Alright, I'm pretty sure that I have had the opportunity to have a singularly unique experience this Saturday and could think of little else except that it was definitely blog worthy. No doubt about it. Saturday, February 14th was the scheduled birthday extravaganza for Isaiah. He had invited his "girls" from preschool and we all met at Chuck E. Cheese. Suprisingly for 10 a.m. on valentines day, Chuck E. Cheese was packed. There were 5 parties there that morning. I got there early to put out the Pokemon tablecloth and decorate with some pokemon brought from home. And then set out to chase kids and spend tokens like there was no tomorrow.
A few minutes after we arrived, the kids at the party table next to ours arrived... boys about 7 or 8, who were immediately envious of all the pokemon stuff on our table. It was a proud, crappy chuck e. cheese party moment. At least someone envied the table. And after our 45 minutes of play, we made our way to the table for the sit down portion of the party. At which point, the tag along appeared. Out of nowhere, a little girl appeared and sat down at our table. I asked her what party she was here with. She looked at me blankly and then muttered something about Eliza, and then pointed vaguely off in the distance. And put in such a wierd position, with other parents watching to see how I'd handle it, I just offered her some pizza, we had extra and it didn't seem to hurt anyone. A few minutes later, I caught our extra guest going through the goody bag. AT which point, the generous lady hid somewhere behind spendthrift and greedy bitch. And I politely told her that though I didn't care if she ate pizza, she wasn't going to get a goody bag and she needed to leave it alone. And she did. A few minutes later, she had moved to the table next to ours. And she had found her party at last. She came back after the Chuck E. Cheese birthday sing along. And when I called all of my kids to get their picture taken with CHuck E. Cheese - she hurled herself right up on the stage and next to Chuck. And out of nowhere some other little boy sat next to Chuck on the left. It became quite apparent that social rules concerning bonding with strangers must not be learned until one is considerably older. And a picture with Chuck with a strange woman holding the camera and 7 kids that you don't know is not outside the norm. And then it was time for cake. And her comes our girl, asking for a piece. I was only too happy to give her a piece because bringing cake home is like begging for diabetic coma. If there is cake in the house, I will eat it - always. And if they could make a low carb / sugar free cake that tasted like real cake, then I'm pretty sure that I would die happy.
Of course by that time the Chuck E. Gestapo were hovering about the table. And those perky helpful girls who were only too happy to assist you for the first hour and 20 minutes of your party turn ugly when they are trying to force you to get out of your table, you only booked it for an hour and a half, no longer - move it!!!! And as I was picking up cups and plates, pizza bones and wrappers, one of the moms came over to talk. I asked if she would like some cake as apparently I was giving it to all and sundry. She laughed and then told me that our little friend who had seemed at home at the party next to ours, didn't belong to that party either. But unlike me that party had just ignored her - passing pizza, drinks and cake around but never too her. Which struck me as funny on two levels. First that the way to deal with the problem was to put on blinders and say "i don't see you, i don't see you, i don't see you." And secondly, that the girl didn't belong there either. Jose, in a moment of rare humor, leaned over and said, "I think she comes every Saturday looking for parties." And, I suspect that he may be right. I laughed out loud, and then was very grateful that she was perhaps an only child and not one of three who were party crashers. And who knew that there was a party crashing market for the under 10 set. I can envision her even now sitting at home, rubbing her belly and contemplating what kinds of cakes will be there next weekend. Who knows if she comes in early enough if she gets free tokens as well. Seems overly sophisticated, and I am wary of the adult she will come and what kind of weddings she will see in her life time.
In the mean time, if you know the older girl in the picture hugging up to Chuck, give me her name and i'll send her a thank you card for coming to Isaiah's party.
