An Addendum...Even Meredith Viera Can't Skate

So here I am recovering from my daughter's harrowing ice skating party when I come to find out that Meredith Viera - Role Mommy of all time - can't skate either. Click Here to see what happened to her while she was interviewing Will Ferrell about his new ice skating movie. Honestly, after seeing that, I'd be curious to find out how many people have been injured this year while ice skating - between all the spills at my party, plus the kids I see slamming into the ice on a regular basis, something tells me the injuries must be staggering. I think it's time we start enforcing ice skating safety rules...helmets are a must - this is a serious sport and if you can't skate - well you shouldn't take any chances - with your safety, or your child's. Okay...I'm off my soap box.

The Birthday Diaries

So it's the day after my daughter's eighth birthday party. This year there were no party entertainers, no petting zoos, no circuses in the backyard...just a down and dirty party at the ice skating rink...with 25 kids whose parents dropped them off so they could run errands. In hindsight, it was actually a pretty scary proposition - 25 kids on the ice - many of whom didn't know how to skate. As I finished setting the table near the rink and got the veggie and fruit platter ready for consumption, one of my daughter's friends stopped by to tell me that even though her mom had told her to wear her helmet, she really could skate so would it be okay to leave the helmet on the sidelines. Stupidly, I said sure - but I told her I'd be watching and if I thought she needed the helmet, back it would go on her head.

As more guests continued to file in and I finally strapped on my skates, one of the kids came racing out to tell me that the little girl who told me she didn't want to wear a helmet had just fallen...and hit her head. Yikes! I raced out on the rink, helped her off the ice and proceeded to sit with her for the next 15 minutes as she held a bag of ice against her head and wept quietly. When she was ready to go back on the ice, I told her to strap on her helmet and not take it off for the rest of the party (except while she was eating of course).

Another 15 minutes went by and of course, another emergency. One of my daughter's other friends - whose dad had left to hit a few rounds of golf, had fallen flat on her back. She cried for about 5 minutes straight, we took her to the EMT and after she was checked out, she was given a clean bill of health to go back to the party and skate. Luckily, this was a minor injury so the partying continued.

After lunch and cake, the kids had about 10 more minutes to skate - nothing could happen in 10 minutes, right? WRONG. In the last 10 minutes, the third little girl whose mom had left the party because I had given her the green light that she'd be just fine, fell forward and landed hard on her knee and had to be carried off the ice because she couldn't walk. When the EMT examined her as her knee began to swell like a balloon, she informed me that we'd better call her mom because she needed to be checked out at the emergency room. I called her mom and she raced over and while another parent stayed with her as I cleaned up the party table, gave out goody bags and made sure no one else fell, the mom arrived, scooped her up and raced her to the doctor.

Thankfully, when I called the mom a few hours later, her daughter was okay - bruised but no broken bones. So after thinking an ice skating party would be a piece of cake, I think next year, it's back to the petting zoo or pony rides...or maybe just plain old pin the tail on the donkey. No more ice skating extravaganzas for us...it's way too stressful and as I learned the hard way - dangerous when the other kids can't really skate and their parents drop them off to run errands.

I Love Fruit Snacks

I confess. I enjoy working from home two days a week. I also enjoy raiding the pantry and finding bad kiddy snacks when that 4pm hunger pang inevitably sets in. Sure I could grab a rice cake. But that would be too boring. Who needs that when I can have an entire bag full of welch's fruit snacks, or a box of nutter butter cookies or handful of m&m's from a goody bag with some extra candy lying around the bottom of that plastic spongebob bag. I know - it's not good to be a nosher. In the course of a year, I'll probably add another 10 pounds with my senseless noshing, but sometimes, a kiddy snack is the only thing I crave. Who doesn't love a devil dog when you're really feeling like you've hit a creative brick wall? And twinkies - sure they're made of paint or plastic or some weird rock that I remember reading about in the New York Times magazine, but dammit, it's good! Even when I pour my kids their cereal in the morning and one of them tells me they didn't want the Corn Pops, they would rather have the Cocoa Krispies, I gladly change their order and slurp up their leftovers. Yes, I'm a kiddy snacker and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Now if only my kids wouldn't give me a hard time when their last piece of bazooka Joe's goes missing, I'll be able to continue with my secret snacking mission and escape undetected. Oops, I guess if they know how to find my blog, then the jig is officially up.

Tissues, Toilet Paper and Sales Receipts

Since I no longer travel with a diaper bag (ummm, that would be two years and counting), I am the most unprepared mother in my neighborhood. When my kid sneezed this morning and a big booger appeared under his button nose just as we're about to hop into Dunkin Donuts, I frantically searched for something to clean up the green gooky mess.

Sure, I could have taken him inside and grabbed a napkin, but that would have meant risking being seen by the visitors I practically see every morning since we frequent the place at least 5 times a week. So, I reached into my bag and pulled out a crisp, clean, sales receipt from the party center I visited yesterday to pick up supplies for my daughter's birthday. Yes, I grabbed whatever I could find and wiped his nose clean with a sales receipt. I then grabbed the Dunkin Donuts napkins and cleaned up the residue but I was desperate and thankfully, my bag is filled with paper products I'll never use again.

So that's my tip for busy moms on the run - don't throw out those sales receipts, sure you won't be able to show them to the IRS once you get audited, but at least your kids' nose will be clean as a whistle.