Play date

Did anyone catch the comment from my friend Kim after my video-post on Zoey's Celebration Tea? She was watching with her son, Brady, who caught sight of Zoey on-stage and yelled "there's Zoey...she my girlfriend!" Brady is exactly one month older than Zoey, and I met his mom at the hospital-sponsored Mommy & Me group that ended up bonding a good seven or eight of us Mommies for life. I am so thankful to have these women, and their little ones, in my life! Without their love and support, I'd be hosed. Truly.

Anyway, Kim and her husband Jamie had a wedding to attend in Lakewood today, and since it's so close to Puyallup, they dropped Brady and his younger brother, Colby, off with me and Zoey for part of the day. SO MUCH FUN. As you can plainly see from the following photos:

A darling picture for their future wedding, don't you agree?

Or maybe this one?

Nothing ends well in this picture. Believe me.

Everyone for lunch: Brady, Colby, Zoey, Finley and Avelyn

There was a young lady who swallowed a screw

Zoey has a little doggy coat hook in her bedroom that has been falling off the wall for weeks now. One of those things you keep meaning to fix...and then you don't. So, one night last week, as we were getting ready for bed, Zoey informs me she just popped the screw from the wall in her mouth and swallowed it.

Me: You did not. You DID NOT swallow that screw. Did you??

Zoey: Yup. I ate it. It's in my tummy now, and you'll never see it again!

She seemed inordinately proud of herself for swallowing a small, but pointy, piece of metal. Luckily, Abby was visiting from Colorado, and after a brief conference with her in the living room, we picked calling our mom over a trip to the ER.

Mom seemed reasonably well assured that the small screw would pass through Zoey's system without causing much harm. Which was all I needed to hear. Because really, who wants to visit Urgent Care at 8 p.m. if they don't have to? Then she asked to speak to her granddaughter.

Zoey: Hi Oma! Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah! I swallowed it! It's in my tummy now!

(pause for Oma's obvious question...why did you eat a screw, Zoey?)

Zoey: Because I was hungry!

Which is pretty much what you DON'T want your kid telling the ER doctor when you take them in at 8 p.m. to assess the metal in their stomach. Thank God she didn't get her hands on something larger and more dangerous.

So. As we were tucking in for bed, we re-visited the idea that putting anything besides food in our mouth is just NOT, you know, a great idea. That Mommy has food in the cupboards to eat if anyone happens to be hungry. I covered nothing-in-the-ears-and-nose too, for good measure.

Oh, and we also touched on the fact that Mommy could, if she wanted to (but she doesn't) find that screw again in a few days. In fact, everything that goes in does inevitably come back out the other end.

She was totally horrified by this information and looked at me like I was just making this shit up to scare her.

So anyway, we're one week post-screw-swallowing and, with no signs of bowel perforation, I think we're safe. I'll be keeping a closer eye on my tool box and the kitchen knives, though, JUST IN CASE.

The Celebration Tea

Brace yourself. It's two minutes and 42 seconds of sheer cuteness.

Traffic lessons from a preschooler

Scene: My car, cruising down East Main. We are three cars back at a stop light that has just turned green, and I watch a very tiny old lady in a pickup truck zip straight through a red light.

HOOOOOOONNKKKKKK.

Zoey: What's that beeping, Mommy?

Me: Oh. That lady over there ran through a red light. She almost caused an accident.

Zoey: What?!? Red lights mean stop! I am going to call her on my phone.

(I watch in the rear view mirror as she pulls her faux cell phone from her pink plastic purse and dials a random number furiously.)

Zoey: Wady? (Lady?) Did you know you just went through a red light? Yeah. We saw you. Red means stop. You can't go until the light is green...did you just forget that? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well. I don't know about that. Red is stop. Green is go. That's what my Mommy and Daddy said. Uh-huh.

(I am trying, somewhat successfully, not to laugh out loud as I listen to this little old lady supposedly getting schooled by my three year old.)

Zoey: (Snapping her phone shut in disgust.) Well. Mommy, guess what? She didn't even say sorry! She says she won't do a time-out! That is so naughty...

Me: Um. Well. Everyone makes mistakes, right?

Consider yourself reprimanded, wady.

How many do you weigh?

Scene: Abby's bathroom. Where there is a scale. A SCALE! Mommy, what is that thing? Can I stand on it? I CAN?!?

Zoey: Mommy, how many do I weigh?

Me: 40 pounds. Nice, bug!

Zoey: Okay, your turn Mommy. Stand on here...now don't move...don't hold on to anything! You'll mess it up!

Me: Okay, okay. I'm standing still. I'm glad we don't have one of these in our bathroom. Mommy is not a fan of the scale.

Zoey: Mommy, your numbers are one...eeiigghhttt....

Me: ZOEY. That is not an eight. It is a THREE.

Zoey: Oops. Three. Right, Mommy!

This is an improvement over last week, when we were playing 'check-up' and Zoey had me hop up on the faux scale of her imagination, and promptly declared that I weigh 648 pounds. Then, to make me feel better, she followed up with a 'Good job, Mommy! You're growing nicely!'

Thanks, bug.

Denver: Phase Three

Hard to believe this is our last day in Colorado! And that I have to get back on an airplane with Zoey this evening!

This has really been an awesome trip overall. However, Zoey is very ready to go home, and after too many nights of her staying up way too late (and being way too tired and cranky because of it), there's a part of me that's ready to get her back on her routine.

I think the best part of it all has been the relaxing I've been able to do while I've been here. I can't tell you the last time I spent so much time just playing at the park with my kid, without worrying about the things that aren't getting done at home while we're busy having fun. It has also been good for my soul to have so much time off work. I love my job (seriously, LOVE) but...40 hours a week, week after week, can really wear you down. Relaxed Mommy has made a comeback this week, because if there was something we wanted to do today but couldn't? We'll do it tomorrow. Don't worry. Shedding the nagging feeling of 'I need to cram as much as possible in to my day because tomorrow it's back to work!' has been one big fat freaking relief.

Yesterday, while Abby had to go to a class in the morning, Zoey and I strolled through downtown Colorado Springs, stopping at the library and the park (of course). Later on, we hit up the local Target, where Zoey blessed us by taking a nap in her stroller so Abby and I could try on pretty dresses and wander the hair care aisle. We came home and had yummy homemade chili with Abby's friend Audrey. We danced to Lady GaGa in the livingroom and watched an episode of Parenthood. We stayed up until 11:00. I'm sure I'll pay for Zoey's late night later on today.

So, today! I'm the only one up and moving so far, and I plan on catching up on all the blogs I love so much but never have time to read. We're going to head to the Garden of the Gods later and climb some rocks, then (I'm certain) head back to the park, before piling in the car to drive to the Denver Airport. Zoey may be ready to head home, but I could definitely stay another week.

Denver: Phase Two (Or: Why We Won't Trust Maggie to Make Our Restaurant Selection Again)

Yesterday was so close to perfect. I mean, it even started out with a good hair day. So you knew early on it was going to rock.

First of all, the weather started out gorgeous, giving us an awesome view of the RockyMountains from downtown Colorado Springs, where my sister lives. We walked to breakfast, then to the park. Denver is about an hour's drive from Abby's house, and I figured we'd need to get some wiggles out before packing up in the car. We had debated what to do with our day...the zoo? Or the Children's Museum? Finally we left it up to Zoey to choose, and she picked the Children's Museum. We were slightly disappointed, since the weather looked so cooperative...wouldn't she rather be outside? No. Turns out she made a good choice, because as we headed for Denver (lattes and apple juice in hand), the clouds rolled in and so did the wind.

The Denver Children's Museum was awesome. Made even more awesome by some random guy who handed us two one-dollar passes as we walked in the door. Two tickets for one dollar apiece? Instead of $7.50? Thanks! Zoey loved climbing all over the real fire truck, and exploring the room that looked like one gigantic tree. (Totally cute: they had woodland creature costumes for the kids to wear. Zoey was the cutest rat you've ever seen. Seriously.)

Two and a half hours later, we were off to The Tattered Cover, a super-cool old bookstore in downtown Denver. Now, I feel like I should mention a couple things here, before proceeding with the story. One, Abby and I were relying completely on Maggie (Abby's GPS gizmo) to navigate us through the somewhat confusing streets of downtown Denver. Two, Denver is a pretty nice city, reminds me a lot of Seattle and Portland, but the people? Are snotty. Most of them anyway. Even Maggie sounded annoyed with us a majority of the time as she directed us down side streets.

The bookstore was incredible and my hope for Zoey falling asleep in the stroller was completely unrealistic. BUT, she had a fabulous time, too. We holed up in the children's room and took turns wandering out in to the adult realm while the other stayed put with Zoey on her lap, reading Berenstain Bears or Dora. We found a copy of The Berenstain Bears Slumber Party. It was a win-win trip for everyone.

So, that brought us to about 6 p.m. Our original plan had been to drive back to Colorado Springs and pick up some pizza, but since we were in downtown Denver, we thought why not consult Mighty Maggie for some directions on a nearby pizza joint? We scrolled through her list of available pizza options and found two that looked promising (and by 'promising', I mean cheap and kid-friendly): a place called Pudgies and a local Pagliacci's. We headed for Pudgies first, since it was closest, and found it to be located in some random food court in the middle of downtown Denver. Not what we were looking for. Thanks, Maggie. On to Pagliacci's.

Now, in Seattle, Pagliacci's is a family-friendly pizza chain with affordable food that isn't bad. A good choice for a crew including a three year old. Naturally, that's what we thought we were in for in downtown Denver. Maybe Maggie's whole leading-us-to-a-food-court-first-off should have been a clue that Maggie, Abby and I were not on the same page for dinner plans. It took some maneuvering, but soon we pulled in to a quiet looking location and parked the car.

We never should have gotten out.

Here's what we walked in to: the nicest, most fancy-pants Italian restaurant I've ever seen. And, as an added bonus, the lobby was completely empty, leaving us face to face with a very handsome young Italian host, who inquired 'Three for dinner?'

I froze. This was SO not a place for a kid. Or two grown-ups who look like ragged tourists, either. I was wearing shorts and schlumpy tennis shoes. This was a place for dressy clothes, quiet conversations. I turned to Abby, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

Me: (squeaky voice) Um, what do you think, Abby?

Abby: (who has always been one to get us in trouble, no matter how old we are, apparently.) Oh yeah. This is awesome. Table for three, please.

We were led through a very, very quiet dining room filled with very, very snooty looking Denverites who clearly wanted to know who the hell had let us in. We got a table in the back corner (thankfully), two tables down from what looked like an entire family celebrating a birthday. Four generations of snooty Denverites. AWESOME.

I was sweating as we sat down, hissing to Zoey that this was a restaurant for very, VERY good manners AND NO YELLING, but Abby looked like this was the funniest thing that had happened in ages.

Abby: (perusing the menu) $16.50 for a plate of pasta? Awesome. Totally awesome. Dinner's on Auntie. Order what you want. Hey, you want the wine list? You look like you need it.

A quiet, demure looking busgirl stopped by our table to fill our pretty, delicate looking water glasses. She reached across the aisle to fill Zoey's glass. Mistake. 'I already have one', Zoey informed her, triumphantly raising her ratty looking throwaway-plastic-mismatched-sippy-cup in the air. Did I mention she was loud? Like, loud in the way that only preschoolers can be loud?'And I don't like ice.'

Maybe I would have a look at that wine list, after all.

The dinner that I thought would turn in to a total nightmare ended up being one of the funniest meals ever. Zoey crawled under the table to sit by her beloved Auntie and I basically got to sit back and watch Auntie work her magic with my child. The thing that's great about Abby is she treats Zoey exactly as she would anyone else--adults, children, whatever. She expects great behavior, and Zoey typically delivers for her. They made pretend spaghetti while we waited for our food. She let Zoey slather as much butter as she wanted on her bread, and she let her use the knife herself. She taught my child how to slurp spaghetti noodles. They shared an ice cream sundae. It was great.

So, with the exception of Maggie steering us in the wrong direction for dinner, it was an awesome day. Completely relaxing, no pressure to be anywhere at any certain time, no nagging thoughts of 'oh, I should be doing laundry/unloading the dishwasher/vacuuming'. Pretty much what I came here for.