May 21 2009

A visit to the theater

Category: Family Fun

Every Tuesday at 10 a.m. a local theater runs "Billion Dollar Babies," a mom and tot movie showing. Nathan, Lucie, and I attended a showing of "Ice Age: The Meltdown" with my moms club. All our kids had the day off from school, so there was a big crowd of kids ranging from infants to middle schoolers.

Usually I take my kids to regular G/PG rated movie showings and to IMAX at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They're usually well behaved, and quietly stay in their seats, eating popcorn, and watching the flick. So I had not taken advantage of special mom and kid showings before. I'm glad I did because it was wonderfully family friendly and easy to do with both kids. There's nothing like being surrounded by families, too. I knew they didn't think l was a crazed, maniac mom when I kept yelling at the kids to stop messing with the video games in the lobby and get a move on. The other moms were all doing it, too!

Being the first showing of the day meant the theater was fairly clean. Also, they kept the sound turned down to a normal level, which I'd appreciate even if I didn't have my kids with me. The lights were kept on a little, which came in handy when Lucie dropped her "buddies" (her stuffed animals) and I had to retrieve them -- several times -- off the floor. Instead of blindly reaching around and touching goodness knows what, I could see what I was trying to pick up.

I had thought keeping the lights on was going to bother me. However, I really liked that I could see my kids as they moved to the front row, and then got up 15 minutes later to sit in the back row with the older kids. Instead of chasing them down, I calmly sat there enjoying the movie and eating all of my friend's popcorn while I kept an eye on them.

Like at any movie outing, some of the moms spent a small fortune on popcorn and candy. I planned ahead and stopped off at the grocery store for a box of fruit snacks, which quickly disappeared. I still bought a $4 soda, which I shared with the kids. Not a smart idea, because Nathan got up three times to go to the bathroom. For once this wasn't an issue since everyone else's kids were doing that, too. I let Nathan go to the bathroom by himself since one of my friends was usually out there with one of their preschoolers. Nothing like feeling safe in a theater filled with families and helpful staff members.

Knowing that this is stress relieving haven for me, my family, and several of our friends, I'm planning on going back during school vacations. Hollywood, are you listening?

May 5 2009

Walk the walk

Category: Family Fun

Hands on hips, Lucie sashays into the kitchen and announces, "I'm a hottie." She pivots, and walks away, her hips exaggeratedly swaying from side to side.

I stand there mouth agape, wondering where she learned that maneuver. Could it be from Jenny and Sadie, our friends' daughters who are 7 and 10? No, there hasn't been a meeting of The Secret Girls Club (as Paul likes to call them) in many weeks.

Then I realized it's all Tyra Banks fault.

I'm enthralled by her reality show "America's Next Top Model." I find it fascinating to see how photographers and models work together and how stylists combine clothing, hair styling, and makeup. I only watch it because of my interest in the fashion industry and not the contestant dramatics. Really, I swear.

One evening I made the mistake of watching "Top Model" with Paul and the kids in the room. I vaguely remember him and Nathan discussing which girls they thought were hotties. Lucie must have picked up on that and the models doing their runway walks. Ever a mimic, she perfected her catwalk in a few minutes and showed it off the following evening.

Lucie's "hottie walk" is cute because she's three. If she were older, I'd have a serious talk with her about the media's impact on girls' and women's body image. Nevertheless, for now "Top Model" will be mama's guilty pleasure after the kids are in bed.

Apr 29 2009

The propaganda song

Category: Family Fun

My husband has a knack for making up songs. Usually he uses someone else's tune, and substitutes his own (usually obscene) lyrics. One of my favorites is his version of Bruce Springsteen's "Backstreets." Instead of singing, "hiding on the backstreets," he replaces it with "gimme some string cheese." (Sing along -- it works.)

The kids love to sing one of his more original tunes, "Every Day is Daddy's Day." Sung to the tune of "London Bridge Goes Falling Down," it goes like this:

Every day is daddy's day
Daddy's day
Daddy's day

Every day is daddy's day
'Cause daddy's number one!

I call it the Daddy Propaganda Song. Nathan and Lucie burst into it frequently, most often in the car when I'm a captive audience. It drives me crazy, much to their amusement.

And yes, there is a mommy version of the song using the same tune. It goes like this:

We love mommy, yes we do!
Yes we do. Yes we do.

We love mommy, yes we do!
'Cause she does what we want her to!

Luckily, they don't sing this song too much. If they did, they'd probably go to bed without supper. All of them, including their dad.