We opted to stay home this Thanksgiving and have some friends over. It turned out to be one friend, but that was fine as it was that much less stress. The dinner was wonderful and everything turned out great. The Wife did an amazing job timing everything. We tried an appetizer recipe that I saw on Food Network last week. It was enough of a success that I think it’ll make a repeat performance at Xmas. The Boy helped mash the potatoes, but then didn’t eat any. What kid doesn’t like mashed potatoes? My first attempt at carving a turkey wasn’t too much of a disaster. We saved the wishbone as The Boy knew all about it. Earlier in the day, he also pointed out a cornucopia during the Macy’s Parade. I guess he’s learning all of this at school. I’m impressed.
I got to sleep late yesterday and we went to see Elf in the afternoon. It was fine light holiday fare. If you’re looking for a few laughs, I’d recommend it. I wouldn’t, however, recommend going to see it at a Cinemark theater if you have small children. I don’t want to get off on too much of a rant here, but I want people to know about their corporate policy since we were unaware. First, they charge admission to kids one-year-old or older, so we had to pay $5.25 for LaLa even though she didn’t take up a seat. I’m fairly certain that most theaters don’t charge for one-year-olds. Second, when Mary went to go change her during the movie, she found that none of the bathrooms had a changing table. When she complained to the manager, she was informed that it’s Cinemark’s corporate policy not to have the tables to discourage people from bringing small children to the theater. Now, I can understand this from the point of view that there’s nothing worse than a crying baby or whooping toddler during a movie, but I think that actively discouraging small children to all showings is stupid. If we want to bring our toddler to an early show of a PG or G movie and we’re willing to take her out if she makes too much noise, then we should be able to take her and have reasonable accommodations. I have to think that by making this their policy, Cinemark is turning away a lot of business. We gave them about $30 yesterday and after finding out that our youngest isn’t welcome, we won’t be spending any more at a Cinemark theater (at least until LaLa is potty-trained).
Speaking of LaLa and toddler antics, we had a classic moment before going to the movie. Mary was taking a shower. The Boy was downstairs watching T.V. and I was upstairs with LaLa. I was reading something in one room while LaLa wandered from room to room. She’s into opening and closing doors and I heard the bathroom door shut. When she didn’t come out again after a minute or two, I went to investigate. I tried opening the door only to find that she had opened the drawer closest to the door (another favorite activity) and, since the door opens inward, was now blocking it from opening. The drawer is close enough to the door that it only allowed it to open wide enough to stick my fingers through. Uhoh. I spent the next few minutes trying to coax her to close the drawer on her own, but she kept trying to open the door instead. I managed to use a few fingers from one hand on top and a few from the other hand on the bottom to scoot the drawer closed some of the way, but since the front of the drawer sticks out farther than the rest, it meant that the opening in the door became too small for my fingers. By this time, LaLa was starting to get upset that she couldn’t get out and The Wife came to investigate the situation. I had her try to put her hand in the opening, but she couldn’t manage it either. I think I’m the only one with fingers long enough to reach the drawer. The Wife went off to find a wire hanger to try and use to hook the drawer and a screwdriver in case we had to remove the doorknob. While she was gone, I tried once more to jam my fingers into the opening and get the drawer closed. I managed to do it this time and the now crying and sniffling LaLa was free of her potty prison. There’s now a spare doorknob guard on that bathroom and I’ll be purchasing some drawer locks on Monday. Classic.