Ninety Minutes at Chuck E Cheese

Here you have some random observations from the time we spent at Chuck E Cheese aka Germ-a-palooza on Saturday for Caleb's birthday.

- Four o'clock is never too early to arrive. Maybe earlier would have been better.

- It's not apparently important for a child to be able to walk to enjoy many an activity. If the parent wants to haul said child in and out of the crowds, that is.

- The little boy dancing on the air hockey table was my favorite. He was young enough to still be in a diaper as evidenced by his sagging pants, but old enough to climb up and down from the table with absolutely no help. There were absolutely no parents around either.

- Chuck E Cheese himself is like Elvis. Or the Beatles. Or Justin Beiber. There was much screaming with delight when he appeared.

- It is acceptable to be a severely overweight woman and chase your toddler up into the tower that leads to the tunnels on the ceiling. Screaming his name repeatedly only adds to his determination to climb up as quickly as he can. Telling other adults standing nearby that you already told him three times that he couldn't go into the tower, but then you let him because you weren't quick enough to drag him out only helps teach him that maybe you don't mean what you say. Good luck with that when the teen years hit.

- Dads have as much fun with some of the games as the kids. Or maybe more fun.

- Unattended toddlers, no matter how briefly so, will attempt to join you in your booth and partake of your share of overpriced, crappy pizza. Then when the parent catches up, there will be much screaming on the part of the toddler and not so much as a word from the parent.

Wanna go?