Luck of the Sweet Peas

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope no one got pinched today. I know we all had our green on. There have been many years where I have forgotten to wear green and I received my share of pinches. But Sweet Pea wasn't going to let me forget this year.

When I picked SP and her friend, 'J',up after school, they were both chattering about the Leprechaun trap set up in SP's friend's class. From what I could eavesdrop, her class decorated a box and placed various Leprechaun treats inside. I asked, 'J', what kind of treats do Leprechauns like?

She said, "I don't remember. Pretzels I think."

I then inquired as to what they were going to do with their Leprechaun if they actually caught one.

"We're going to keep him in the empty fish tank and look at him.", she answered.

That sounds like a lot of fun for the Leprechaun.

That night, SP's creative energy was buzzing. When bedtime rolled around, she had her own Leprechaun trap all ready to spring in her bedroom. On the floor at the foot of her bed, SP had brought up her indoor tent to sleep in and be ready for any Leprechaun action. Firstly, she made a trail of homemade paper money, coins and bills.

The Whoopee Cushion was at the start of the money trail, right next to her pillow, and acted as the 'alarm' to wake SP in the night so she could exit her tent and watch the Leprechaun greedily follow his trail to entrapment.

She then rigged her waste basket with string.

Next she ran the string across her bed and anchored it to her book baskets. Her horse 'Paint', her lamb and her dolphin all pitched in.
The final 'bait' was a half box decorated with a picture of 'Leanie (pronounced Lennie) The Leprechaun', with a half empty box of Jolly Rancher Chews and an acorn from who knows how many summers past. This was where SP, after her Whoopee Cushion wake up, would pull the string and drop the waste basket on her unlucky prey.

When Lady Di saw the energy and excitement that SP was putting into her creation, she just had to put her Keep-Your-Room-Clean Mom sense away for the night.

Before going to bed, I asked SP the same question that I asked her friend. "What will you do if you really catch one?"

"I will probably just talk to him a little and then set him free.", she said.

Sounds like a catch and release program.

In the morning, before SP awoke, Lady Di snuck into her room and place a St. Patrick's Day scarf under the waste basket and stepped on the Whoopee Cushion as she stealthily slipped out of the room while SP was still groggy.

SP came running into our room with wild eyes to show us what she had trapped. "I told you they're real!", she shouted. "You didn't believe, Dad didn't believe and Number One Son didn't believe! But I knew all along."

So she got to wear a really cool scarf to school that all her friends oooh'd and aaah'd over when she told them the story.

I think Leanie followed her home from school to take his scarf back.

Happy Green Day!

We Can Dance If We Want To

Last week we had family movie night out. All of our scheduling stars happened to be in alignment which meant the whole family was free to enjoy something together. Lady Di suggested we all see the movie Hairspray. She picked a very good movie.

The kids and I enjoy musicals so we were all on board for this one. We weren't disappointed. The film's music had Sweet Pea and Number One Son doing the 'rump wiggle' in their seats more than once. Sweet Pea's favorite part of the movie was seeing Tracy Turnblad's father, sleeping on a bed of whoopie cushions. You can imagine the wonderful sound effects from that scene. Lady Di and I got a kick out of the kids.

As it turns out, I was the only one in the family who had seen the original, John Waters, film from 1988. There are a few subtle references to that film in the current version.

The film also has a good message about segregation and race relations. It was interesting to note that N1S noticed that some people in the movie didn't want the different races to dance together. He couldn't figure out why that was. My friend, Clare's Dad, wrote a nice post about that. Another, less prominent message in the movie concerns self image and self confidence. The main character, Tracy, is not one of the popular kids. This fact doesn't stop her from having a very positive attitude of herself and towards others. She doesn't judge others and she doesn't hold herself back. She even helps her mother come out of her shell when she is self conscious of her weight and appearance.

When today's youths are following role models like Brittney and Lindsay and playing with Bratz dolls, it's nice to see a positive role model who may not fit the accepted celebrity fashion. There is a lot of pressure to look a certain way. This image is, many times, unattainable by most youth. I don't want Sweet Pea thinking that she is inferior just because doesn't look like a Barbie doll. Tracy's character may have been overweight and over-cheerful, but she was also confident and comfortable with who she was. She did her own thing and did what she thought was the right thing. Even when the right thing wasn't popular or easy. I hope our kids learned that anyone can be their friend. Your friends don't all have to be the pretty, athletic, rich kids. Actually, I hope our kids will try to be friends with the kids who seem to be alone on the playground.

So I would suggest seeing Hairspray if you get the chance. Even if you normally don't like musicals. It's a good film for children too. It is positive, funny, has good music and John Travolta in drag. And lots of whoopie cushions. I suggest seeing the 1988 version with Rikki Lake too.