Want to invest? How about an indoor playground

Northern Virginia needs an indoor playground. If you are looking to invest in a project, this would be it. Today, we made our second trip out to the All Star Legacy Gym in Sterling. It was OK. I would say $10 a kid for the two-hour open session twice a week is fine for us once in a while. We certainly can't swing that once a week, but every now and then on a rainy/snowy/hot/cold day we would make the journey and pay the dough for some indoor fun. Today it was cold and my kids are tired of being inside with my sinus infection. (Which I am now fully medicated for.) But this gym is lacking in many reasons. While it's fine for the cheerleading groups that use it most of the time, it provides no place for moms to sit down; it isn't really a safe set up for kids (this doesn't matter to me really); and it's needing some spirit to it.

What I am looking for us a full-time indoor playground. Not open gyms from 12-1 or Gymboree limited open gym on Sunday morning. I need full-time. Ok, maybe limited hours during the nicer weather since most people want to be outside. In Richmond there are a few open gyms including The Playroom. I love this place. You pay $6 a kid, go in and check your email (Wifi included in the price WITH laptops), let your kids run around for as long as they like AND you can bring in your own food. It's not just moonbounces, but a dress up area, train table, play kitchen and baby area, too. They even have babysitting on certain days.

Also, if someone is looking to invest only a little--a coffee place with a play area would be nice too. There is also one of these in Richmond called Chat & Play Cafe. Someone is really missing out on a huge market here. Moms in Northern Virginia WILL pay for stuff like this. I just dropped $20 today to let my kids run around in an open gym with a few moonbounces. Friends from the West Coast find it hard to believe there are not more places here for kids to play indoors. What's a mom have to do to get a cup of coffee around here? My kids aren't going to sit while I drink coffee and chat with friends. And until Barnes and Noble gates in their train table, I'm not including this as an option. I will never include Chuck E. Cheese's in this group. NEVER.

If there is anyone out there with a wad of cash looking for a good investment, here is a tip--indoor playgrounds, family-friendly coffee shops or fun things for the kids to do indoors.

Preschool mania begins

The stress from the holiday season is supposed to subside come Jan. 1. Everyone takes a rest and puts up her feet, or my case, gets running on the treadmill to burn off the holiday calories. But there's nothing like letting the stress of the holiday season roll right into preschool registration mania. How is it that we're here again so soon? I feel like I just got the kids settled into school, and now it's time to start the process of looking, second-guessing, registering, bribing, hoping, praying, losing sleep for two months.

I thought it would be easy since my kids are both in a preschool now--just sign the paper, give your deposit and be given priority as a returning student.

But with a potential move this summer to a different area of Northern Virginia, this process could be more stressful than the last. It means attending open houses in a different location, deciding whether we're going to go the Montessori route for my son and then what to do with my daughter. Keep her where she is, send her to a different school from her brother, look for someplace new or just throw my hands in the air and let the cards fall where they may.

Talk of lotteries, waiting lists, deadlines, deposits and so forth just makes my stomach turn. I know it's not as bad as it could be. My girlfriend actually knows people who have slept in their cars the night before application day or seen local law enforcement called to help facilitate preschool registration. What ever happened to just good ole' fashion bribery?

My husband asks me about once a week if I've researched or called schools. Fortunately my answer for the past month has been, "Preschools? I'm getting ready for Christmas." But Christmas is over and I will either need to think up another excuse or actually start the research and calling.

You think it's not a big deal. Hey, my son is only soon-to-be four, what is preschool but learning to be social and "keep his hands to himself." Apparently that's what we're working on this year in school. But there is still pressure to make sure I've scoped out all the options, visited several schools, talk to enough teachers and stressed about it all before I make the final decision. Then it's left up to the preschool lottery gods.

Happy New Year!

Our household is struggling this week and it's only the second day of the new year. So far we've had my husband leave for China for 10 days, my glass cassarole dish explode all over my kitchen (took me a full hour to clean up the glass), decided that my head cold turned into sinus infection (ah, but now at least I have the drugs), oh, and I was pulled over by a cop for not completely stopping at a stop sign. Yes, I did! The upside to this is my kids FINALLY understand and comforted me while I cried my way out of the ticket. Oh, have I no shame? They let me crash on the couch and "be sick" for once. Alex even told Anna to leave me alone because I was sick.

Tomorrow has to be better, right?

Creatures of habit

I always thought my kids traveled well. Alex's first plane trip was at 4 months and it was across a sea and a ocean. Before his second birthday he had made four trips across the Atlantic and slept in every kind of crib, bed and hotel that I could imagine for a young kid. Anna also had her share of traveling and camping out in various places. But our last trip to Texas, proved that my kids might be more creatures of habit than I thought.

While my kids do pretty well on airplanes (Alex even knows when to throw his bag on the security conveyor belt and when to take off his shoes), their adjustment to new places to stay needs some work. I'm not sure if I expect too much or if my kids just 'want what they want,' as Alex would say.

For four days, my son moaned about missing everything from his Clifford dog (a stuffed toy) to his Legos. Is it possible for an almost-four-year old to be homesick. To make the whining of missing home even worse, the kids decided sleep was not a top priority. Either the room was too light or too cold or too hot or too noisy, whatever the reason they would wake up early or not take a good naps. This can begin to spiral after a few days.

When we walked in the door from our vacation, the kids were overjoyed to be with all their toys. Both slept late the next morning and went right back to their routine.

I'm not sure who enjoys the routines more--them or me.

Santa Claus sighting

Secretly, I've always believed there might really be a Santa Claus . . . and I think we saw him yesterday in the Dallas airport. En route to Austin my two Christmas children (donned completely in red) skipped through the airport Christmas morning at 8 a.m. They both stopped to look at an older man coming through security dressed in interesting Santa gear.

He was wearing a burgundy robe down to the floor with intricate designs in various colors and his hair and beard were white. It was his real hair as far as I could tell and the real McCoy on the beard as well. He stood waiting for a handicapped cart to pick him up. (I'm guessing because he was tired from delivering gifts.) My children just stood watching. The man from the cart, jumped off and said, "Can I get your bag Santa?" Santa nodded quietly. Santa climbed onto the cart, bag clutched in his arms waving to my kids. As he pulled away, I noticed that his suitcase had the initials "SC" in script.

Alex asked me, "Where is Santa going?" I replied wholeheartedly, "I think he might be taking that cart to his sleigh. Christmas is over and his last stop must have been Dallas. He's heading home to sleep." Somewhere in my heart, I think even I believed it, and for a brief moment I thought, if anyone could have been Santa it was this man.

I was curious if they had to open his luggage and take off his boots at the security check.

Christmas blessings

Every year, I like reflecting on all I have been blessed with during the year and this year I have many Christmas blessings and things to be thankful for:

1. How lucky to be able to spend Christmas with both my parents and my inlaws. It's fun for the kids to see both sets of grandparents.

2. I feel blessed that my mother is doing better this month and hopefully something miraculous will come about in the new year. She has one more chemo treatment and then will be granted a three-month reprieve.

3. I am blessed that my children have finally come around to liking each other and will often play on their own.

4. My husband has taken some time off during the days leading up to Christmas and all next week so we will all be able to spend time as a family.

5. Lastly, a book agent has found our book idea interesting, and we plan to sign a contract with her this next week. And, hopefully, in two months or so, we will have a book deal. How cool is that??

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ice skating champ!

The big draw to Reston Town Center this season, besides the Christmas lights, has been the ice skating rink. The last time we went to watch the skaters I mentioned that Alex was probably old enough to give it a try.

Yesterday we decided to give it a go! I went in with very low expectations, which I think was very important. I knew he might decide five minutes into skating that this wasn't for him, perhaps even before we got to the ice. After a rough start and some quick reassurance, he seemed to figure it out. I could see the wheels turning in his head at how to make this whole experience easier for him. He didn't want to hold onto the railing. He wanted me to hold only one of his hands. He fell quite a bit in the beginning, but decided laughing it off was his best bet.

The rink provides pickle buckets for the kids to push while they skate. I showed him how and he then pushed me away. I was afraid our skating time had come an end. After some playing around with the bucket, he decided he would push the bucket ahead of him and then glide, skate, walk, jump or some combination of that to the bucket. With a goal in sight, he seemed better able to get the hang of it all. And he did. After 30 minutes he was practically skating without any help from me. Ok, I really do use the term "skating" loosely.

The only downside to this adventure was the price. At $7 a kid and $4 for rental it's not something we can afford to do often since he will only last about 30 minutes. And we didn't even give it a try with Anna. Next year. I'm not sure what these people are thinking. An 'under age 5 option' might be offered at $5 (including skates). Who is going to own skates for kids who outgrown their shoes every 6-12 months? At $5 a kid, I would go more than once a year and then they'd get more money from me in the anyway because I would take BOTH my kids at that price. It looks like Reston's Skate Quest does offer open skating for a little less. But somehow for moms and for the Christmas season, it wouldn't be the same effect of skating outside in the cold under the lights with Christmas music playing.

Next year, we'll give it another go with both the kids.