Just got back from a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. I can't tell if that place has really gone down hill or if I'm romanticizing my childhood experiences there. I remember it being a mecca of fun and excitement -- it was the place to have a birthday. (Unless you were my friend who insisted the short-lived ShowBiz Pizza was far, far superior to Chuck E. Cheese's.) Now, I find the place kinda depressing. I joked on Facebook that it's a casino for kids, but that's really what its like. They used to have tubes and nets and pits, so that kids could run and jump and climb, but at the handful of locations I've been to relative recently these funplex type of toys are gone (or drastically scaled back), and it's just all arcade games. And a lot of them aren't even typical video games; they are literally gaming machines where you feed in money trying to get tickets to redeem for prizes. And "redeem" is a very generous term -- "get swindled" is more accurate. We played games for about an hour and earned 26 tickets, which got us two tootsie rolls (the medium sized ones) and four stickers -- and that's only because the worker behind the counter let us round up to 30. The last time I was there a woman said to me, "I like this because it teaches kids they have to save up if they want to by something. It's a good lesson," to which I replied, "the only lesson I hope my sons take away from this is what a ripoff these types of places are." I got a big laugh out of her friend.
Now, I can't be too curmudgeonly. It was a birthday party, at which we were guests, and the entire bill was footed by the hosts -- we even got a prepaid game card -- so I'm very appreciative we got to go. I just don't love Chuck E. Cheese's is all. It definitely was nice to have an activity for the kids though. S had to go to Côte d'Ivoire for work, so I have both kids by myself for a week. During the work week it's not too bad (other than my evening commute is worse and I miss my Krav Maga classes), but on the weekend it can get tough to entertain them, so knocking out a few hours with something is always welcome.
The party was a fine little party too. It was for a kid at Lil' S1's new school, and I didn't even know him or his parents. So, I got to meet them which was nice. Although, another problem with Chuck E. Cheese's is that the kids are all off in their own separate worlds playing games, and I had to keep close tabs on Lil' S2, so there wasn't much chance to congregate. I didn't get more than, like, ten minutes to talk with the grown-ups. Whatever, though, like I said, it's nice that Lil' S1 is making friends (another parent told me her son was a "fan" of his, which I thought was sweet); I'm thankful we were invited (and they let Lil' S2 tag along, as well). Plus, the kids seemed to enjoy it (it's pizza, cake, and video games, after all), and they didn't throw a fit when it was time to leave, even though we left on the early side because I didn't want Lil' S2 to go down for his nap too late.
Speaking of which, he's been doing pretty well without a paci. He hasn't asked for one in a week or so. But it's just harder to get him down now. The paci triggered something in his brain that would make him fall asleep. Now, you have to lay down in bed with him for 15 minutes, pretending to be asleep yourself, as he babbles nonsense (which is super cute, even given the circumstances) and drives a toy truck around his mattress. When you are counting on that nap time to do things it's difficult to do while he's up, then that 15 minutes is a big deal. Oh well, it could be worse. He could not nap at all. I'm not looking forward to that day.
Well, gotta go -- work tomorrow and whatnot. I didn't even have time to get to any "real" problems like the decline of our country into outright kleptocracy. Well, I'm sure I'll have more to say on that another time.
Until next time...
(PS -- I started this entry in the afternoon and finished it in the evening, in case you were wondering why I said I just got back from Chuck E. Cheese's at the beginning of it and then mentioned having to work tomorrow at the end. I doubt anybody was reading it that closely, but if you were, that's the explanation.)
Now, I can't be too curmudgeonly. It was a birthday party, at which we were guests, and the entire bill was footed by the hosts -- we even got a prepaid game card -- so I'm very appreciative we got to go. I just don't love Chuck E. Cheese's is all. It definitely was nice to have an activity for the kids though. S had to go to Côte d'Ivoire for work, so I have both kids by myself for a week. During the work week it's not too bad (other than my evening commute is worse and I miss my Krav Maga classes), but on the weekend it can get tough to entertain them, so knocking out a few hours with something is always welcome.
The party was a fine little party too. It was for a kid at Lil' S1's new school, and I didn't even know him or his parents. So, I got to meet them which was nice. Although, another problem with Chuck E. Cheese's is that the kids are all off in their own separate worlds playing games, and I had to keep close tabs on Lil' S2, so there wasn't much chance to congregate. I didn't get more than, like, ten minutes to talk with the grown-ups. Whatever, though, like I said, it's nice that Lil' S1 is making friends (another parent told me her son was a "fan" of his, which I thought was sweet); I'm thankful we were invited (and they let Lil' S2 tag along, as well). Plus, the kids seemed to enjoy it (it's pizza, cake, and video games, after all), and they didn't throw a fit when it was time to leave, even though we left on the early side because I didn't want Lil' S2 to go down for his nap too late.
Speaking of which, he's been doing pretty well without a paci. He hasn't asked for one in a week or so. But it's just harder to get him down now. The paci triggered something in his brain that would make him fall asleep. Now, you have to lay down in bed with him for 15 minutes, pretending to be asleep yourself, as he babbles nonsense (which is super cute, even given the circumstances) and drives a toy truck around his mattress. When you are counting on that nap time to do things it's difficult to do while he's up, then that 15 minutes is a big deal. Oh well, it could be worse. He could not nap at all. I'm not looking forward to that day.
Well, gotta go -- work tomorrow and whatnot. I didn't even have time to get to any "real" problems like the decline of our country into outright kleptocracy. Well, I'm sure I'll have more to say on that another time.
Until next time...
(PS -- I started this entry in the afternoon and finished it in the evening, in case you were wondering why I said I just got back from Chuck E. Cheese's at the beginning of it and then mentioned having to work tomorrow at the end. I doubt anybody was reading it that closely, but if you were, that's the explanation.)
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