for once! 

We took advantage of our day off and having a sitter so we did a quick grocery trip too.  My son went on a scavenger hunt for certain fruits and veggies with his dad and then helped dad bag all the groceries.  No whining, no tantrums, and for once I left the store in a good mood!

I had so much fun with him and I think he really enjoyed the special attention from both parents that day. 

Sharing my day with some friends, they couldn't believe we would ditch my daughter like that.  I couldn't believe it!  I guess they think you always should do everything together...all the kids or no kids.  I am an only child so I never had to deal with that but it seems to me that each child deserves alone time with their parents time to time right?  In fact, I am considering working something out with our sitter this summer that one day a week she will just watch 1 child while I do something with the other and alternate each week. 

The way I look at it is that each child has their own personality and own interests so, especially when they get older, they are going to need/want different things from us as parents.

So what do you think?  Do you ever separate your kids for outings?