My daughter loves to sing. She is always singing something.  Most of the time, it is the usual fare like “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “Wheels on the Bus”, etc.  But now and again she will sing her own tune, one that she makes up as she goes along.  She tends to sing about her immediate surroundings or what she is doing right then and there.  And truth be told, they aren’t exactly compelling ditties.

For example, she will sway in place and sing, “I see the kitty on the couch.  Daddy is downstairs.  Mommy has to dye her haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair!”

Not exactly moving, or catchy for that matter.  But as Simon would say, “She makes it her own.”  And Randy without a doubt would call her “authentic”.  And lovely Paula would have tears in her eyes when she says Piper “sings from the heart.”

She is very inspired by American Idol, so it was no surprise when she grabbed her microphone last night while we were watching the show. Only this time she started singing, “Keep on moving, keep on moving, you gotta keep on moving…”  My stepdaughter and I just looked at each other.  This was quite an improvement over “I got cheerios, I got cheerios in a bowl.”   The entire time she’s singing, she rocking back and forth with one leg stretched in front of the other, sort of… well, sort of like she was dancing. 

So there we were, actually enjoying this new song as we watched her groove along for a few minutes.  And then she hit us with the grand finale.

“You gotta keep on moving, keep on moving. Go down the stairs. It’s a fire drill.”

I am now a full fledged member of the “Parents of a kid” club.  We went to Chuck E Cheese yesterday.  For some reason, even with nieces and friends with kids, I have managed to avoid this place completely until yesterday.  But with a sick husband and scattered rain showers, I finally broke down.  I really had few alternatives, believe me.  I had to get the child out of the house and into a self-engaging environment before I went completely nuts.

Now people have warned me about this place.  They told me to take Advil before going (I forgot).  They told me to eat before I go (I forgot).  They basically had me scared shit of ever going there.  And really, in truth, I have to say it wasn’t that bad.  Perhaps I am not a good judge, considering it was my salvation and last hope for sanity yesterday.  Or, maybe it was just seeing my little girl’s smile stretched from ear to ear.

Typical Piper, she had me back and forth, back and forth.  First she wanted to go on the mini carousel.  So I waited for it to stop and all the kids to get off (there are only three horses to sit on).  I put her on, put in the token… it starts up - “I want to get off!”

Two minutes later, she is running back over to the carousel, begging to go on.  We wait for it to stop, the kids to get off, I put her on, plop the token in, it starts going around, she wants to get off.

We went through this whole routine three times before I finally realized what was going on.  She was being typical Piper all right, but the sweet and lovely typical Piper.  All she wanted was to ride around in circles with the other kids.  Once she realized she was the only one going around, she was no longer interested.  So after I figured this out, I quickly plopped her on a horse when no one was looking (while still spinning) and then quickly slapped in a token the minute it ended, thus trapping the other poor souls for another spin.  She grinned and grinned and giggled her head off. 

The other two were ready to leave, but I convinced them to go another round again just so I could watch that smile a little while longer.  I could have stayed there all day, shoving in the remaining thirty-five tokens one after another. But alas, the other kids got bored and left.  Rotten spoiled kids, ruining my baby’s fun.

Anyway, I have to say that Chuck E Cheese isn’t as cheesy as I thought it would be. We’ll be back again.  Mostly because no one warned that the games were only one token each and now I have a shitload of them left. Of all the things I was warned about, no one told me that it was way cheaper than Dave & Busters. Just like no one told me how quick they are to clear you table and throw away your half eaten pizza!  Or that hand sanitizer is an absolute must!

But now that I am a Chuck E Cheese veteran, I will be more prepared next time.  Most of all, I won’t forget my camera and miss capturing that incredible smile!