These are letters to Jack, my son, and my daughter, Audrey. You have given me the gift of motherhood. This is just a little gift back. I want to share my experiences with you of your childhood from my perspective of watching you grow - of being your Mom.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Baby's First Testosterone-fest!

Jack,

Well, this weekend we got to take you to your first Rams game. The seats that we sat in were IDEAL for having a toddler along.
There was a guardrail directly in front of us that extended all the way to the floor so you were trapped in the seats. There was a large space between us and the people in front of us because they were on a slightly lower level so there was no threat of pulling someone’s hair or kicking them in the back of the head and we were on the end of the aisle so we didn’t have to worry about climbing over other people whenever you had the desire to go wandering or need a diaper change or one of any million of reasons we would have to leave our seats.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much the game held your attention. You were fascinated from the beginning with the number of people, the colors and activity and the noise.

I think your favorite things about the game were the noise, the cheerleaders and the unlimited snacks.

The noise volume was incredible. At first I was worried that it might intimidate you a little, but after you noticed the grown men around you hollering, you started to scream along with them and kept up a pretty steady stream of “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!” along with them anytime they started to scream for their team – regardless of whether the fans were Rams fans or Chiefs fans. You were for anyone that gave you a reason to make noise!

The cheerleaders were also fascinating to you. They were dressed in sparkly little outfits and they were always dancing to music in exaggerated fashions that allowed them to stick their chests out and fling their long lovely locks around. You were interested in the dancing and music and would sway along with them at times when the music was most appealing to you. It was funny to watch you so fixated on the cheerleaders. You were doing this all on your own even though you could have picked it up just as easily from Poppa Dough or your Daddy who were obviously staring in that direction. It’s funny because their stares weren’t subtle in the least which I found amusing since oftentimes the real action of the team would be on the opposite side of the field.

Then there were the snacks. Poppa Dough had bought you some French fries which you ate steadily through the entire game happily becoming distracted and then returning to them with relish. By the end of the game, there was about a 1/3 of the fries left in the large container which you took in your hands and dumped on the head of an already pissy man sitting in front of us. (He was already annoyed because of the cute screams you were emitting during the game. What a pill he was! How he could even hear you or have the balls to get annoyed by your screams when we were only seats away from a man that continued to yell: “What the f%$#@ was that? COME ON!!!” every time the Rams made a poor play, which was pretty frequently in this game. But, NO… my small child’s excited squeals were the sound that annoyed this little prick)….

I apologized profusely as he turned in his seat to shoot an angry stare in our direction. I got up with you and left our seats to walk around the hallways of the stadium in order to pacify the jerk and keep him from doing or saying something stupid. By this time, we were in the 4th quarter and almost ready to leave anyway, so it didn’t upset our time at the game.

Leaving the stadium for the parking lot, I swear to GOD, we rode on the elevator with Penny Marshall. I swear it was her. You won’t really recognize this name later when you read it, but it meant a lot to me. I had grown up watching her on a show called Laverne and Shirley which I loved. That was only the least of her accomplishments, but I remember her the most from this because it was such a part of my childhood.

Anyway, we went home to Grandma and Poppa Dough’s house for dinner where you and Calum had a great deal of fun getting spun in circles on Great-Grandma Jane’s wheelchair.

It was a wonderful evening and it went well in spite of the fact that you barely napped at all the whole day.

This morning was tough when I dropped you off at daycare. We had a hard time saying goodbye and you were sobbing when I left. I felt horrible. Needless to say, I’m thinking of you right now and hoping that you are having a wonderful time with friends and not thinking of me at all. I’ll be there to pick you up AS SOON AS I get out of work today, honey. Not a second later.

I love you!

Love,

Mommy

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the record, Penny Marshall is in St. Louis acting in an independent movie titled "Alice". She was at Game 4 of the World Series and the Rams-Chiefs game.

Bridget said...

IT WAS HER!!!! THANKS, DADDY!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Aw, that's great that Uncle Brett let you guys play on someone else's medical equipment... maybe I'll set your blocks up in a hyperbaric chamber, or we could get am MRI on your Elmo doll.

Anonymous said...

Yeah...You gotta keep a close eye on that Uncle Bra...he's kind of unpredictable