Lessons I Learned from "Mommy and Me"

First a pop quiz. Can you tell who is Harper and who is Hadley?






I just threw these pictures in here because I didn't take the camera along to our outing today and I know better than to post something without pictures.

Today the girls and I went to something called "Mommy and Me." These events are every other Thursday and basically it's a chance for radio stations, hair salons, real estate offices, baby stores, etc. to advertise their stuff under an umbrella of handing out candy and doing sing song activities. Of course I knew this going in, but it was a beautiful day today and I figured it'd be something fun to do. Here is what I learned:

• When someone is dressed up as a bunny rabbit, expect a large crowd. Also expect that kids will be either attacking/hugging the bunny rabbit or screaming for their mothers and yet not moving an inch or taking their eyes off of the bunny rabbit so that there is no getting around the crowd.
• If you are ever thinking of dressing up as a bunny rabbit and hanging out around kids, you should be more considered about the mothers than their children. This poor guy had so many mothers insisting they take pictures of him with their kids, you'd think he was Peter Rabbit himself. The ladies aka "bodyguards" finally had to say, "Mr. Rabbit needs to take a 10 minute break." Still the cameras flashed.
• There is not a more dangerous place to drive than in a parking lot filled with mothers. I believe I can safely state this as a fact because I've driven in both Chicago as well as Washington D.C., including the Dupont Circle, and I would drive either of those before I'd deal with what I dealt with today. My advice - park as far away from the event as you can.
• If there is a moonbounce and your child is older than 12months, assume that she will want to go on it. We stood in line for 30 minutes - Hadley was an angel, and Harper was quite content playing with her hands - so Hadley could jump for 5 minutes.....do you have a guess as to where this is going?
• There is nothing more fun than watching your kid enjoy herself. I would stand in line for 90 minutes just to hear Hadley laugh and watch her jump on the moonbounce again.
• Going into a moonbounce to get a child that doesn't want to come out is harder than you'd think. You've got the unstable surface for one thing. Plus, a kid pushing you away and screaming, "No Mommy! I still want to jump!" Add to that it's just darn embarrassing.

This won't be the last event that we go to where I'll be rolling my eyes and wondering what I got myself into. I'm sure my parents did the same thing at the number of Drill Team competitions they had to attend. Seems like a lot of silliness. But I can assure you, Mom and Dad, that the way Hadley felt jumping on the moonbounce today was the same way I felt being on Drill Team. So hopefully all of it was worth it. At least you didn't have to drag me off the court kicking and screaming, "No Mommy and Daddy! I still want to dance!"