Fit for a Princess

Last weekend Paul and Tyler went camping with the Cub Scouts, so Alyssa and I stayed home to have a Girls Princess Weekend! I wanted to make the weekend special since it would just be the two of us.

On Saturday morning, we went down to Coconut Point to do some shopping -- the Disney store was, of course, about the only store Alyssa had any interest in visiting, so we did that first!

Since the Princess and the Frog movie was about to be released on DVD, the store was abuzz with activity. I bought her the Princess Tiana doll, which made her day! Then, we went to my favorite store, Ann Taylor Loft, where I happened to have a gift card to spend! Yippee!

After that we spent some time playing at the playground, and while we were there, a Disney store employee came over and handed us a flyer for a Princess and the Frog party they were having that day. Wow! Just our luck -- a princess party on our princess weekend! We hung around long enough to go to the party, where they had the girls dance to Princess and the Frog music videos and made a Princess and the Frog craft. Too cute!

After that, we stopped at another playground, before dressing up for a visit to Ladies Night at my hair salon. Alyssa was the hit of the party! She looked so pretty in her black party dress, and she brought her Princess Tiana doll, which was a fun topic of conversation for all the ladies! This made her feel like a princess even more!

The next morning, I made a royal breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, and we wore our tiaras all morning! Everything we referred to was "royal!" We had a ball roll playing!

What a wonderful way to spend a girls weekend -- I think we'll both always remember it!

It's all in the utensil

The other night at dinner, Alyssa became difficult. She wanted me to feed her. This is what she does when she is tired or when she is not thrilled about what is being served.

She’s four years old. I should not have to be feeding her – isn’t that supposed to stop when they’re babies???

But, every once in a while I’ll give in, just to get the job done – that’s a mistake, I know! Well, that night, I was not in the mood to feed her. I tried to be creative with my words, I tried to bribe her with dessert, but nothing was working. She kept whining, crying, and reaching across the table for me to help her.

I was out of ideas, so I got up and went into the kitchen to start cleaning up. I left her there with Tyler and Paul. Next thing I know, I hear commotion and whispering at the table. Something very exciting was going on! I pretended not to see what it was, because I got the gist I wasn’t supposed to. But, I knew. I peeked!

Next thing I know, Alyssa has finished her dinner – thanks to her Daddy’s creativity! He got her to eat by giving her chopsticks instead of a fork! Too funny! She loved the idea and went wild with it!

I was so grateful for Paul’s creativity – it was just what she (and I ) needed at that moment!

The Stroller Incident

While at EPCOT last weekend, we rented a double stroller for the kids. At dinnertime, we decided on a little café in Morocco and went inside. We left the stroller right outside the restaurant, but when we came back, the stroller was gone.

At first, we weren’t too concerned – sometimes Disney cast members move them around. So, we looked around and asked a couple of cast members, but it appeared the stroller was MIA. Huh. Who would steal a stroller at Disney?

It wasn’t a big deal as far as we were concerned – we didn’t leave anything personal in it, and it wasn’t our stroller. We knew the stroller wouldn’t leave EPCOT, so it wouldn’t be a loss to Disney. It was just a minor inconvenience.

We kept a light-hearted attitude with the kids and didn’t get upset about it – we want them to learn to take things in stride and save getting all worked up for the important things in life.

We did take the opportunity, though, to educate the kids about theft. This was their first experience with it. We just explained that not everyone is honest. Sometimes people do things that are less than caring to other people. They were disappointed that someone took “our” stroller, but we pointed out that nothing was lost to us. All we had to do was go pick up another stroller.

Tyler, Alyssa and I waited on a sidewalk while Paul went to get a new stroller. When he came back, the kids hopped in and Paul put down the sun canopy, since it was dark. There happened to be two Disney cast members standing next to us, and one of them said, “Oh my gosh, how did you do that?”

So, Paul showed her how to put it down – it is actually a hidden latch underneath the stroller that is not marked in any way. There’s no way you would know it was there – unless you knew. And, it is apparently not something Disney teaches its cast members, because these two were not the first ones we have shown.

Paul continued with the cast member and asked if she wanted to try it herself, just so she would know exactly how it works for future guests. She tried it and was very appreciative we took the time to show her how it works.

Paul and I realized as we were walking away that we would never have been able to help her in that way if someone hadn’t walked off with our stroller. We were sure to share that with the kids and teach them that something good can always come out of something “bad.” Life is what you make it, right?

On a funny note, the nametag we put on the first stroller was Tylyss. When we got the second stroller, Paul named it Tylyss II. Just another way to laugh about the incident!

Breakin’ the Rules

Paul and I had been planning on taking the kids up to Disney this weekend for about a month. As luck would have it, I received a very big assignment from a client that made me reconsider going – I thought maybe we should stay home, and I would work over the weekend instead, to make sure I met my deadline with as little last minute stress as possible.

I actually spoke with my life coach about this, and we talked about my priorities in life. My family is my biggest priority. Although I love what I do, my family comes before work. Being reminded of this helped me to decide that we should still go on our trip as planned.

As my life coach and I were talking, she said, “What would it be like if you left all of your work behind at home? What if you left all of the ‘rules’ of life behind for the weekend?” Wow! I loved that idea! I was sure if I put my energy into having a fun, “rule-free” weekend with Paul and the kids that I would be motivated to work hard the following week on my project.

So, as we started driving up to Orlando, I pulled out a piece of paper and pen and started talking to the kids about rules. I started on a really boring note, without telling them where I was going with the idea. I was asking them about what rules we have at home that they have to follow. They listed things like washing hands, brushing teeth, going to bed on time, etc.

Next, I told them my idea about leaving the rules behind this weekend and just having fun! They LOVED it, so we talked about which rules we could break. This wasn’t going to be a “no holds barred,” no rules at all weekend, but we wanted to try and let them break as many as possible. Here are a few examples:

At lunch that day, we decided not to enforce our limit on dessert – they each had a whole bag of the fun size M&M minis instead of half the bag (our normal rule). The smiles on their faces were HUGE!

We also broke the bedtime rule of 7 p.m. I think we got back to the hotel around 9:30. Very late for those two!

Then, Tyler decided he wanted to either not brush his teeth at all or brush them with his finger! Alyssa said she absolutely must brush her teeth. That was not something she wanted to give up! But in the end, neither of them ended up brushing them at all.

The next morning when we woke up, there was condensation all over the sliding glass doors in the hotel room – we let the kids draw in it, something we would usually not allow at home!

It’s pretty cool that something that started out as an internal struggle for me turned into a memorable experience for the whole family!

Persistence Pays Big Rewards

"Mom, if I put on my shoes and socks, can I go outside and play?" These are the words uttered by my four-year-old on several occasions over the past couple of weeks. There are so many wonderful things about this question, but let me tell you about just one of them.

The biggest thrill for me is that I am a stickler for the kids wearing shoes and socks to play outside (unless we're at the beach, of course). Why? For two reasons -- safety and safety. Wearing gym shoes protects their 10 little toes from getting injured while playing, and it helps prevent them from falling and getting injured.

The sight of children running in flip flops just makes me cringe. Lots of parents let their children play this way, and that is their business, but it's not my preference for my kids. Herein lies the problem.

For years, I've been requiring this of Tyler and Alyssa, and for years they've whined, cried, groaned, moaned, kicked and screamed about it. "It's too much work to put on shoes and socks," or "Sally Soandso doesn't always wear gym shoes."

Well, I've learned over the past few weeks that my persistence and patience has paid off! They get it! Even though they fought me almost every time, they got the message, and they know exactly why they wear gym shoes when they go outside to play!

So, now, not only do they ask if they can go outside and play, but they also mention the fact that they will put on their shoes and socks (by themselves, nonetheless)! Yippee!

Just thought I'd pass along that bit of positive encouragement for all of us parents who sometimes get "oh, so tired" of repeating the same mantras over and over and over again! It's worth it!