I don’t have a lot of concrete memories of my childhood. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a lot of photos to solidify the memories, I’m not sure. But one of the most vivid memories I have is sitting in a line in the library at my school when I was probably in Junior High…and doing Criss-Cross Applesauce with my friends. I think every girl had similar routines they did, but it seems like they vary across regions. Either way, it was a combination of a nursery rhyme, and a back rub, all in one. I remember really wishing I could sit in front of one girl in particular in that line because she always had the BEST nails, but if I remember correctly everyone wanted to sit in front of her…so I think maybe we had to take turns or something. Either way, it’s quite a vivid memory in my mind.
I’ve used the same little song/backrub routine on my kids as just another game we play together. All of them love(d) it, of course. Who wouldn’t? It feels great! But AndyZ? Who I just introduced to it recently? Is totally addicted. I said something the other day about Ross from friends and he looked at me and said, “Mo’ Applesauce!” and came and sat down on my lap. If he hears anything even remotely sounding like “Applesauce” he freaks out. I decided to get LilZ to video it the other night. Please ignore the clutter in the background. Our bedroom is the last room in the house to get redone and is therefore the “Storage Room” for all sorts of crap.
(Yes…AndyZ is Wesley. Most of you already knew that, we’re not totally secretive about names. I’m switching to his real name for this post (mostly) as the people we met in NYC knew him as Wesley, so calling him AndyZ felt weird. And I like to be confusing.)
Let me start by saying this: Sometimes it’s hard to entertain a child in public. I know this is not shocking news, by any means, but I just wanted to put it out there. Restaurants, shopping trips, dinner parties at friend’s houses – these things all have the potential to end in disaster if you have a child in that fateful age bracket that encloses [Old Enough To Move And Destroy] and [Too Young To Understand Orders]. So, take a child in that age bracket, send him along with his Mom out of state for gatherings with other adults and it takes good planning and preparation and probably will STILL end in disaster.
So…now you can see how amazing it is that I can honestly say my overnight trip to New York was excellent. I was bracing myself for the worst case scenario but ended with one of the best trips I could have expected. I was invited by Huggies in association with their product Little Movers diappers and charity auction diapers and it was SO MUCH FUN. It was well organized and there was nothing at all pushy or distasteful. From dinner Friday in a restaurant that allowed us to let our kids practically take over an entire section (they were having a dance party, if you must know. Wesley is quite a dancer) to the hotel with crib already in place – it was a trip geared for the parents but prepared for the kids. Perfect in every way. I don’t get invited to these things often (if ever) but I hear a lot about bad experiences from other bloggers and I just want to say from the approach (the original email mentioned videos I had posted and other indicators they had read several entries from my blog) to the event itself – it was a wonderful experience.
The other bloggers participating were Torrie, Metalia, Bill, Mrs. Priss, and Nikki and as awesome as the bloggers were (GREAT!) their kids were the best part. I’ve never hung out with bloggers AND their kids before and let me tell you…that is the way to go! It’s such a relaxing environment to visit with someone because you can really be yourself when you are in Mom Mode. And also? It helps with your son is charmer. He even flirted with Angie Harmon who is a big supporter of the involved charity KaBOOM which helps build parks and play structures around the country. I think Wesley’s goal was to score a trip home with someone else for a change, and if that person happened to be a celebrity with three daughters? More awesome for him.
All in all? He was more perfect than I would have ever dared hope.
Except, of course, for the excessive pooping. I think he heard we were invited by Huggies and thought he’d honor them by dirtying as many diapers in as magnificent as a fashion as humanly possible. It was either that, or the 94lbs of guacamole he ate at dinner the night before the event.
I didn’t take hardly any pictures and just a few videos. It’s very hard to handle any sort of equipment when you’re chasing around a kid determined to explore every dangerous spot he can find. Some people managed it…Metalia got a great one of me and Wes here. And Torrie took one of Angie Harmon taking a call on Wes’s phone here.
Here are two videos I took. The first features a few other blogger babies in the ball pit at the Huggies play area. Pardon the transition as I actually put him in the ball pit…I’m not a videographer by any means so it may induce sudden onset of motion sickness.
And this one shows the bridge in the same play area that someone LOVED because he kept falling down on it. I have a funnier video of him busting and me laughing my ass off, but – you know – I’m trying to give the illusion of being a responsible parent. So you’ll get this one instead.
I don’t have much time as my kids need to be fed and watered…but I wanted to share this video out so those of you who don’t do twitter or flickr can see it. NikkiZ brought home real cinnamon yesterday and was so proud of it. They’ve been learning about skin the last few weeks and this week it’s morphed into lessons about bark and wood. (BTW – she has the best preschool teacher I’ve ever known. EVER.) Somehow this prompted handing out cinnamon sticks…THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER. I tried to video her excitement but the second she was on camera the pressure was too great. Before the camera was out? She was saying over and over, “It’s real cimmon and you can LOOK it…only LOOOK it (which I later realized meant “lick”) – but DO NOT BITE IT. It is made from WOOD. And BARK. And it is MINE!” But when I turned on the camera? I had to drag the information out of her. But the best part? Is the end when I finally give AndyZ (who is fussing the whole time I’m trying to talk to his sister) some camera time. He hams it up quite well for a moment to end the video with a very cute farewell.
You had to know that eventually I’d jump on Linda’s question bandwagon, right? And I did – but I recorded it in an effort to (a) be lazy and (b) document my daughter’s insanity. What resulted was such a funny video I decided I’d transcribe it for those of you unable to see vimeo. But then I remembered reason (a) I’m lazy. And I don’t have the energy. So you will have to just trust me: It’s hilarious! She air-punches someone in the face! And says I’m the best at putting people in timeout!
