January 16, 2003 - 7:54 p.m.

Pain and pleasure

Ouch. I have a splitting headache! The Montessori school the two youngest kids attend was having a fundraiser at a local pizza place tonight. A percentage of the sales for the evening will be donated to the school, and there was a guy doing balloon animals and such. Even though I am not responsible for dinner for the kids, I offered to taked them, since the girls have gymnastics on Thursdays until 5:30 and piano at 7:00. They wouldn't have time to go after the parents get home at 6:30. It was actually fun, and it gave me an excuse to eat pizza. However, the restaraunt was quite loud (picture a couple dozen preschoolers running around - half of whom were boys with balloon ray guns collectively acting out just about every gender stereotype about boys I have ever heard). The balloon guy was an absolute saint who patiently answered every request for ray gun or butterfly (there really were very few kids who wanted something other than those two options - the monotony alone would have annoyed me!) while, I kid you not, a little girl successfully lassoed his head with her own balloon butterfly!

Meanwhile, I had to simultaneously watch three children who wanted to be in three different places. Luckily, we were mostly hanging out with two other families I am comfortable with, so I could leave the girls with them and their kids while I kept the eagle eye on B and tried to keep him patient while he waited for his own bit of latex weaponry. He really did a pretty good job waiting. I managed to keep him amused and occupied with a lovely, absurdly simple game we've developed. It just involves me tickling, poking, tapping, etc some part of his body with a sound effect. He mimics the pair on me, and then I repeat with a new body part and new sound. For example, I'll rub his belly and say, "grrr", then he'll copy me, or I'll push his nose and say, "dweederdee". It sounds inane, but when is a kid is about to explode into full blown temper tantrum, you let go of the personal pride. That game almost guarantees giggles, and giggles will buy time. :)

So, I am glad to be home with the kitty, curled up on my couch and watching TV. It's blissfully calm. And I am watching Food 911 on the Food Network. Yummy show. Hosted by the yummy Tyler Florence. :) Today they made an entire crab menu: crabcakes, crab salad parfaits, and she-crab soup. *drool* While I love crabcakes and their recipe sounded delicious, I was really intrigued by the parfaits. The consisted of layers of mango, crab salad, and shredded mesclun greens. They looked lovely and scrumptious (they were served in clear wine flutes). I never would have thought of pairing mango and crab, but I bet it is really tasty. Speaking of mango, I make a very good salad with baby spinach, mango, grilled chicken, tomato, red onion, and raspberries. It's a great, healthy summer meal.

today's project: a good night's sleep

musing about: the patience of balloon benders

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