Chuck E Cheese

Where your kid can turn into an ADD kid!

Noah started out Kindergarten knowing how to read, but in the process has at times been overwhelmed and daunted by reading, even though he does great. I'm sure it didn't help that his horrible mother pushed him so much at times. But hey, it was my first time teaching anyone to read and I had no clue what I was doing. After checking out "Teaching Kids to read for Dummies", I was a lot better. I used to have him read for long periods of time, but the book suggested about 15 minutes and then give them a break of playing. I took that advice since I had noticed that after about ten minutes of awesome reading, his reading started to go downhill.

He has improved A LOT this year and we have encouraged him the whole way. One night Noah wanted Brad to read him a Curious George book, and Brad was about to say "Yes", until I interjected "Brad, that book is really long!" I warned. Somehow Brad ended up promising that we would go to Chuck E Cheese if Noah could read it all by himself word perfect.

Noah started to read Curious George with little problems, but soon got discouraged as it is a long and wordy book. So, I continued to offer to work with him, never forcing (because that so doesn't work for him) and more often than not, he preferred to read another book. Our rule is that before I can read him a bedtime story, he has to read me one! (It really was the only way I could get him into a reading habit, by giving him the choice of which book to read.)

As I saw Noah's frustration with the length of the book, we began splitting it into sections, so that he could learn by section. He was getting better and better, but Brad had said that it had to be WordPerfect, so we continued to work on it, and Noah did it! (with a little pushing from his dear mother)

But of course by the time he earned it, we didn't quite have the funds to take him. We asked the children if they would pitch in, and they were thrilled to do so! Score! I also looked online and found that if I registered for the Chuck E Cheese email club online, I would get their greatest offer yet! Which turned out to be, Buy 40 tokens, get 60 free. Or in other words, 100 tokens for $10. Well I certainly didn't want to pay that much money for tokens, but since the kids pitched in, we decided to get the ridiculous amount of tokens and make several trips of it.

It was funny how my sweet boy who can focus on certain things for at least an hour went completely ADD when we got there. I certainly don't blame him, I remember feeling the same way when I was a kid and we went to Bullwinkle's Family Fun center. The flashing lights! The colors! The games! And the tokens! We had only given him ten, so he wanted to make sure he spent them wisely. He tried to remedy that by continually asking Brad or I if he could use our tokens, so he wouldn't have to use his own. I think Brad was a lot nicer than me and shared. I was like, "Hey! I wanna play too!"

Noah's head could have used a contraption like a lazy susan, as he continually scanned the premises, running in one direction and then stopping and running in another. Anything I said to him did not register. It was just so crazy!

Amalie was loving it too. Her highlight was when old Chuck E himself made an appearance. I really thought she would be scared, but she loved giving him a High Five. On the way home, she said in a sad voice, "Chuck E Cheese didn't hold me. I wanted him to hold me." I patiently explained that he probably wasn't allowed to while Brad rationalized that it would be hard for Chuck E to hold her while he was in that costume.

With the tokens running low, the kids finally discovered the Play tubes and had a blast. Amalie was too short to climb up, but Noah helped her, which just made my heart so happy! Noah eventually ditched her when he found a friend, but Brad schooled Amalie on how to use the netting as a foothold and soon she was going up all by herself. I was so proud, because Noah had been terrified of Play Land type places at her age.

We had such a fun time and the kids have asked us every day since if we can go again. We tried to explain that we wanted to spread the trips out and that we wanted to make it an incentive. But they continue to ask. Sooo cute. Now I just need to think of what goal they need to achieve so they can go- it has to take about three weeks. Hmmm. (Insert wicked laugh here)

Chillin' in the tube

Rock Around the Clock

Creepy Chuck E on the stage show. Yikes! I think that things as old as me!