What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Parents throwing a big party for a one-year-old are just looking for an excuse to throw a party and get out of the house.

To put this into perspective, my Sister has two nannies, a cook, a cleaning crew, and yard service.

She doesn't lift a finger around the house, and she certainly isn't cooped up.

But hey, her baby, her life, her decisions.

Got it...we - for better or for worse - are a little more "hands on" with our children and our little bungalow, and we revel in any excuse to have company or get out of the house.

[Luke]

This is why you will likely be a great parent. Also, is the pizza a Chuck E. Cheese that awful? I have not been there since I was a small child, and I remember it fondly. (My tastes have likely changed a bit since then.)

Thank you kindly sir.

I remember loving Chuck E Cheese pizza, probably because I got to eat pizza.

A few years ago my wife bought a Little Caesar's peperoni pizza for $5 and said "This tastes exactly like Chuck E Cheese pizza". I thought she may had blown a gasket as the pizza was, well, pretty bad and I remember loving "CEC" pizza.

derail time:

Ever unintentionally squirt food or drink out your nose? I was at a Chuck E Cheese birthday party where I laughed so hard I had cherry pie coming out of my nose. My Father quipped "He's losing his brains again" which made me squirt more cherry pie out of my nose. It was gross, but I got applause.




edit* I gotcha PGamer. I would/will be the same way.

I honestly believe my Sister is doing a huge disservice to herself by not being more hands on. I have friends with children of the same age who are more hands on and their children seem to be developing much quicker.

Everyone of my niece's toys is like an acid trip; way too much stimulation. My buddy's baby could stand on her own at two months (kind of freaky isn't it?) and she has one toy, a ball. My friend's kid is also constantly in contact with people, animals, and nature.

My niece sits in something that resembles what the blue elephant in Return of the Jedi plays all day.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Everyone of my niece's toys is like an acid trip; way too much stimulation. My buddy's baby could stand on her own at two months (kind of freaky isn't it?) and she has one toy, a ball. My friend's kid is also constantly in contact with people, animals, and nature.

My niece sits in something that resembles what the blue elephant in Return of the Jedi plays all day.

They develop at different rates. My children are both pretty "athletic" by infant standards, and my sone could roll over the week he was born. (Standing at two months is a bit freaky, however.) Our neighbors have a daughter who could not - or would not - crawl until she was slightly over a year old. All of them (except my son, who is only 11 months) can now run, walk, jump and do everything you would expect from a toddler. As my parents put it with respect to my daughter, "She'll have everything sorted out by the time she heads off to school." It seems like forever when you are waiting for your baby to talk, walk, or potty train, but when you look back on it, it actually happens very quickly (and I have not observed any difference between a child that could walk at eight months and a child that could walk 18 months). How soon a baby talks, walks, or does anything is just something parents brag about, but it is generally not reflective of a good (or bad) parenting and has no ultimate effect on the child's development as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, we keep our children in constant contact with people, animals (i.e., our two dogs) and nature (i.e., we let them get dirty and don't bathe them that often) because recent studies indicate that doing so lowers the probability of a child developing allergies later in life (and also because we are apparently too lazy to give our children baths more than once or twice a week).

Also, I am very familiar with the "blue elephant in Reurn of the Jedi" aparatus, and although my daugher never had one, she absolutely loves playing in it. (One of the families in our neighborhood has one.) Even today, at 3 years old (i.e., 2 years past the intended age and well over the weight limit), it is the first thing she goes for when we visit a family that has one.

[gtmtnbiker]

I can't justify driving over ten hours to say "hi" and "bye".

When was the last time you visited them? Maybe you could make it an overnight trip and stay at their house to spend more time? If you visited them recently, I would make some good excuse why you can't go. Yeah, 10 hours of driving sucks.

[gtmtnbiker]

They develop at different rates. My children are both pretty "athletic" by infant standards, and my sone could roll over the week he was born. (Standing at two months is a bit freaky, however.) Our neighbors have a daughter who could not - or would not - crawl until she was slightly over a year old. All of them (except my son, who is only 11 months) can now run, walk, jump and do everything you would expect from a toddler. As my parents put it with respect to my daughter, "She'll have everything sorted out by the time she heads off to school." It seems like forever when you are waiting for your baby to talk, walk, or potty train, but when you look back on it, it actually happens very quickly (and I have not observed any difference between a child that could walk at eight months and a child that could walk 18 months). How soon a baby talks, walks, or does anything is just something parents brag about, but it is generally not reflective of a good (or bad) parenting and has no ultimate effect on the child's development as far as I can tell.

Very true. My oldest daughter didn't start walking until 17 months but was reading chapter books at 3. She's never going to be an athlete but she's pretty good cyclist. Each kid will have things they'll be good at and things they're not good at.

[fastbilly1]

My niece sits in something that resembles what the blue elephant in Return of the Jedi plays all day.

His name is Max Rebo and its a keyboard. Come on Luke.

[Luke]

His name is Max Rebo and its a keyboard. Come on Luke.

Max Rebo is like Artax; I know the name but can't always remember it.

-1 Nerd point for Luke

I doubt Max Rebo plays simply a "keyboard". I need to check my Star Wars Encyclopedia.

+1 Nerd point for Luke

ProGamer, all I can say is that you sound like a great parent. With that in mind, I think anyone who comments on raising a kid should, ya know, raise a kid. My small points on my Sister are just observations on how I would do things differently. Criticizing how someone raises their child is some serious business, and all criticism is usually based on a moral compass.


Wow. Where did that come from?

[prfsnl_gmr]

ProGamer, all I can say is that you sound like a great parent.

Thanks! I am doing my best.

[fastbilly1]

I doubt Max Rebo plays simply a "keyboard". I need to check my Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Fine fine, a Red Ball Jet Keyboard...and technically that is is stage name. I cant remember his real name - something Ortolan

Ok so maybe Ive been reading up on StarWars recently. But Max Rebo was one of my favorite characters from ROTJ. But here is some oddball trivia for you. The guy who plays Droopy McCool - the odd fella that plays the clarinet looking device in Max Rebos band, was portrayed by Deep Roy. Who was also in Neverending Story, Return to Oz, and so many more horror inducing movies...

[Luke]

Fine fine, a Red Ball Jet Keyboard...and technically that is is stage name.

Did the new editions put any cgi on Max? I liked his jerky long puppet nose, and could see Lucas wanting to "fix" it.