Thea's Birthday, Part 2

Today Thea and I met our former (and much missed) neighbors, Emily and Lauren at Red Green and Blue in Princeton for a craft shop birthday play date. Thea was excited because it was a girls' day out, no Micah; Emily was excited because it was a birthday celebration with a guest list of one.

They settled on projects to do - by virtue of RG&B being out of 5"x7" picture frames, both girls decided to paint and decorate little canoe (complete with little paddles). What RG&B does for you is get the kids into smocks, set up the paints, brushes and paper place mats, and then lets them have at it. The woman who was there Wednesday on my scoping-it-out visit was much more interactive; today the teen to twenty-something staff was more hands-off, way off.

Both of them painted and created, side by side. I got to have actual adult conversation with Lauren, which was nice. After all the painting was done, the staff reappeared to blow-dry the canoes, and then Thea and Emily selected mosaic squares to adorn their creations.

After the last tile was glued on, we left the canoes there to dry and went to Panera's for lunch, and then to Halo Pub for ice cream- and then back to Red, Green & Blue to reclaim their masterpieces. Then we walked over to see Emily's new house. Very cool third floor playroom, the two of them fell back into playing as if it hadn't been back in July when they last played together. (I'd had a moment of mild panic - what if Kindergarten, new schools, new friends and whatnot had changed them so much that the play date birthday bombed. One of those times when it's nice to feel silly for thinking such a thing.)

Thea and I walked back to the parking garage, stopping by the Princeton Library to look at the really neat tile wall. We also stopped in the restroom since we were passing by. As I was washing my hands, Thea was looking around and spotted a quarter stuck in the sanitary products vending machine. She looked at the label above the knob and asked, "Mommy, what does that say?"

So, like a dope who reads too many mommies magazines, I decided not to blow her off and answer, so I said it spells tampon. "What's a tampon, Mommy?"

Rethinking the strategy, I decided to go for deflection, "It's nothing you have to worry about for about....you're five...for another six or seven years or so." And of course moments like this are never unwitnessed or un-listened in upon, the other woman at the sink would have peed her pants had she not just come from relieving herself.

Considering she had no memory of our discussion about uteruses and babies from several months ago, I am hoping that this will fade to some obscure corner of her subconscious.

Note to WonderTime, Cookie, Parent and any other mommy magazine, there is NO good way to explain feminine hygiene products to a five-year old. End of story.