Fun Fair and Parents and Memory

Today's big adventure was the Brown Deer Grade School Fun Fair. It was held in the middle school which is only three minutes away, so Sasha thought it would be great to take the kids - and I agreed.

The only Fun Fair I remember is one that was held at St. Robert's over in Shorewood. And I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. It was like State Fair, but without all the creepy guys! Well even my 30+ year old memory couldn't stack up to what they did at the Brown Deer event.

They had three different rooms of games, each aimed at a slightly different age range. It helped the little ones keep from getting trampled by the big kids, which was very wise. Alya really enjoyed the Duck Pond game, while Marcus got a kick out of the fishing game in the smallest kids room. While the library had bowling setup in the shelves and a football toss as well. And the gym had a bounce castle, bake sale, and quarter-a-ticket raffle.

In fact, the quarter was the over arching theme. Twenty-five cents got a play at any of the games, a ticket for the raffle, and two snagged a bag of popcorn. Cheap fun that all went toward helping the school raise money for lots of extra activities.

In addition, Alya completely chomped down on cotton candy - we'll have to watch out for that in the future. Alya's exact words after Sasha took a small piece were, "Actually, I'm going to eat the rest of this." Lots of sugar lead to a big nap for the squirrel when the crash came, which would have been better if Marcus napped as well. But our little man just couldn't settle down. I suspect the cat nap he took on my shoulder at the Fun Fair was just enough to keep him from completely going down.

Looking forward to next year, as this was a way cool event!

***

One thing that came to mind tonight while doing dishes (and which also led to this posting) was my relationship with my friend's parents.

It's odd because as a kid you think it's nice and easy to call your friend's parents "Mom" and "Dad". Although, I will admit that I preferred not to use any name at all, because I didn't get that comfortable with most parent. But then there the exceptions.

An early memory is sitting at the kitchen table at Eric Lenz's house on Newhall eating pizza. Eric's Mom had set us up for lunch and it was a simple meal, but it was so cool. This was an event that happened frequently, but that house was in some ways a larger constant than my own. Oh, did I mention that I was either six or seven at the time?

But at any rate, Eric's Mom, Barbara, took me in probably more often than I can remember, but that is probably part of the reason why I could call her Mom, although I probably didn't do it very often.

Heh. I still remember the Ziggy cartoon that was taped up in the kitchen. Ziggy was walking his pet duck and a construction worker was yelling, "Duck!" to which Ziggy replied, "Don't worry, he's friendly." Naturally, he didn't see the wrecking ball headed straight toward him.

***

The other friend's mom that was on that same level was David C's Mom. Now this jumps from First Grade to Junior Year of high school, but she was a parent that was not only there for all of David's friends, but just was the awesome of mom-hood.

While sleepovers were a thing of the past by the time I met Beverly C, she was "Mom" pretty much out the gate. Admittedly, part of this came from the fact that in high school we travelled in packs and I was late to joining this group, but while I wasn't spending the night, there were several dinners at David's house and it often was the meeting point where activites would begin.

Meals were a little more formal in high school, but that kitchen will always be remembered as a place where I was welcome as more than just one of Dack's friends. And Beverly really made it another home for me.

***

"But, Jon," you might ask, "Were there any extra Dad's in your childhood?"

The closest would be Peter Santi's father, Joseph. I really didn't spend a lot of time with him, but the one trip I took to EAA fly-in in Oshkosh just sticks in my head. I just felt a part of this family trip - although it was very much like a fishing trip with the guys, but without the beer - and the invite was very welcome.

And it kind of helps that the only other time I had been to the EAA fly-in was with my own father.

***

Alya and Marcus already have had sleepovers at several family member's houses without us, but family parents are not the same as friend's parents. I don't know if I would ever be referred to as "Dad", although I'm sure Sasha will be called "Mom" by some of the kids' friends. Whether it happens or not, I'll be fine with it.

But I had best figure out something, becuase "Mr. BSer" doesn't quite have the ring I'm looking for.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Kicking the Diaper Habit

It's really funny, we've got Marcus on the potty training route, but both he and Alya still use sippy cups. It's like we're scared of letting them put milk or juice on the carpet, but pee and poo? No problem!

For those of you who do not see the kids, they have moved from cute little ones, to cute, active, often defiant, not-quite-so-little ones. Alya is nearly at the height where she is not supposed to play at the Bayshore kids area anymore. Mind, we were there tonight and saw an 8 year old (at least) hanging out with his little brother on the equipment. Such is life in America.

Anyway, the two of them are getting really good at not listening/following directions these days. Marcus prefers straight up defiance, "I don't like that!" while Alya attempts to make a deal or deflect what you asked her to do.

"Alya, go potty before bed."

"But you told me to pick out pj's."

"And you did that, now go potty before putting them on."

"But you told me to pick out pj's." [different, slightly whiny-er inflection]

[sigh]

But it's amazing how funny they can be as well.

Tonight we ate at Potbelly, and neither of them liked their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - because they were too messy. As soon as I wrapped them up in a napkin for holding purposes, they were okay. But we were going through napkins like crazy. So when I handed one to Alya for her messy hands, she took it and draped it over her head! No good reason, just left it there as we all laughed. She is a goof.

Meanwhile, I had the "crazed parent" moment of the night. Marcus ate a quarter of his half a sandwich before a lump of peanut butter derailed his interest. Since Potbelly does sundaes, they have bananas right there in the store. So I took them both up to the counter to get one for them. Well, it was just one guy back there - manager or shift lead - and the other two where outta sight, so we were waiting. And waiting. And the kids were getting antsy. So when I could grab his attention, I just said, "I need a banana for the kids." and held out my card. (Yeah, I'm one of those no-cash-having kind of guys.) He said it was 53 cents and minimum was a dollar. So I stated I had no cash (like a North Shore jerk) and started walking away. He called out, just take one on me. So I did.

Three minutes later, once Marcus was eating said banana.
([crack! Peel-peel-peel. pass to Marcus] "I want to peel it!" [mentally curse for forgetting he peels his own and attempt to fool him that I resealed it] [succeed in fooling 2-year-old son])
I realized we had been carrying Marcus's Spider-man lunch box with us. The one that was filled will all the coins from a mini-change jar. Probably only three or four bucks in there, but that's plenty for a 53 cent banana.

So we went back to the guy, thanked him for the free banana, and then had Marcus pay for it since his lunchbox held the cash after all.

Anyway, I'm off to play a little video games before bed.

Be seeing you,

Jon