Friday, November 21, 2008

The Land of a Million Bells and Whistles

Last night, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. We hadn't been there since February, but Sammy remembered it well. Every time he'd see coupons in the newspaper, he'd point them out and ask when we were going again. Since it's too cold to do anything outside these days, I called up my friend J last night to see if she and her two kids wanted to go with us.

The kids had a blast playing games, riding rides, and climbing through the tunnels. And then...Chuck E. Cheese himself made an appearance. Sammy was in love. He looked up at Chuck with adoring eyes and gave him a hug. About that time, I noticed Natalie needed a diaper change so I asked J to keep an eye on Sammy while Natalie and I went to the bathroom.

When I came back, I saw Sammy following Chuck around the restaurant. J was hanging back, laughing, and she explained to me that he had been doing that the entire time we were in the bathroom. Aw, isn't that cute. He makes an adorable little stalker.

Then, Chuck was done visiting customers and started walking towards an employees-only door. Sammy tried to follow him, and I caught up with them just in time to keep Sammy from going through the door after him. I explained that Chuck E. Cheese was taking a break, and he might be out again later. Sammy announced he was going to sit right there and wait for him to come out. I finally convinced him to play some more, but he kept asking about Chuck the rest of the time we were there. I told him I supposed Chuck might have gone to bed already, and Sammy seemed okay with that answer.

First thing this morning, Sammy was asking about Chuck E. Cheese again. He wanted to know what kind of a bed Chuck had. When I said I didn't know, that wasn't good enough, and Sammy wanted me to guess. So I said, "Well, maybe it's one like you have." That was thrilling to Sammy and he exclaimed, "He has a Lightning McQueen bed just like I have?!" Then he said, "Can Chuck E. Cheese come over sometime to see my bed?" I didn't really know how to answer that. How do you explain to a not-quite-yet-3-year-old that it might be a bit inappropriate to ask a grown man (maybe it was a woman) dressed in a mouse suit to come to your house to see your bed? I was hoping to not have that discussion for a few years yet.

In conclusion, a fun time was had by all and Sammy has a new idol.

2 comments:

C. Beth said...

LOL!! So funny about the bed.

Good ol' Chuck sponsors some programs on PBS, but I guess PBS doesn't allow them to actually show what they sell. So their tagline is something like, "Teaching kids the satisfaction of being in action." So when Ana sees CEC she recognizes it--"There's Chuck E. Cheese's!" but has no idea what's actually behind the gaudy exterior.

I know this can't go on forever, but for now I'm very happy with it. Kinda like my mom telling my brother the ice cream truck was a "music truck."

Becky said...

Music truck - that's a good one! It reminds me of a friend telling me that she grew up thinking that the candy in the check-out lane at the store wasn't for sale - that it was just there to show you what kind of things were for sale in the rest of the store.