I love this upcoming week, the end-of-the-year, play-with-toys week. It’s lazy and fun and always a good time to do something new and a little special with your kids.
I just found a great destination to take your kids for a few hours –
My son, who turned 5 just over a week ago, had never been bowling, I hadn’t been since I was a kid.
But we went to try something new, and had a great time!
I had forgotten the nice thing about bowling: it’s not that hard
Strike! in Bethesda has ramps to help little ones roll their bowling balls, and puts up rails on lanes that have kids bowling in them so – NO GUTTER BALLS! Isn’t that brilliant?!
Like I said, we had a great time bowling and even had lunch there. They have tons of choices, good food and great prices.
And bowling a game is only $6.25.
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, especially when it’s cold outside.
PS- does anyone know of a good duckpin bowling alley in the DC Metro area?
On a recent afternoon my Little Man and I went to a rather upscale grocery store to get some very specific fruits (for a preschool project… long story, it’s not important).
As we wandered through the aisles, my son fascinated with all the unusual food, I was hit with the always-a-pleasure exclamation:
“Mommy, I have to go to the potty, REALLY BAD!” How did this happen? A moment ago he was fine. Now he was holding himself down there and wincing. Ugh. But we all know how little ones sometimes don’t bother to go when they first have the urge because other things are more important to little people than a basic human function like relieving one’s self.
“Okay, let’s look for a bathroom.” And around the next corner- awesome, a bathroom! As we quickly walked jogged to the women’s bathroom, a 20-something girl young woman bolted in front of us into the one-person room/bathroom, oblivious to the fact that a 4-year-old may not always be able to hold it as she has learned to do over her 2 decades on the planet. She saw us but figured she got there first.
Oh, how little she knows now, wait til she has kids!
So, a man working at the store saw this happen and quickly instructed us to go in the men’s bathroom, it’s just one room so, no problem. I quickly thanked him and we got in and locked the door…
My Little Guy gasped and started to giggle, he was looking at the urinal mounted on the wall and said, and I quote,
“Mommy! I love these things!” Um. Okay. And then he quickly pulled down his drawers and got up on his tip toes and relieved himself… smiling.
And then it hit me: I’ve never been in a men’s bathroom before. I looked around. Nice… same as ours, toilet, sink, mirror, paper towels, toilet paper, but with a urinal too.
“I just love the toilets on the wall!” He told me as he washed his hands in the sink.
Okay. Lesson learned. Note to self: males, no matter what age, like urinals.
It never occured to me that when he my husband takes him to the bathroom when we’re out that they go into the men’s bathroom and they have urinals in there, so that’s what he uses.
DUH.
And it never occurred to me that my 4-year-old son would have a preference for what kind of toilet he goes in.
… This has been just a random thought and observation from a boy-mom;
not having grown-up a boy myself, there are still things to learn about guys, although I am married to one too.
Well, not so much winking… but blinking. And he asked me to teach him how to wink correctly at girls… in church, no less! Click here to go over to DC Metro Moms to see my post about it…
Who DOESN’T remember The Electric Company? It was awesome. Now, you can go on YOUTUBE and watch Electric Company songs. But I warn you, it can be hard to look away. I was given this knowledge by Tech Savvy Mama doing a guest post on A Parent In Silver Spring.
First of all- Morgan Freeman is introducing the band! Morgan Freeman, the Oscar-Winner, but more importantly- the famous ‘Easy Reader’ on The Electric Company He’s introducing ‘The Sweet, Sweet Sway’… I REMEMBER THIS SONG…CRAZY!
Is the main singer also the little girl that ate too many blueberries in the original Willie Wonka?
And why did everyone in the 70’s sing on top of boxes?
My son really loves this song and a lot of other electric company songs now, thanks to Tech Savvy Mama and A Parent In Silver Spring.
My thanks to them eventhough I’m ready to poke my eyes out because I can’t get this song out of my head !!! Both of these mom blogs are fantastic resources for moms and families… and they both are fun moms too!
Bill Gates is a nerd. Warren Buffet is a nerd. Mark Cuban tries not to be, but he’s a nerd. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were high school nerds. I can’t imagine any of the Supreme Court Justices are not nerds. And Drew Carey is a nerd.
I was watching the ‘Power of 10’ a while back and Drew Carey reminded a contestant that “nerds rule the world”. My husband turned to me and said,
“Let’s encourage our Little Man to be a nerd.”
“What, by example?” I replied.
Then we talked about letting our son decide what he wants to do with activities, stress that learning is fun and making sure he doesn’t top out in high school.
Drew Carey hosts ‘The Price Is Right’ and he is hilarious (I’ve always been a big fan)! He also strikes me as an intelligent investor and I know he made gobs of money from his long-running sitcom. And Drew Carey is a nerd… a funny nerd, but still, a nerd.
Nerds can communicate an idea effectively; they are just not the most popular kids in their class. And who really cares about being popular after you turn 18 anyway?
Embrace the nerd!
They run corporate America, the Government and your local toy store.
There are worse ways for your kid to turn out.
My son and his friend were racing matchbox cars and playing with playdough and doing other 4-year-old boy things at our home, like making up rules to pretend games as they go-
“Let’s drive to vacation.”
“Okay… let’s stop for gas.”
“We don’t need to.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s pretend.”
“Ohhh… yeah, okay.”
Makes since, doesn’t it? And I have learned from my husband not to question these ‘rules’ because boys make them throughout their lives.
Then they were winding down and wanted to make maps (to drive on, of course). So I covered my coffee table (don’t worry- it’s very old and wooden) with paper and got out Magic Markers, crayons and colored pencils.
I asked my son’s friend if he wanted a Magic Marker and he stopped. Then with a glimmer in his eye and a little hesitation he asked, and I quote,
“How are they magic?”
I quickly explained to him that they aren’t magic, that’s just their name.
He was a little disappointed so I stammered how creating roads and coloring was creative and magical in a way… forget it, I had lost him, he wasn’t buying it. My son has always accepted the term because I use it. So they were both unimpressed, and went back to drawing roads.
But that got me thinking. Am I dating myself? Is ‘Magic Marker’ an old-fashioned term? Am I completely ‘old school’ and un-hip?
Wikipedia says that markers, also known as ‘Magic Markers’ were invented by Sidney Rosenthal from Richmond Hill, NY in 1952. ‘Magic Markers’ is now considered a genericized trademark, like saying Kleenex for all tissue or Chapstick for all lip balm.
Magic Marker is largely used in the US and Canada…
But I mentioned my ‘magic marker’ thoughts to a few mom friends and one from California said she had never used the term growing up.
Is this regional?
I know this isn’t rocket science or asking to comment on global warming BUT-
Am I the only mom who still refers to any markers as ‘magic markers’?
Or am I still just a novice; my eldest and only is 4, so I’m a pro about 4-year-old (boy) toys, but anything for kids older than four- I truly am not up on.
But good old Magic Markers… are they so… last century?
Everything moves so fast nowadays. Everything seems to become obsolete so quickly. The newest version of this, the latest version of that. Everything is BIGGER, and better, and ‘new and improved’. Is there some new line of Fabulously Fine and INCREDIBLY BETTER markers or pencils?
One more thing – Is there a new name for crayons that I just don’t know about ?!
I cannot believe how much my son loves cars. He knows all the brands and is now starting to memorize kinds of cars, as in a Toyota Camry vs. a Toyota Corolla.
He loves to point out the differences in cars AND trucks AND SUVs from hubcaps to tail lights. He also loves that he knows all the different logos for cars. He’s learning to read (memorize) the names on cars.
We were writing with sidewalk chalk yesterday and he spelled out- TOYOTA. He has a special affinity to Toyotas because both of his grandmothers drive Toyota Camrys. Thus- that IS his favorite car.
It’s become another learning tool and it’s fun. The part that is especially sweet is that he makes no judgment on how cool a car is in relation to its price. I don’t mention prices of cars to him. I figure he has the rest of his life to think about car prices.
Actually, I don’t mention the price of anything… he’s three. It is so fun to look at the world through his eyes- no bias; if a car has a cool trunk or headlights or door handle, he points it out and he thinks it’s cool. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Honda or a Hyundai, a Volkswagen or a Volvo, a Fiat or a Ferrari.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people could view things, events and other people and enjoy them… without bias? Could the world work that way? Maybe… I’d love to find out.
Note to self: make sure your child is really excited about something before you travel 2 hours for it.
Last summer I learned that Thomas the Tank Engine was coming to Cumberland, Maryland. Conor loves Thomas and I was excited that a full-size Thomas existed. I read that it makes stops all over the country to historical railroad stations. So, wanting to give my child a wonderful experience, I bought tickets online… and then looked at a map. Cumberland is FAR from Bethesda where we live, as in about 2 hours and 15 minutes… and that’s without stopping. Still I thought, Conor will love this, he deserves this.
We talked about it with Conor who was 2 ½ at the time and he seemed to like the idea.
We set out that Saturday and after driving for a full hour out I- 270 Conor announced to us, “I do not want to ride the train”.
My throat closed up. I couldn’t breathe. My husband gripped the steering wheel. We didn’t look back at Conor, we just looked at each other. John took a deep breath, and mouthed, ‘relax’. I took a moment and looked back at Conor and cheerily said, “We’re just going to take a look at it, I think it will be fun!”
Another hour and 15 minutes later we were in Cumberland. The railroad was great, but we were holding our breath. We walked without saying much up to Thomas and waited in line to board. I brought a small Thomas along with us that Conor played with while we waited in line. As he played with the mini version of what stood beside us, John and I just kept looking at each other and crossing our fingers.
We boarded the train, Conor was a little fidgety, but cool. The train started, “We’re on!” I thought. Thomas the Tank Engine then went about 10 minutes down the track, then stopped and then went in reverse back to the station. Honestly, Conor liked running around the little hay-bale maze afterwards much better.
FAST FORWARD TO LAST MONTH-
I got an email that a movie theater was doing a special debut of a few new Thomas episodes at 10am on a Saturday in Gaithersburg.
So, I looked at a map… THEN I bought the tickets. We went, NO traffic since it was Saturday morning. We bought popcorn, watched Thomas on the big screen and had a great time.
I learned from my rookie mistake and didn’t repeat it… Yey- Victory!
Bill Gates is a nerd. Warren Buffet is a nerd. Mark Cuban tries not to be, but he’s a nerd. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were high school nerds. I can’t imagine any of the Supreme Court Justices are not nerds. And Drew Carey is a nerd.
I was watching the ‘Power of 10’ the other night and Drew Carey reminded a contestant that “nerds rule the world”. My husband picked up on the line, just like I did and brought it up to me later.
“Let’s encourage Conor to be a nerd,” he said. “What, by example?” I thought. Then we talked about letting our son decide what he wants to do with activities, stress that learning is fun and making sure he doesn’t top out in high school.
Drew Carey is now hosting ‘Power of 10’ AND soon, ‘The Price Is Right’ and he is hilarious (I’ve always been a big fan)! He also strikes me as an intelligent investor and I know he made gobs of money from his long-running sitcom. And Drew Carey is a nerd… a funny nerd, but still, a nerd.
Nerds can communicate an idea effectively; they are just not the most popular kids in their class. And who really cares about being popular after you turn 18 anyway?
Embrace the nerd!
They run corporate America, the Government and your local toy store.
There are worse ways your kid could turn out.
Nerds rule the world.
