This Wednesday is El Dia del Niño. To celebrate, Andrew's work had a party for the kids this morning. There were a ton of blow up bouncers, a real live Shrek, Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny, face painting, freezies, hot dogs, pop, cakes and giant bolos (goodie bags). Eva impressively ate an entire hot dog and most of a freezie. Micah took a big fall down a bouncer slide but got back on the horse and climbed it again. Neither child would have their photo taken with Shrek. Micah clutched me extremely tightly for quite some time after seeing ole Shreky. I tried to enjoy myself but it was about the same experience for me as the recent piñata party. It definitely helped that Andrew was there but I still found it tiring and stressful. Maybe I need to change my attitude.
The kids showed good restraint with the junk food. I'm encouraged that I can actually impact their future eating habits by my attitudes and offerings. Eva had some coke but didn't finish it. She also had some marshmallows from her goodie bag and didn't finish them. She didn't push too hard for more treats from her goodie bag. We have been teaching her the word discipline lately. At first she said that she didn't like discipline, but since we have been able to point out that she has disclipline already, I think she is warming up to the concept. One occasion was today when she didn't finish all the marshmallows, and also showed kindness by offering the rest to her brother.
In the afternoon we went to the mall. We almost bought a Blackberry because it seemed like a good deal and Blackberries are so cool. ;) At the cell phone store they were doing face painting in honour of Kids Day and both kids got their faces done. Micah was so careful not to move that he wouldn't even swallow. She couldn't paint his chin because it was so wet!
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SOOOOOOOOOOOO cute! Micah's growing up so fast!
ReplyDeleteI, too, find birthday parties and other childrens' events (school parties, etc) to be exhausting and strESSful and a lot of it has to do with the food. I can't relax and the kids can't control their behaviour if they have excessive amounts of sugar, fat, and food dyes...why don't we feed our kids healthier treats? Seriously, there is always some other holiday or event or reason for people to stuff my kids full of junk. What is up?
I think also that crowds of people just bleed me dry, and I think they probably (?) do the same for you, given what I know of your personality.
I throw away most of the contents of goody bags, easter egg hunts, christmas stockings, and grandma gifts when my kids are not looking. I also try to pace myself through parties: if I plan to stay for 2 hours I'll keep an eye on the clock and count down. I'll also take a break in the bathroom or an upstairs bedroom if I need it, every 1/2 hour to 45 minuts or so. I find my kids do better if they have breaks from the crowds too, although they are getting better now that they are a bit older.
I give away most of the goodie bag treats to our housekeeper and mother's helper.
ReplyDeleteTaking breaks is a great idea. In fact, at the pinata party they were not open to leaving until we had taken a bathroom break. Then they had no problem leaving.