Yesterday was a fun, busy, and tiring day.  My family went to choir practice and two birthday parties.  The first party was for an eight-year-old child and the second was for a one-year-old… Good times.  We took lots of pics, but most didn’t come out well enough to post here.  I was able to observe the interactions of many of the children– and that’s what sparked this blog post.

Top 5 Ways To Crash A Toddler Birthday Party:

1.  Have a cold.  That’s right.  Cough, sneeze, and have a runny nose.  Cough and sneeze around the food, on all the other babies, don’t cover your mouth, and let your mommy forget to wipe your nose.

By now, you all know how near-germaphobish I am.  There was a boy at the party who needed to be quarantined.  He had it B-A-D!

2.  Stinky in your diaper.  There’s nothing like smelling old poop in a baby’s diaper.  Even though most places are kid-friendly these days and have changing tables, it’s better to just let it sit in your diaper for aroma’s sake.

FYI–The Little Gym had two bathrooms, both equipped with changing tables.

3.   Be the only child who doesn’t want to participate.

Well, I’m ashamed to say this was my daughter.  I was sure she’d be excited, since the party was at The Little Gym.  I thought she would enjoy bouncing around on the inflated machine, but noooo.  She was the only one crying and wanting to get off. 

4.   Tell the birthday girl you just came for the food.  This probably works even better if you “forget” to take a gift.

I don’t know of a child (or parent) who is this insensitive and rude.  It just seemed like a good way to crash a party.

5.  Dive in to the birthday girl’s cake before she gets a chance to blow out her candle and taste it herself.  After all, she doesn’t REALLY need to eat all that, does she?

The image that came to mind with this one was funny to me.  Thankfully, this didn’t happen at the birthday party.  The birthday girl ate her cake in peace and the guests had yummy slices from another cake.

Anyone been to a birthday party and witnessed someone crash it?  Have you or your little one crashed a party?  Do tell.

I had another girls day out today.  This one was a little different than the last one I wrote about though.

It was 80-degrees and full of sunshine.  First, we went to the park near my house and walked it twice.  The birds were cawing crazily as we walked briskly and talked about life.  That was about two miles of exercise, so we had to kill it with some Sonic food.

We didn’t feel like getting out of the car at the time.  We just ordered our food and ate it in the car with the windows down.  We took our time.  No rush.  No worries.  We just enjoyed more conversation and pleasant company.

Then, it was time to do some shopping.  We got my husband some tennis shoes and some gifts for the two birthday girls who are having parties tomorrow.

It was a good day.

No, it wasn’t spent at a spa or at the movies, but my girl and I enjoyed our day out just the same.  Sure, I had to do all the driving… most of the talking… and I had to pay for everything… but it was cool. 

You figured out who my partner in crime was today?  Yep.  It was Dasha, my sixteen-month-old daughter.

  (eating fries)

Thanks, Dasha, for a wonderful day out!!!

Feeling a little stressed out?  As Whoopie says at the end of each show on “The View”– “Take some time and enjoy the view…”

If you’re already tired of being in the house with your family and you’re not a Black Friday, Sultry Saturday, or Sassy Sunday shopper, then how about a movie?  My husband and I went to see “Australia” today.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars. 

I won’t spoil the movie for you.  I’ll just let you know there’s a little something for everyone–action, suspense, mysticism, romance, and adventure.  It was able to roller-coaster me through various emotions during the two hours and forty-five minutes of film:  sadness, anger, joy, hope, sentimentality…

It was able to do this largely because of the excellent performances by Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman (hot and rugged!), Brandon Walters (that adorable aboriginal boy who played Nullah) and David Wenham (also appeared with Hugh Jackman in “Van Helsing”).

The movie is about love and compassion… bigotry and hate… fear and revenge… strength and courage… war and restlessness… pride and ignorance… determination and survival… and eventually, progress.  The beautiful Australian outback scenery doesn’t disappoint either.

 It’s rated PG-13 to entertain your whole family.  I would get there early since it just hit the theatres yesterday.  Enjoy!

I’ve really been enjoying the discussion regarding daycare and babysitting.  However, since today is Oct. 31st, better known as Halloween, I will take a break from that ongoing discussion to explore tonight’s family fun.

I haven’t actually been trick-or-treating since I was 6, and that was my one and only time.  After that, my family always went to a “Harvest Festival” at church on Oct. 31st.  It was sort of a way to enjoy dressing up without actually celebrating Halloween.  The church always had some great games and activities, biblical-themed costume contests, and goodie bags.  Good times.

Well, that was a long time ago.  I haven’t been to church on Oct. 31st in a looong time (not that I’m THAT old, but you know what I mean).  It wasn’t an issue either.  I was in college…then grad school…then law school…so I spent most of those Halloween nights at downtown parties.  The last one of those I went to was in 2005.  My husband (then boyfriend) and I had a blast:

We were dressed as ancient (or mythological ones) Greeks.  I made the costumes out of sheets–very inexpensive.

Now that we have a daughter, the whole thing about what do we do on Oct. 31st has resurfaced.  We’ve decided that going door-to-door asking for candy is not for us.   We still enjoy dressing up and spending time together as a family so I searched for alternatives.

I came across:

  McDonald’s Halloween Mansion at the Children’s Museum of Houston, tonight from 5-8 (http://www.cmhouston.org).   Parents and children are encouraged to don freaky costumes and dance to the hauntingly hip tunes of DJ Beetlejuice as the ghoul times roll. The museum has been transformed into a place for ghastly good times in trick-or-treating, experimenting with Martin goo, and hand-making monster mosaics.

If you’re in Houston, TX, this is a good suggestion for you, otherwise, you may want to contact your local Children’s Musuem to see if they are doing the same thing.  At any rate, I hope that everyone has a FUN and SAFE evening.

Anyone have another great alternative you’d like to share?

  As the primary caregiver for my daughter (aka “mom”), I have to be creative in order to keep her busy everyday all day long.  We sing, dance, read, bathe, eat, clean…you know the routine.  Sometimes it becomes boring, monotonous, and a real drag.  I can tell she’s bored when she starts climbing up on all the furniture, throwing all the books from the shelves, or constantly pulling on my leg to pick her up only to crawl back down two seconds later.  Good stuff.

I get bored too or at least tired of the same four walls.  I can’t say that I ever run out of things to do in the house, but sometimes it’s just good to get out.  One of my favorite outings is a trip to the zoo.  So, that’s where we went yesterday.

The last time we went, she was six months old and slept the whole time.  She’s still too young to fully appreciate it, but this is why it works:

1)  It’s an opportunity to teach and learn.  This is the perfect time to point out:  “lion”, “monkey”, “bat”, and “fish” and repeat in Spanish “leo’n”, “mono”, “palo”, and “pescado” or “red”, “blue”, and “green”or “meow”, “baaa”, and “mooooo”.  Instead of reading her book about farm animals, she can actually see them up close.

2)  Baby will sleep good later.  She was so worn out afterward, that when she went to bed at 8 pm, she didn’t get up until 10:30 this morning.  Awesome!

3 )  It’s an opportunity to bond with another mother.  I suppose we could have gone to the zoo by ourselves, but why not share this time with another parent who’s eager to get out of the house?  This was a great time to catch up with my friend, Vanezza, whose two children enjoyed themselves as well.  We talked and laughed about the “joys” of motherhood and she kept me straight on my Spanish.

4)  You can take more pictures for the scrapbook that everyone is just going to love later.

5)  Hubbie will have a better “what I did today” story than the usual one that consists of diaper-changing, she-just-wouldn’t-stay-still complaints, and accusatory stares because he came home late again after lolly-gagging when you really needed a break.

6)  You can get some exercise while pushing the stroller, carrying baby in your sling, or running behind the child that thinks the gorilla resembles your pet dog.

So, if you’re bored in the house, get out.  Go to the zoo.