maydecnc

In all seriousness, I don’t understand the fascination my daughter has with making messes. One of her favorite things to do lately is to take whatever she is eating and rub it into her hair. What does one do in that situation? After the evening meal, I immediately put her into the bathtub in order to hose off the remnants of her dinner. I have hope that she will outgrow it; I have not seen an adult of even average intelligence do that in a “normal” situation. (Since this is supposed to be a “family life” blog, I will not go into what some adults might do with food in order to get their groove on.)

We’re in the mode of trying to be careful how to consume our resources - changing from incandescents to CFLs, turning off lights, changing aerators on bathroom fixtures, and so on - and it is a challenge to find ways to entertain our daughter that are not overly wasteful. One thing I noticed is that we get a ridiculous amount of catalogs in the mail, so I will be writing to various companies to request that our contact information be removed from their mailing lists. In the meantime, I found a way to make all the catalogs fun for her.

It’s called “paperwad basketball”.

No, I don’t let her play with dirty trashcans. That would be wrong. Instead, after a trip to the local fast food chicken sandwich establishment (not a Sunday trip, mind you… that would be fruitless!), we were left with one of those paper drink carriers. Instead of putting it immediately into the recycling bin, I thought it might have potential as a toy. So, it sat in her toy box (a plastic laundry basket) for a few days while I thought of a use for it.

As I was reading through a catalog one night, I had the idea. I ripped out pages of the catalog and wadded them up into balls. Since they are printed on glossy paper, they don’t leave ink all over the hands. Then, I placed the drink carrier some distance away from where I intended to sit. When the carrier was in place, I practiced my free throw shooting. When I missed a shot, I’d groan loudly in dismay. When I made one, I cheered for myself.

She laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. I had never seen her get that worked up about throwing trash around, ever!

So, if you’re looking for cheap entertainment for your toddler, try paperwad basketball. And ham it up as much as you can. You might be surprised by your child’s reaction.

How many times do you check the adhesive label on your newly delivered pizza box to make sure it is, in fact, your pizza? Particularly before you sign that all-important credit card receipt? I thought so.

Busy people that we are, last night I ordered a pizza and Coke from an establishment that shall remain nameless. Okay, here’s a hint: old men like to play games with them, and some people like to set them up just to knock them down. My husband was on his way home to grab a bite and then go back to work, and our daughter and I had just come back from day care. (Never mind that, during the ride home, she spilled a tall, cool glass of water all over herself and had to be changed as soon as we arrived…) Anyway, usually this establishment does a wonderful job of not only delivering what we order, but also delivering it in a timely manner without several calls to the effect of, “Where are you?” Last night, something must have been in the air…

When the delivery arrived, my husband volunteered to sign for it since our daughter was screaming for me, so to quiet her down, I agreed. He signed, carried in the food and drink, and opened the box. “Why did you order pepperoni?”

(Of course it’s my fault, right?)

I replied, “I didn’t order pepperoni. Did you check the label to see if it was ours?”

Then, he examines the credit card receipt he signed. Of course it is not ours.

So, some poor schmuck in a nearby hotel got our tasty creation, and we were stuck with his because of the short time that my husband had to gobble down his dinner and head back out the door to work. Nice. The goal today? Go back to the delivery tracker page and complain, and hope my stomach settles.