Big League

When the minions were little we'd often strap them to our chests in a carrier and take them out to sporting events with us.  Since they were babies, they'd fall asleep when they were tired and for the most part were very well behaved.  I even wrote a post highlighting a list of seven tips to make sporting events with infants easier.

Once the minions became mobile toddlers, sporting events, or any activities where they were "contained" in a crowded arena became significantly less appealing to us. We usually hired a sitter for most sporting events between the age of 18 months and beyond, until this past weekend.  Chris decided that it was time for us to bring them out to an AHL hockey game and see if they were ready.

With the minions BW (Before Walking) at Safeco Field in Seattle

Here are our 10 Tips to Survive a Sporting Event with Pre-schoolers and not lose your mind.

1. Talk the event up ahead of time.  Give a summary of what your kids should expect at the game and talk about how awesome it will be for them to have their own seats and be a part of the crowd.
2. Forget any chances of arriving early to get that free promotional swag they're offering up to the first 1,000 attendees. Every extra minute that you're at the stadium before the game is a minute sooner that your children will get bored.  No matter how cool that bobble head is, I can assure you that it's just not worth it. 
3. Consider at least a two adults for every child, if you can.  This makes everything easier and provides for an extra set of helping hands and distraction. 
4. Pick your seats wisely.  I would suggest aisle seats that are reasonably close to both the bathroom and the snack vendors. 
5. Try securing two rows of seats if there is a decent sized group of you.  This allows your children to sit behind friends and family, so you don't need to constantly apologize to strangers when they get a case of "the Jimmy Legs" and kick people repeatedly throughout the game.
6. Ply them with snacks.  A treat to eat during the game is a good way to encourage best behaviour.  We are not above bribing the minions.
7. Cheer loudly, clap your hands, start chants.  Give them a chance to experience the beauty of fandom, and yell at the top of their lungs when their team scores a "GOOOOAALL".
8. At breaks in play or period breaks, let them run.  We spent each intermission between periods letting the kids run around the open space on the upper bowl and up and down the bleacher stairs to burn off some energy. 
9. Try visiting the mascot.  This can be really exciting to wee ones. Sometimes venues will run Family Day games where there are extra mascots, prizes and activities geared for children - consider going to one of these games.
10. Resign yourself to the fact you are going to miss some of the game and it's usually easier to leave for home a few minutes early so you aren't trying to navigate through huge crowd.  

After the game on the way home I mentioned to Chris that I'd done the math and that the cost of the extra tickets and snacks was comparable, or maybe even more expensive than hiring a babysitter and attending the game by ourselves. Chris smiled and said, "But they had soooo much fun".  I looked back at the sugar crashed minions fast asleep in the back of the car and had to agree.  It was worth it, just not for EVERY game.  I think Chris may be ordering an extra ticket or two for some baseball games this summer to go to a game with dad, Grandma and Grandpa.  

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Let it Snow

What is more frustrating, two 16 month old toddlers going stir crazy because they can't get out with all of the snow we've been getting or physically dealing with an insane amount of snow when you have no front lawn to pile it on?  There is no correct answer to this question other than that when combined- we are trapped in a house, surrounded by snow and over hyper children who act like caged dogs who just want to get out and run around outside while walls of snow quickly build.*

Miss Molly attempting a climb onto the table/ fall onto the floor.

A few days ago, Boxing Day to be precise, right before the "big snow fall of 2012" we arrived home from our annual post Christmas Marlies hockey game all set to put the rambunctious bundles of joy down for a long winter's nap.** Once the kids were secured in their cages cribs we collapsed onto the couch hoping to marathon out on some TV series we'd acquired over the holidays. Within five minutes of alone time our power went off.  About an hour later, still without power, I called my parents to see if they could find out what was going on.

Apparently some idiot decided to do some afternoon holiday drinking and driving, fortunately he only hit a hydro pole.***  Two hours into the black out I was convinced that the temperature in the house had plummeted drastically to 12 degrees and imagined us being snowed in with two little babies as the first flakes of snow began to fall.  I'm a big 'what if' kinda gal and our cupboards weren't stocked for the several days without power that I imagined.  Chris, however, was realistic and wasn't  going to be defeated by my repeated suggestion of packing up and going to my parents house for an overnight.  All of the family time surrounding Christmas had been nice, but he was looking forward to an evening in just the two of us, enjoying our glut of DVDs and some drinks.  With the power out, I had a compelling argument: the thought of toddlers and candles terrified us both.  Just think of all the, "Oh my God Jack, why are you on fire?" or "Molly, why are you trying to eat candle wax?" moments we'd have to endure.

Thankfully, the power came on after hour three and there was minimal time of trying to prevent our children from burning the house to the ground.  The temperature had actually only dropped by about one degree and I was mocked for my paranoia.  It also turns out that the snow storm didn't impact everyone's mobility.  Someone was able to get out in the cold, get drunk and throw up fluorescent orange into our freshly plowed snow bank before we even woke up the next day.  I wonder if he was on foot because he'd just lost his drivers license?

Jack playing with my house keys while Chris shovels even more snow.

*Except with significantly more barking and biting.
**The hockey game perfectly coincided with nap time, so the last half of the second period and entire third period were a little bit dicey - Miss Molly and I walked a lot of laps around the arena while she screamed and I tried to comfort her by singing Miss Molly Had a Steam Boat and Molly's Lips in a loop.  Jack just fell asleep quietly on his father's shoulder while Chris watched the game.
*** http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1307135--500-west-enders-lose-power-as-truck-hits-hydro-pole  Apparently said driver tried to make a get away on foot - he was apprehended by police almost immediately.

The Ballad of Wendell Clark, A Holiday Tradition

Every family has different traditions.  About four or five years ago we started the family tradition of going to a Toronto Marlies hockey game over the holidays.  This year we took Molly & Jack to their first real hockey game.  After an hour of preparation (one diaper per baby per hour, plus one extra, three extra sleepers, two teethers, three soothers, 32 ounces of food, Baby Tylenol, gripe water, plastic bags and wipes) we were on the subway heading to the Air Canada Centre.

I'd say that our outing, while exhausting, was a huge success.  So I've come up with a list of tips when travelling with your young babies to a sports outing to help make life easier:

1) Apologize ahead of time and set low expectations for those around you.  When we sat down with our content babies the group behind us cooed over how cute they were. They may not have felt that way by the end of the game...but we thanked them just the same.
2) Scope out the washrooms for change stations ahead of time - before you need them.  While there were no changing stations in either men or women's facilities right by our section there was a family washroom down the hall.*
3) Over-prepare.  We went through all of the food but 4 ounces and had to change 5 diapers during our outing.  Extra diapers never hurt anyone.
4) Always have at least one more adult than child present.  They won't have to do much, but the extra set of hands makes a huge difference when it comes to holding your beer, pizza or grabbing a soother.**
5) Mascots can be your best friend, or worst enemy?...During the first period when Molly got fussy Duke the Dog came over to cheer her up and it actually worked.  Then he moved three rows in front of us and pretended to make out with a woman while her boyfriend was getting beer.  Service and a show?
6) Overchange don't underchange diapers, because no one wants a wet lap.  At the last break in play during the first period we ran to the family washroom to change both diapers, even though both babies weren't fussing.  Unfortunately the children enjoyed their clean diapers so much that they both immediately crapped their pants when they got back to their seats, but we only missed a few minutes of the second period.
7) Be prepared to miss some of the action and have a good sense of humour about it.  Worst case scenario you walk around the concourse for a while - they have tvs...you won't miss too much.

We got lucky..there was only one set of tears from each baby...and it lasted about 5 minutes each. Jack slept through most of the game, while Molly watched intently.  It was a big success.  The people behind us didn't hate us by the end of the game.***  When we got home we all took a nap - it was glorious!  Long live holiday tradition!

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*To the person who used the family washroom as their own personal smoking room in the third period, Are you kidding me? I didn't appreciate the wait or the hotbox of smoke I walked into.
**Thank you Grandpa Jim for being the third pair of hands.
***Although Chris probably owes an apology to the woman he kept on hitting in the head with our backpack full of baby stuff...Sorry...the seats at the ACC are really narrow and our backpack is epic.