The new 'Denver Kids Eat Free' has moved!

Hey! If you are reading this, you are on my old blog site. I have moved it over to my new website:

Denver Kid's Eat Free (or cheap!)

This list is current as of November 2009.

I'd love to see you there! (Even though I am still unpacking and the place is a bit of a mess and not all cute and decorated just yet...)

Maybe our new dog isn't as bad as the last one

Our family had a little 'a-ha!' moment over the weekend. We were watching my sister's dog (who was our previous dog) for a few days, and it suddenly occurred to me that our new dog maybe isn't such a bad fit for us. (Though, I stand on my claim that we are not actually pet peeps.)

Old dog: racing up and down the stairs, sounding like a herd of elephants. Irr.i.tating. Especially in the middle of the night.
New dog: silently creeps around.

Old dog: always lies down where you are likely to walk, especially at night. Black dog. No bueno. Many sweary words when you trip over said dog.
New dog: most likely sleeping on daughter's bed. If not, is light colored enough to notice at 2 a.m. Less sweary words.

Old dog: follows you incessantly like a toddler. Irr.i.tating.
New dog: hey, where is the dog? (likely on daughter's bed)

Old dog: black fur, shedding breed, despite daily brushing.
New dog: do we still have a dog brush? Cleverly matched her to our carpet color. :P

So, when I start to think uncharitable thoughts about our New Dog, I'll just borrow the Old Dog. That should buy the New Dog a bit more time before I find her compulsive desire to play fetch ALL THE TIME too irr.i.tating.

Terrific Tip #1: How to help toddlers who are afraid of thunder

Terrific Tips! On Tuesday! Cause it starts with a 'T'!

Have a toddler or preschooler who is afraid of thunder? We happened upon this little trick the other night when our (nearly) 3 year-old became very frightened of the thunder (again). In trying to explain to her that thunder is just a loud sound and that loud sounds can't hurt you (we thought she was a bit young to talk about sound waves), I clapped.

After that, every time we started to hear thunder, we all clapped and cheered and the thunder would stop (or, so it seemed to the toddler). She was too busy having fun and laughing at us all being silly to be afraid. We just had to start clapping as soon as we started to hear it and she would laugh and clap along. Much better then the crying and shrieking that the thunder was 'scary'.

Anyway, a little tip to help your child. If anyone has a solution to thunderstorms RIGHT AT BEDTIME, let me know. [Ever wonder WHY thunder makes noise? Click here for a good explanation or here for a short video.]

Homeschool--when you don't go 'back-to-school'

We decided to homeschool this year ('cause, according to one snarky comment from a reader, I am a bored stay-at-home-mom, hahahahahha!). I am writing about our journey this first year over at Examiner.com.

Come see this peek into our family's transition from attending a great public school to the amazing (though sometimes odd) journey to homeschooling. No denim jumpers required.

How to properly deceive your kid with a luvey twin switch-a-roo

You know when your child latches on to that ONE VERY SPECIAL blanket or toy? The kind they cannot sleep without? The ONE VERY SPECIAL thing that helps them when all else fails?

You are gonna need a back up. Trust me. (Sunshine, at age 10, still talks about the blanket that somehow got LOST at a rest stop in Arizona from when she was 4). (A cotton yellow Carter’s baby blanket, edged in white and yellow gingham, little bunny in the corner, circa 1999, ya know, in case you ever find one).

When you’re kid selects that ONE VERY SPECIAL item, IMMEDIATELY go buy another one. If you delay, the store will STOP selling them, and the manufacturer will stop making them. Most likely about 12 hours before you finally get to the store to get the spare.

And then you’ll be forced to comb eBay for HOURS, trying to find it. I remember with Sunshine and her special puppy, the store didn’t sell them anymore. I walked into some Christmas craft fair about a year later and a lady had the exact dog as a decoration on her display. I nearly ploughed through the whole thing to get the dog. I would have offered her anything for it. Thankfully, she did sell it to me and I began the great “luvey switch-out”.

Which is where our story begins today and why I am sitting on a stuffed animal to get it to look slightly flattened like it’s luvey twin for daughter #3. She had originally picked another stuffed animal for her luvey, but it was cruelly stolen by a piece of poop human being when it fell out of her stroller un-noticed (for the record, I was not the POD-parent on duty at the time. Ahem). We found them still being sold on Amazon, but we didn’t remember exactly what size it was and ordered a slightly smaller version. Well, Lady Bug could tell immediately and that toy was set aside. She chose a new luvey (that she named Sparky) and I bought a back up right away.

Here’s where things started to go wrong. When the box arrived with the backup Sparky, I hid Original Sparky (OS) and whipped out Backup Sparky (BS-um, yes). I forgot the first CRITICAL step in the great luvey switch-out—to make them actually look like twins.

1) You MUST secretly inspect the OS and the BS, altering their appearances to match. That meant snipping some mouth and foot threads, squishing, and generally roughing it up. Clearly, the longer your child has had the OS, the more work it will take to make the BS look like it. When I handed Lady Bug the BS she said, “Who is this?” “Look, it’s Sparky! All washed!” I said enthusiastically. To which she said, “That’s not Sparky.” And laughed and walked off. I should mention she was only 2.5yrs when this transpired. Kids are smart little boogers.
2) Try washing them together so they get a similar smell and texture. Also, rubbing BS on concrete seemed to help. Rough up edges, duplicate stains—bring your best con game. Feel it where your child usually carries it and see if you need to pay special attention to squishing or roughing up that part so it feels the same.
3) I have had more success switching luvey’s in the middle of the night. Switch them out every few weeks if you can, so they age about the same, performing the same visual inspection.
4) YOU.MUST.HIDE.THE.BACKUP very carefully!! I had one kid find the backup and while she stood there perplexed as to why her luvey wasn’t where she had left it, I sprinted to the original and stuffed it in my clothes. Yeah, that wasn’t pretty.
5) DO.NOT.EVER.ADMIT that the backup is NOT the original. Or your child will never trust you again. You can see why getting the toys or blankets to look the same is critical—you don’t want to lie to your child, so make sure the question never comes up.

Well, I’m off to stomp on a stuffed dog and smoosh it into the pavement for that well-loved look.

**Kid's Eat Free in Denver--UPDATED!**

Don't you hate out-of-date websites? Especially ones with the lure of actual good info? Me, too!! Turn's out, restaurants close all the dang time and the original list is totally out-dated. Sorry!

I have faithfully scoured the web to find these. I have called every restaurant to double-check that they participate in a Kid's Eat Free night. This is a work in progress, but I thought I'd at least post Monday Kid's Eat Free (and cheap) for ya'll to get started.

PLEASE call first before you go or count on any of these deals. Restaurants change management all the time. And even though you might think I rock, they never call me to tell me if they mess with the Kid's Eat Free night.

DISCLAIMER
I have helpfully supplied the website so you can call the location you want to visit to VERIFY the info here. They ALL have some kind of restriction (certain hours or with adult meal purchase or if you do the chicken dance, etc). As the date of this post, I have called to check that the restaurants listed do have a Kids Eat Free (or cheap) night.

Also, if you check the website (ya know, to get the number so you can call them to verify the deets), there are oftentimes coupons or deals on the website. This is called positive reinforcement.

MONDAY

Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant

Buffalo Wild Wings (Kids eat for 99 cents)

Cinzzetti’s (and Tuesday)

IHOP (every night)

Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks (Boulder) (and Tuesday)

Gunther Toody’s

La Estrellita Mexican Restaurant

Casa Grande Mexican Food
(no website, but this link will give you directions and the phone number)

Yard House

Texas Roadhouse
(*Note, not all locations participate, so double-check!)

Brothers BBQ (and Tuesday)

Fuddrucker's (99 cent kid's meals)

More to come. Please email me or post to the comments if you know of other restaurants or to keep the list current!

How you, too, can do a bad job potty-training your child and still make it!

I hadn’t meant to potty-train Lady Bug. Well, let me re-state that, I hadn’t meant to *re-start* potty-training her before our big road trip this week. Let me catch you up…

We started potty-training way back in December when she was just shy of being 2.5. I actually had no interest in potty-training her. In fact, I had high hopes that between me and her two sisters, she’d just figure it out on her own. HA! But she was displaying all the “readiness” signs and I figured that a “good mom” would put aside her own personal feelings of horror at the prospect of having to spend the next 6 months sitting on the edge of the tub, cheering on every bowel production with a little song, candy and stickers. Maybe occasional confetti and a parade…Clearly, I needed the “good mom” points.

So, I plied the child with copious beverages, put her in a sweater and naky buns and she and I spent a week locked in the hardwood portions of our home. While she had lots of accidents, she seemed to be getting it. Finally, on Day 4, I couldn’t stand being trapped in the house and we ventured out. This expanded my experience to spending LOTS of time dashing to bathrooms with “false alarms”, only to get to wipe out the shopping cart or wash the car seat later. Grr.

Months later, we were still working on it (mostly because I am a total pansy and caved to those lovely, lovely absorbent-and-easy-to-clean Pull-ups far too often). The day she stood there, and peed on the bathroom floor as I hurried to set her potty seat up finally un-did me. I needed to take a break or take up drinking for her and I to survive this experience.

So we took a break. For about two months. I figured after our travel this summer, I’d start again (with Preschool looming as the incentive for me to finally get it done). Then, a few weeks ago, I awoke with a start: vacation Bible school (i.e., a chance for the children to learn about Jesus and the mom’s to get a bit of a break!) started the next week. But she had to be potty-trained to go…this would be the first year all three girls could go....you see where I was going with this. When her chubby little feet hit the floor that morning, I whipped off her sagging diaper and told her that we were “all done diapers”.

Aside from a new morbid fear of automatic flushing toilets (Sorry! That was her screaming like I was killing her at Sam’s last week! Screaming kid echoes reach all the way to the snack aisle…as an FYI), we’re doing remarkably well. Apparently, all I needed was a little incentive.

Next up: How to survive a potty-training child and travel, without Pullups or alcohol…I think.

How (exactly) did we end up with a dog?

If you’ve seen my Twitter updates, you may have noticed that we, the kinda anti-pet family, now have a dog.

And, it’s going fairly well, considering we are all so woefully lazy when it comes to pets. Our previous dog, who shed copious clumps of black hair everywhere, is happily ensconced with my sister. Her dog of many years died, and she wanted to ask for our shedding dog about the time I was ready to get rid of said shedding dog, so it all worked out. That was almost 2 years ago. We have baby-stepped our way back into the whole pet thing, cause it seems like people with 3 kids, a minivan and a house with a big yard in the ‘burbs should have a dog. In fact, it’s possible that it is in my homeowner’s association contract.

The girls (the same two who would’ve let their hamster’s and fish die of starvation if not for parental intervention) have begged for a pet for months. Sunshine even did a PowerPoint presentation (no joke) and research on the best dog for a family with a) no actual tolerance for all the trouble of a pet and b) no plan at all of paying hundreds of dollars for a pet. Then, Darling started working really late. And even as a grown up, our house seems to make lots of creepy noises when the big strong man of the house is gone. Then, there were a rash of break-ins in our area.

So, we capitulated. Though I did have some really strict parameters:
--NO puppies! There is no way I have time to train a puppy. And I totally know that no one else in the family will, despite their pleadings. The next living thing in our home to be potty trained will be the toddler.

--Dog MUST match the carpet. I almost took a carpet sample with us.

--Dog MUST be of a low(ish) shedding type. Really anything after the shedding black dog would be better. (As an fyi—German Shepherds shed year-round, as in ALL THE TIME, just so you can’t say no one told you. ‘Cause no one told us.)

--Not too needy. I already have a toddler, 2 other kids and a life to deal with. Must be able to entertain themselves and not stalk me from room to room.

Phew, well. I bet you’re thinking we should just get a stuffed animal. You’re right, but they won’t bark when someone’s at the door.

We decided to rescue a dog from the animal shelter. Darling watched the website and the cute pictures for a few weeks and one Sunday he said we should go look. I clarified that he actually wanted to walk out with a dog that day, cause there really was no way 3 little girls were going to go see a bunch of cute dogs and not get one. He said he was ready, so off we went. (PSA—the Denver Dumb Friends League intake nearly 100 pets everyday. Amazing.)

It cracked me up that the girls automatically walked past all the kennels with black-haired dogs. Good girls. After much ado, we brought home a yellow lab mix. She has pooped on the carpet twice, barfed once, makes a bee-line for the door every time it is open, gets into the trash can, and doesn’t like to be left alone.In addition to matching the carpet, she is gentle with the girls, loves chasing a ball and barked at the UPS guy. Life is a bit hairier and droolier, but good. So far.

An open letter to The Disney Channel

Dear decision makers at The Disney Channel:

I have waited a few weeks to see if you would come to your senses but apparently, that is not going to happen.

I don't know if you realize it, but you have replaced Little Einsteins--a show about smart, adventurous kids who expose preschoolers to music and art, with Oso--a show about a chubby bear who is so dim as to require everything in his life to be broken down into 3 simple steps. To a jaunty tune.

Why? Is this your idea of a joke? An expression about how you view American children?

Oh, and I'm sure you didn't know so I'll tell you that Little Einsteins is Lady Bug's favorite show and it was the only way this momma could get a full shower.

So, you have pretty much jacked up my life.

Thanks so much,
a (smelly) mom in the 'burbs

No good pics of the mom, or how to crop a kid out of your Facebook picture

What is up with having no good pictures of just the mom? I recently spent waaaay too long trying to find a good shot of JUST ME. I searched all the way back to 2004 before I found one where you could see my whole face and that I could crop the kids out of. Is using a picture that is 5 years old considered cheating? I did have good hair that day...

But seriously--what is up with that? Doesn't anyone want pictures of me? Me all by myself? Looking vaguely cute?

Apparently not.

But, you know, this isn't just about me. I mean, it kinda is, but I noticed a trend as I searched years worth of pictures. Before we had kids, Darling took pictures of me. Pretty good ones. It seems that after Sunshine arrived, he lost the ability to take a decent shot of me. Either that, or I did actually look that bad. Hmm.

Once Pixie was of an age to have an opinion, she was in most every shot along with her sister. Poor little thing doesn't have that many shots of just her. When Lady Bug arrived on scene, good luck getting a shot of ANYTHING that doesn't include a kid streaking into the picture.

To be fair, I didn't notice that many pictures of just Darling by himself (except the one I tried to take for his passport--which they couldn't use because the background wasn't white, as an FYI). He always appears in pictures with a child climbing or dangling off of him. Though, to be fair, those are a little easier to crop out.

Mommas--you have to hand the camera to someone else. And when they point it at you, don't act like your soul is being stolen away. I have about 30 shots of the hand and swinging hair of my SIL, but not her actual face. Ya know, 100 years from now, she is going to ask why no one has any pictures of her.

Get some girlfriends together and have a photoshoot. You (and your family, and your Facebook page) need some good pictures of you. Just you. Your entire face. And not a face that has the side of someone else's face cropped out.

Just sayin'.