artsy fartsy,  Bad Mom,  Bug,  Gumball the Kitten,  illos,  party party

Meet Gumball

January 11, 2007 /

What a day. I feel like I got run over by a truck. I think I’m catching The Cold version 2.0. Why?!! This is sooo not cool. Stupid Park with all those sneezing kids.

I think today was a rough day because I’m on-fire-inspired to make pink kitty party stuff and my mind is not fully functioning on all the other tasks I need to do in a day.

I hauled Baby Bug with me all over town and out to lunch. A lunch out is fun for me but not necessarily 100% nutritious or fun for her. She can’t sit in her high chair for the seven million years that it takes for her to actually eat a full meal in a restaurant—mostly because I’m trapped there sitting next to her and I don’t have that much patience. Whereas at home, I can do other stuff while I wait for her—like wash the dishes and check my email. The other thing that makes restaurant lunches unproductive is that she’s taken to swiping her food off the table and onto the floor. This is such an annoying trick. I hear myself saying “no, baby no” over and over and I know I need to find a better way. My voice is just floating away in the breeze to never never land, never to be heard by anybody except the seething busboy who is hiding behind the flapping kitchen door cussing me out.

However, I think it’s good for Baby Bug to eat out. She needs to get used to it. I’ve been out with children before who never ate out and that was pure tortuous mayhem. I consider this training for both of us. I always leave a good tip on the table and I do the best job I can to scrape up all the spewed food from the floor in a five foot radius. This is tricky since usually by that time Baby Bug has no patience for sitting in the high chair any more and I have to hold her like a slimey food covered wiggling worm under one arm. Phew, just typing that makes me tired.

Anyway, I did find heat transfer paper and pillow stuffing and bells. I gave up on the squeaky toy idea. I’m going to put a little jingle bell inside instead. You can’t find squeaky squeeze balls anywhere… well, at least not where I looked and I didn’t really feel like paying $1.99 for dog toys. I need to remember that I did have a budget at one time. Wha? Budget? What’s that?

I’m dying to try the heat transfer paper tonight and whip up a sample pillow but my aching body says, no way Jose. So all you get is the digital file. Like the asterisk butt? I couldn’t resist.

g’night.

16 Comments

  • andrea from the fishbowl

    January 12, 2007 at 5:46 am

    The asterisk is truly the icing on the (pink) cake. I love it.

    re: restaurants.
    I totally agree with you… you have to take your kids out and get them used to eating out in a different setting. One that has a few more rules too. And you know what? I have discovered that a diner at breakfast time is the best place to do this. The setting is more more relaxed and the servers usually bring the food quickly.

    It is still one of my favourite things to do on a Sunday morning, even now that the girls are older. Invite another couple with kids and meet them somewhere for breakfast. The food is relatively inexpensive. Kids can eat toast. You order bacon and eggs. Coffee is plentiful. Ahh. Now that’s living. And fun!

  • BeachMama

    January 12, 2007 at 5:47 am

    That is a cute butt, and kitty too! I hope you feel better soon and that this is just a one day cold passing by.

    As for eating out, I fully agree with you that you have to take them out to eat. My sister in law did not do this with her first and it was pure torture to go to a restaurant with them. One time I actually missed eating so I could take him for a walk and his mom could visit with her brother. We take J all the time, well that is relative, but often enough that he can hang out for a while in a restaurant and behave. The older he got the more tricks I had in my bag, like stickers, paper, crayons, now he is good with the paper they give him and his food :).

    Can’t wait to see Gumball finished.

  • Kristen

    January 12, 2007 at 6:28 am

    I love reading your blog. Thank you for sharing so much with us.

    One trick that we used when my son was still in his high chair was to buy a roll of the cheapest, biggest (as in size, not number) generic trash bags you can find. Keep it in your car. When you go out to eat, just grab one off the roll. Don’t shake it out – just keep it flat and unopened. Place the bag (which is really just a big piece of plastic) under the high chair. It catches most of the dropped food and mess, and at the end of the meal you just gather it up and leave it on the table to be thrown away. Bus boys LOVED us and we could walk out of there with a clean concsience.

    Thanks again!

  • DeeJay

    January 12, 2007 at 12:41 pm

    Hope you are feeling well today. Have I ever told you how much I enjoy stopping by your place for a quick daily visit?

    I adore my visits by the way. Such a wonderful escape!

  • OMSH

    January 12, 2007 at 1:09 pm

    Oh, I’m getting in on the kitty treats at the *tail-end* … hardy-har-har.

    SO CUTE. Oh this is fabulous – the vibrant gumballs so YUMMY.

    Going to look at pink gumballs in Flickr

    —————-

    Hey, restaurants get better quick. Mine are 10,6, and 4. I thought I’d never see the day when the words enjoyable and meal could come together.

  • Punchbugpug

    January 12, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    You can buy those squeeky things in the pet store. They’re like 3 or 4 in a pack. I think they sell them to replace the ones all our dogs eat out of them! Heck, I should just take all of them out of my dogs toys and send them to you!!! LOL

  • Bethany

    January 13, 2007 at 10:37 pm

    We always left a big tip and cleaned up the floor when we were out with our babe, too! We have been lucky in that she’s always loved all different types of food and was easy to take out to eat–and we ate out a lot when she was a baby. I am sure there were times when she didn’t want to be in the high chair and we had to take turns holding her or something, but I don’t remember those much. She’s 2 1/2 now and is a champion restaurant patron. I can’t think of a restaurant where we wouldn’t take her.