Friday, October 25, 2013

Major Blowout at Chick-Fil-A

I saw that look of disgruntled determination on A.'s face towards the end of our meal. My suspicions were confirmed when, about a minute later, Dave said he smelled something awful.

These things always happen when you don't have an extra diaper with you--or wipes, don't they? We were getting a little too confident about our parenting skills and left home without our diaper bag.  We have since been humbled.

I don't want to be too gross or graphic, but there are reasons I love cloth diapers and one of them is the nice bit of elastic at the top that keeps "stuff" contained. Unfortunately, A. wasn't wearing a cloth diaper.

Dave and I split up. I volunteered to clean the highchair while he took A. to the bathroom. And now I know why people use those cart and highchair cover things. I am not a germaphobe in the least, so I never understood them before. But now I realize they are appealing because you never know what was there before you. It could have been an A. explosion. (I cleaned it up really well and used those Purell moist towelette things, but still.)

Dave said he was dry-heaving in the bathroom and I thought I might lose my waffle fries. That's how bad it was.

I sent E. in to the men's bathroom with a handful of more moist towelettes. That was my contribution. Then I sat at a nearby table and waited. I saw one man open the door, take one step inside, and hightail it back out. No joke. A good while later, Dave and A. came out, A. wearing nothing but Dave's humongous sweater. Then we did the walk of shame through the rest of the restaurant. Not only did our kid have the most disgusting diaper of his life, but we were also super unprepared. That's right teenyboppers, this is what you have to look forward to. I'd like to think we were a walking advertisement for birth control.

Monday, October 21, 2013

The Silver Pony by Lynd Ward: A Book Review

When I first checked out The Silver Pony from the library, I thought the librarian had made a mistake. The huge book wasn't something I had requested for myself and it looked too big for E. But I was wrong; I had requested it, as per the recommendation of Jim Trelease in The Read Aloud Handbook. And I'm so glad I did; it turned out to be a beautiful story in pictures.

Although it seems massive for a preschooler, it didn't take us long to read. (I guess it depends on how much text you make up to go along with the pictures.) But don't be daunted if you don't feel like you are super creative when it comes to wordless books, the pictures tell the story so well, you won't have to dig deep to find words to add. The pictures depict a young farm boy who gets whisks away from the farm by a silver pony. Together, they go on a grand adventure, see the world, and meet new people. The illustrations are ones you won't want to miss.

One caveat: There is a point in the story where the young boy gets spanked by his father. Be prepared to answer questions about that form of discipline if you read this book with your child.

I don't know about you, but I could use an an adventure with a silver pony today.