Dining Out With Young Kids: A Success Story – Ep. 251
April 24, 2023
Listen Now:
Laura reports on a surprising trip to a restaurant with her two- and four-year old sons, and Shanna talks about going on a one-on-one date with her four-year-old daughter. Also, in the special segment “OMG I’m Freaking Out!,” Shanna shares a hilarious story of near-loss at a shopping center water fountain, and Laura worries that her out-of-this-world ambitions have gone too far. Finally, they share their BFPs and BFNs for the week. Shanna’s kids are 4 and 7 years old, and Laura’s kids are 4 years old and 2 years old.
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This episode’s show notes can be found here.
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Big Fat Positive: A Pregnancy and Parenting Journey is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko and Steve Yager.
Show Notes:
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Episode Transcript
Shanna
Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins, we have our special segment, OMG I'm Freaking Out, where Shanna overreacts and Laura overpromises, and we wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 251. Hello, my friend Laura. Hello, my friend Shanna. How are you? What's going on over there?
Laura
We're doing well. So I actually have a story to tell you for my check-in. Ooh, OK. Okay, so I don't remember if I talked about this on the podcast or not, or if I just complained to you about it. But Shanna, do you remember back in December when there was like a bit of a hubbub in my family about whether I take my kids out to dinner enough?
Shanna
Oh, yes. I think you did talk about that on the show. You told us about going out to eat and it was a disaster for your mom's birthday or something.
Laura
Yes. And just in case it was something we talked about privately, we're both misremembering it being on the podcast. The like TLDR is that My mom gave me what I think maybe is a valid criticism that we weren't trying enough like to take the kids out to dinner like we basically had stopped doing that. And so we decided to try for my mom's birthday and it was a complete shit show like just the kids didn't want to sit, the kids didn't want to eat. Everyone ended up with like bad feelings at the end. It sucked. Well, I've been just feeling like kind of conflicted about the whole thing for the intervening months, like ever since that happened. Partially because I went to my favorite Facebook moms group, which is my alumni moms group. And I asked them, I was like, help settle an argument between me and my mother. Like,
I have a two year old, actually back then it was like almost two year old and an almost four year old. And we don't go out to dinner almost ever because it sucks, right? Like, and is this just like because it's always going to suck or it's like at this age, there's nothing you can do or am I like feeling as a parent, right? And I got mixed responses. Most people were like, look, I think it depends on the personality of the kid. Like my first kid could sit at a restaurant, no problem. And my second kid, I would never take them to a restaurant because they just can't handle that, right? That was sort of like the tone of it, right? Is that it kind of depends on the kid. It sounds like your kids may not be restaurant kids and that's fine and there's no reason to push it. But like the thing is Corey and I are kind of restaurant people, you know?
Like we like going out to restaurants and I love not having any dishes to do. And after the pandemic, I love going out to a restaurant and like getting that feeling again right of like being able to get a pick from a menu and then not have to clean up. I mean, honestly, like mostly it revolves around not having to like cook or clean like the actual eating of it. is like the lowest on the list. It's good. It's good. I'm just saying that like nothing beats not having to choose what to cook and not having to clean it up afterwards like really primo wonderful stuff. Okay. So with that said, like there was one person who said like eating out at restaurants is important to me and my husband. It's like an important value that we hold. And so we've been trying to quote unquote train our kids to be
Civil at restaurants, but it's taken a lot of work and a lot of practice and it may not be for you basically It was a very caring like response But it kind of made me think like it is a value of ours and we're not like doing this, right? How old are her kids? Well, her kids are older now, but she said she started when they were young, right?
Shanna
Mm-hmm.
Laura
So anyway, this is just like background noise to build up to the story I'm telling you which is This Friday, it was time to go pick up Sebastian from his daycare, which is like two blocks from her house, as I've mentioned, and Augie gets out of school about 30 minutes before Sebastian. So like Corey went and picked up Augie and got home and I said, hey, I've got an idea. Like let's all walk to pick up Sebastian and then we'll continue walking and go to the library because I actually had to pick something up at the library, and I was like, the kids will have fun. They'll pick out some books, and then we can come home and have dinner. Everyone was on board, so we did that. We walked down to the library. But then when we were done with the library, it was getting kind of late. And Cory and I looked at each other and were like, do we dare? Do we dare suggest an option of eating out?
Uh, and we went for it. So we walked, uh, we had a little bit of a like discussion about what we should get. Augie was like, I want pizza. So we're like, okay, we'll, we'll find some more worth pizza. That's like a million places everywhere has pizza.
Shanna
Yeah.
Laura
But we landed on BJs. Do you know BJs?
Shanna
Mm hmm. Yeah. to sit down restaurant. Is BJ's a national chain? I don't know if it's national, but it's definitely a chain that I know of here in Los Angeles.
Laura
Yeah, I mean, it's like along the lines of I want to say like a Chili's and Applebee's kind of right, like a family friendly, lots of beers on tap. Big booths. Yeah, exactly. So we're walking right by it, it was open, there were places to sit and so we're like, okay, let's do that. And I have to say, Shanna, it went OK. It went OK. Oh, good. That's great. The kids wanted to walk around. You know, like we ordered our food immediately and then like let the kids sort of walk around, Sebastian kind of climbed around some booths, which I didn't feel great about, but there was no one in them. Like there was no one around. So I was like, let him do his thing. And then when our food came, we actually gave our kids Our cell phones to watch YouTube because Corey and I wanted to like sit and eat dinner. But the bottom line of the story is that it wasn't a total fucking disaster.
Shanna
Yay.
Laura
And it's starting to give me a little bit of hope for the future that this is something we might be able to do more often.
Shanna
That's good.
Laura
Yeah, it's totally good because I'll tell you what I didn't do that night.
Shanna
Hmm.
Laura
Dishes.
Shanna
Yay. Mama wins. Yeah. Well, do you think it had something to do with the fact that you went out at an early hour when not many people were out and it was an appropriate time for your kids to be doing something like that?
Laura
100% like we learned our lesson with the last time that it was like you know you think it's an early time when you go to have dinner at like 6 30 but that's that's adult brain.
Shanna
Oh hell no no I do not think that.
Laura
You don't I'm saying like before you had kids if I said to you we have a 6 30 dinner reservation you would have been like okay grandma. Yes yes definitely. Now you're like 6.30. I don't think we can make it that late. No, we don't leave the house at that hour.
How times have changed. Yeah, it was more like five when we got there. And you know, we knew we could get food fairly quickly. So that helps because the last time we did this, it was like, yeah, 6.30. It wasn't like a particularly kid-friendly place, this other place. It wasn't kid-unfriendly. It wasn't anti-kid, but it's not like they had a big kid's menu. They didn't have pictures on their menus. I feel like that's sort of one of those things, right? If there are pictures on the menu, it's a little bit more likely that it's a kid-friendly place.
Shanna
Did they have a paper menu with crayons that they gave to the kids at BJ's?
Laura
Oh, yes, they did. You got three little crayons, and you got the menu, and they got to do their little, like, scribbles on the maze, and, yeah, exactly. And they have something called the mini Pizuki for kids.
Oh, God.
Shanna
Really? I love the Pizuki. Like, oh, my God, one of my favorite things in the world. So that's awesome. They have them for kids.
Laura
Since I've been talking a lot, would you like to describe to our listeners what a Pizuki is?
Shanna
Oh, it is like in a round small cast iron little tin and it is a underbaked chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on top, if I remember correctly.
Laura
Well, now you can choose your like cookie and ice cream flavor. So, Augie got chocolate chocolate. I know, and Sebastian got the classic. But of course, they shared a kid's meal, but had to each have their own kid's bazookie.
Shanna
Of course, of course. Well, that sounds like a perfect place to take kids. And the perfect hour. And all the stars were aligning for you that day. That's great.
Laura
Yeah. So I have to say that if anyone had heard our plight from a few months ago, I just want to say that there is hope again. And, you know, we got a little side eye from some people for having both of our kids watching our iPhones while we were eating. But I, like, could not give a fuck. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I, like, I could not care less about people. It's funny. Like, I hear people be like, oh, I'm worried people are judging me. Like, I don't give a fuck. These kids, like, if you want, if I wanted to eat my chicken Alfredo in peace, that was what was necessary. So, yeah. But yeah, that was our Friday. And that's pretty much the most interesting thing that happened to us this week. So.
Shanna
Well, when Pazookies are involved, it is interesting, Laura. So I'll give it to you.
Laura
I will say I got to eat most of Sebastian's, which was a highlight of my day. So. All right.
Shanna
Good for you. You wanted more than one way.
Laura
Yes. Okay, so that is my check-in for this week. Shanna, what have you been up to? Any cookies?
Shanna
Any ice cream happening on your end? Oh no, but I have another delicacy that I'm gonna talk about. Just you wait. OK, so this week CECE is on spring break, which does not align with L school or like literally any other school in the Los Angeles area. So I'm like, OK, all right, we'll do this. Convenient. Yeah, so convenient. But I took a couple of days off of work so that I could care for my child. I guess, you know, while she wasn't at school. But I wanted to try to have some kind of adventure, do something fun with her. Now, back when she did her four year checkup at the pediatrician a while back, I had like sent the pediatrician a message and was like, you know, I'm concerned that maybe CECE has some sensory processing issues, you know, I think some of her reactions and behavioral stuff are sometimes set off by you know, loud noises or touches or whatever. I don't really know.
But anyway, the pediatrician was like, okay, here are a few places that you can look into for maybe an occupational therapist assessment. And one of these places was called the Child Development Institute. And there are two locations here in the valley, one in Recita and one in Kanoga Park. So I called the Child Development Institute and kind of gave them the rundown of what I was looking for. And it didn't seem like that was quite what they offered, et cetera, et cetera. I got put in touch with someone who runs programming there. What it comes down to is one of the things that this place does offer that I learned about is an incredibly cool indoor play space that's completely free. It's called the Early Learning Center. Yes, I never heard about it. It's like three miles down the street from my house.
And the woman I was talking to was like, oh, yeah, you should come down while your daughter's on spring break and come play for free. And I was like, OK, sure. I need something to do with her. I love the idea that it's free, of course. So we went down there. I had no idea what to expect. I was expecting maybe some kind of like rinky dink little place. This place was freaking awesome. I think it's funded by a lot of foundations in the city, like the Milken Foundation and even like Cedar Sinai. Like, there's a lot of money put into this early learning center is what I'm saying. We walk inside. It's huge and it's inside of an old church. So like the entire chapel area is like gutted and filled with all these different play areas for kids. Like one is set up as a doctor's office.
One area is set up as a little grocery store where CECE was like getting groceries and running them on the scanner and it was beeping. And there's like a reading section and just tons of toys, a huge tree house with a slide here. I'm just gonna send you a couple of pictures of what's going on here.
Laura
I can't believe you've never heard of this. I mean, I haven't, but I'm not three miles away from it.
Shanna
I know. No one brings this up in any of my neighborhood moms groups. I mean, I haven't rushed to the neighborhood moms groups to talk about it either, so maybe that's my fault too. Let's see. Okay, I just sent you a few of the pictures we took there.
Laura
Okay, let's see. Oh, there's CECE going down a very cute purple slide in this treehouse. Oh, there she is, ringing up her groceries. I always think it's so funny that kids want to play, pretend, doing all the boring adult shit that we have to do all the time, like grocery shopping. Sebastian always wants to sit at my desk and quote, unquote, work. You know, he like wants to type on my keyboard. I'm like, dude, I know that you are interested in this because your parents do it, but it's so boring. You don't want to play like go run around. Oh, and there she is. Oh, is that a house made out of books? How cool. Yeah. Oh, this looks awesome.
Shanna
And it was perfect because it was pouring that day. You'll see she has her rain boots on in one of the shots. And so we couldn't like go to a park. We couldn't do anything. This was the perfect timing for me to learn about this indoor space. And they do have a big beautiful garden outdoor space too, but we just couldn't use it. So that was really fun and we happened to run into her preschool friend there. So it was like an accidental play date. And it was just like a really fun thing to do with her. And then I'm like, you know, let's extend this. I want this to be like a mommy CECE day date, you know, like, let's do, let's make more of this. So I was like, CECE, it's lunchtime. Let's go to a restaurant, speaking of restaurants. I was like, I would love to take you out to lunch. Where would you like to go? And I don't know, I'm picturing maybe a presto pasta or some restaurant restaurant.
And she thought about it for one second. She was like Taco Bell.
Laura
Well, we know your Taco Bell budget is $600 a month. So that works.
Shanna
Yeah, yeah, it fit in the budget. And clearly, she's my child if she's a good Taco Bell. And it is my favorite fast food. But I was like, oh, OK. I don't know the last time I've eaten inside of a Taco Bell. But let's do it. Let's have a sit-down lunch. So we went. And she fell in love with the taco that is made with a Dorito shell.
Laura
Oh, yes.
Shanna
She was just in heaven. She's like, I am chomping and munching this taco.
Laura
That is an adorable and accurate description of what you were doing.
Shanna
And then after that, we went to the library and checked out like 30 kids books as we always do. And I was just like so nice to spend one on one time with her at it actually ended up like being really great that she had spring break on her own because I don't get a lot of one on one time with her it's often you know L is around and there's nothing wrong with the sisters but like I said before sometimes there's some tension so it was really nice to. Just be with her and have that mommy date and we really bonded and it was fun.
Laura
Oh, that sounds really nice And like I get it and even though my kids are younger like and it makes sense that it's harder for me like having two kids it's to pay attention to is just so much more psychologically taxing than when you just have the one to focus on. Even if you're not bonding and creating the most meaningful moments, it's like you only have to worry about one child's feelings and needs, right? And there's so much peace that comes with that compared to the constant calibrating of two children who are on different eating schedules are different like whatever different moods and you're you're trying to like figure out a way that for both of them to come through the day intact like it's it's really refreshing to just have the one to focus on.
Shanna
Yeah, trying to manage everyone's happiness is very exhausting. When you think about the number of relationships just going on when you're with your two kids, it's like, my relationship with Cece, my relationship with Elle. Elle's relationship with Cece, there's just so many more dynamics all happening at once. But when it's just me and Cece, yeah, it's just calmer and just nice. So I'm here to say, if you can find time, You listeners, you know, just try to get away with one of your children even for a little bit to kind of have that bonding time.
Laura
I feel like even for people who only have one kid doing the one on one time, like you said, you know, there's a lot of relationship dynamics when there's more than two people involved. So even if it's like you and your partner and your kid. It's you talk to your partner like you and your partner maybe disagree on how to deal with the situation or whatever. There's all that stuff like that extra stuff going on. But when it's just the two of you, you know, you and your kid, you can sort of get some clarity there. So yeah. Yeah. Well, that sounds nice. I'm glad that there was an upside to her having a very weird week to be off school.
Shanna
Yeah. And she had a blast. Like she absolutely loved being on spring break, even though we didn't get out all the time. You know, we did another mommy date another day that week that was fun. But most of the time, honestly, I was just sitting around the house and hanging out, playing, watching TV, and just living our best life. So it was all good.
Laura
Awesome.
Shanna
But I think that's about all for me. So why don't we move on to our special segment? Let's do it.
Laura
Okay, we are back and our special segment this week is OMG, I'm freaking out. Where we discuss things we're freaking out about. Pretty straightforward. The description stands alone and Shanna, I want to get right to it. I want to hear what's freaking you out these days.
Shanna
Okay, I have a specific incident that freaked me out that I need to tell you about. Okay. So a couple of days ago, we went to take the girls for gelato at a shopping center near where we live. And it's a really cute shopping center with a lot of restaurants and shops. And there's a big Climbing play structure for kids kind of in the center area with some big grass and a lot of like water fountain features and stuff like that all around and I was like let's go there will get gelato and the kids can play and it'll be like really nice fun evening. So I'm going to send you a couple of pictures of the locations so you can kind of get an idea of what it's like. Okay. Okay. Cause yeah, I'm having a hard time visualizing it.
Laura
Okay. So I see L standing in front of like a shallow pool filled with big rocks and a cool, like, water feature off to the side, like, okay. Oh, and then there's this, like, climbing structure. It's kind of similar to what they have at kid's space. Like, they add things like a, I don't know, big saucers arranged in a semi-circle that kids can, like, gradually climb up on. And there's a big net around it.
Shanna
Mm-hmm.
Laura
This looks like fun.
Shanna
Yeah, super fun. So we finish our gelato and we kind of make our way towards this little play area. And Steve and I are just sitting on one side of this huge play structure. And the play structure is between us and the water. Right. So I can't really see the water. But the girls are just running up and down this climbing structure. There are tons of people here. I mean, this thing is full of kids. They're like little ants in an anthill or something. It was just like teaming with people. And I was like, oh, they're fine. They're just like climbing around and everything. And Steve and I are just talking. It was just one of those moments where I wasn't fully supervising my kids. I wasn't a hawk on them at that moment. I was just letting them play. And all of a sudden, L comes running around from the other side of the climbing structure and she's like, mama, mama. And I'm like, what?
She's like, come here, come here, come here. And I hop up and I start going towards her. I'm like, what, what? And I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, oh my God, like someone went into the water, right? Like I had been eyeing at the whole time, like there is no barrier between the children and the water. There's no railing. There's no nothing. And all I'm seeing is Elle coming screaming at me. And so I'm like, oh my god, what happened to CeCe? What happened to CeCe? Like my blood pressures through the roof. I'm freaking out. I'm like, what happened? What happened? She's like, just come here. And I'm like, OK, OK, OK, OK. So I run around the climbing structure, and I get to the other side by where the water is. That's where she's leading me. And at that point, I'm hearing Cece screaming and crying hysterically, but I don't see her yet. And I'm just like, what's going on? What's going on?
And Elle's like, right there, right there. And she points into the water. And I'm like, what? What? What? I don't see anything. She's like, right there, right there. And Laura, I look out into the middle of the water feature. And it's Cece's left shoe. Just floating there.
I looked to my right and I finally see CeCe, she's standing on shore without a shoe. Crying her head off hysterically and pointing at her shoe because her shoe got lost in the water. I was like, are you fucking kidding me? I thought there was like a serious emergency. funny thing is like we I was in emergency mode at that point and I think Steve was too like we started treating this missing shoe like a fucking emergency we're like okay all right okay now Steve you stand here and Steve's like oh why don't you take off your shoes and we'll just walk out and get it I'm like no like there's boulders everywhere she could trip and fall And there's panic level of saving this shoe and crowds are gathering, Lord. There's people up on the landing looking down. One other dad is over on the side. He's trying to help. He's like, paddle the water in towards you. Make a current so that it comes back.
And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what to do. And I'm like, there's a toddler with a stick nearby. And I almost grab it out of his hand. And I'm like, I'm not going to take a stick from a toddler.
Laura
No, no.
Shanna
Do you have a death wish, maybe? Exactly. I had enough sense to not do that at least. Meanwhile, Cece is just, I mean, over the top hysterical about her shoe being lost.
Laura
By the way, I think this is a child who does not wear shoes very much in general. Am I right?
Shanna
I mean, she doesn't have a firm attachment for shoes. I don't know why this scared her upset her so much. But I was ready to write the shoe off. I was like, oh, forget it. You know, it's like a... $10 pair of shoes from Target, whatever, but then the water feature that you saw in the picture like creates a current and starts pushing the shoe back towards the shoes floating, right? And it starts coming back towards us and everyone's like, oh, it's coming back. And so we're like waiting, waiting for the shoe to come back to shore. I'm like, I think I got it. I think I got it. And then the current going the other way like pushes the shoe back out towards and I miss it and at this point I'm like I look over at CECE and she's still alone over there crying hysterically and I'm like what am I doing like I need to be comforting her like why yeah such a weird
like jumping into emergency action over something that was like so not an emergency. So I like just went and picked her up and I was like, whatever, people can figure it out in the crowd. You know, some mom comes over with a stick.
And finally grandma. Oh my god, my mother-in-law, she's awesome. She was with us that day. She had jeans and flip-flops on. She happened to wear flip-flops because we were racing out the door to go to get gelato. And she's like, I can't find my shoes. I'll just wear my flip-flops. And I was like, OK, perfect. It would turn out to be perfect. She just walked into the water with her flip-flops.
Laura
There's like a half hour of strategy meeting trying to figure it out. And Steve's mom is just like, guys, can I just walk out there? Okay, great. I'm going to walk out there and get it.
Shanna
Exactly. And when she did it, it became so obvious how shallow this pool was and how not dangerous.
Okay, I took a couple pictures of the shoe in the water and grandma rescuing it, I have to show you. I need to see it. So this first picture, you can see the float away shoe in the crowd starting to form. Wait, I have to zoom in. The shoe is so tiny. Yeah. You would never know it's there, but it's there.
Laura
Oh yeah, we have a couple pairs of those shoes. Those are good target shoes, I gotta say.
Shanna
Yeah, I like the rubber reinforced toe. And then here's grandma saving the day.
Laura
You know what? Part of it is that the perspective of the tiny shoe, CECE's teeny, tiny feet. These are probably the same size that Sebastian wears, right? Oh, for sure. It makes it look like the water's deeper and it's further out. And then when your mother-in-law actually goes out there, you realize like, oh. This is essentially a glorified puddle, guys.
Shanna
Yes, exactly. That's exactly what it felt like. I was just like, oh, we were all freaking out about nothing. And the people started like applauding.
Laura
That's hilarious. I do love all the people watching. Like, it really does look like everyone's got a strategy. You know, everyone's so concerned about the shoe.
Shanna
Yes, people jumped in to help. It was heartening to see the community come together for the shoe, for sure.
Laura
Look, sometimes you just need a grandma to shut it down. You know, like, guys, this is ridiculous.
Shanna
Yes, definitely. She came in with her no-nonsense way and was just like, let me do it. And she did it and it was great. And then the girls played without shoes the rest of the time. So, oh well.
Laura
Well, Steve's mom is the hero of the day.
Shanna
Yeah, totally. Oh my gosh. And afterward, I was like, how did your shoe even get in the pond? Like, what happened? And Cece was still a little bit too emotional to discuss, but Elle was like, oh, we were just like kicking rocks into the pond. And she was like, you know, swatting her foot and then the shoe just fell off. I'm just like, Oh my gosh. This is what I get for taking one minute of my life to not just be on top of my kids and watching them like a hawk. Oh my goodness. Yeah. All right. So that was my OMGM freaking out. Laura, what is yours?
Laura
Okay. So my OMGM freaking out is that I think I have bitten off more than I can chew. I have over promised and I'm afraid I'm going to under deliver on a project for Augie. Uh-oh. The project is his new big boy bed, all right?
Shanna
Oh, okay.
Laura
So he's still in a converted toddler, like a crib, right? Like the crib with the toddler rail on it and he's starting. to get a little big for it, right? Like, he still fits, he's still little, but it's time, right, to give him a proper bed. And I was waffling about what size to get him, blah, blah, blah, until one day on my Buy Nothing group recently, I saw someone post an Ikea Hemnes, I don't know, I never know how to pronounce anything Ikea, but it's the H-E-M-N-E-S Hemnes trundle bed. Okay. For free because obviously by nothing grew. Nice. If I could pick it up that day and I was like, fuck yeah. Actually, more accurately, I was like, let me look this up on the IKEA.com. Oh shit. This is a $600 bed. Fuck yeah. Nice.
So the reason it's so expensive is it's a twin sized bed, but it has a trundle and you pull it out. And what you do is you buy two mattresses that are the same and you stack them when it's just like a normal bed. And when you want to have it be like the big size, you flop the other mattress over and then it turns into like a queen sized bed basically. That's cool. And I was like, this seems useful.
Shanna
Is it like a wood frame or a metal frame?
Laura
Yeah, so here, let me send you the listing. Okay. Okay, it's actually called the Hemnes Daybed with three drawers, two mattresses.
Shanna
Oh, that's nice. That's like a wooden frame, and it looks like it has drawers underneath the mattress, but I assume that's the part that pulls out to the trundle.
Laura
It is actually functioning drawers too, Shanna. Oh my gosh. If you swipe through, You can see that it's like actual storage and the trundle just sort of like sits above it.
Shanna
Oh, that's nice. That's a great buy nothing find. Oh my gosh.
Laura
Agreed. So I was like, yes, please. I'll be over soon. Right. So it was painted pink with little heart drawer pulls, right? But I was like, I can paint it a different color. Okay. This is where someone should have said, yes, Laura, you can paint it a different color and leave it at that. And Augie will think that's great and you can stop there, right? That's a normal person place to stop. Yeah, what did you promise him? Well, I started thinking and I was like, you know what he would love? It'd be so cool because these have these like panels, right? All around. It's like solid on three sides. And I was like, it's such like a huge space boring, right? Just a color. I'm like, I should decorate it somehow. And it's like, you know what? I should turn them into like spaceship controls. Oh, wow.
Like use my cricket to cut out like circles and squares and just, you know, a bunch of different shapes that like can he can pretend it's like spaceship controls because his bedroom is already kind of like space themed. Like there's moons on the wall, like decals, right? And rocket ships and stuff. So I was like, okay, that'll be on theme and he loves Star Wars. That could have been a place to stop. Yeah, it could have been. But then I was like, maybe I should make it like the Millennium Falcon controls. I wonder what those look like. Wow. So I started like going into it. And then I made a mock-up of what it might look like.
Shanna
Reletting him in on all these plans as you went along.
Laura
Thankfully, I have not let him in on like the specifics. All I've told him is that I'm going to make him a spaceship bed. But I'm afraid that with his very, very vivid imagination, he's imagining something even more elaborate than I'm already planning. Here, I'm going to send you the little mock-up I made in Photoshop with the like dark gray that I painted it. and the controls for the Millennium Falcon that I found online. Oh, cool.
Shanna
Okay, let's see.
Laura
Oh my god, what? Okay, so I should say... It's not actually going to be this detail. Like I took a picture that someone had uploaded of like the Millennium Falcon controls and just like applied it to the thing. I'm not, I can't make it this elaborate. Like there's no way, right?
Shanna
Well, what about this gigantic like headboard thing behind it that looks like a windshield or something? Are you going to make that?
Laura
That is, that is the window. Well, here's why. Cause I was like, Oh, Augie, I'm going to make your, I'm going to try to make your bed into a spaceship. And he's like, with the window looking out into space. And I was like, uh-huh, yeah, I guess I am. I don't know. I was like, oh, I can do it with my cricket. But now I'm like, how much vinyl is this going to take? So yeah, that's what I'm freaking out about is that I feel like I've kind of gone off the rails. You know I love an ambitious craft project. That is kind of my jam. But the other thing is this kind of has to be like, Get done? Like at least the assembly needs to get done like within a day while he's at school?
Shanna
Oh my gosh, you're going to need to hire a team of helpers for this. These pieces in this picture are numbered. And I mean, it goes up to like number 27, Laura. There's like so many freaking components to this thing.
Laura
Well, yes. OK, yes. I have to simplify it. But I don't know. You know, me too. I'm like kind of a perfectionist with this stuff. I'm like, well, maybe I can do it. Anyway, basically that's what I'm freaking out about because I'm like, hmm. Maybe it should just be spray-painted gray, which is what I've already done, which already took me an entire day. Like set me behind on work.
But I don't know if Augie's gonna ever forgive me.
Shanna
I don't know. Maybe you could recruit him to help you and give him some circle vinyl stickers that he can put where he wants to make controls or something. I don't know.
Laura
That's not a terrible idea actually because then he'll feel like he did it.
Shanna
Yeah.
Laura
The other thing I was thinking is maybe just applying it to one side of the outside of the bed because there's a lot more real estate there and that way I can just sort of like make it a rectangle, right? Like it's a lot easier to design a rectangle than this three-dimensional shit I have gotten myself into. So, Yes. Anyway, stay tuned. We'll see what happens there.
Shanna
Oh, my gosh. Amazing. Well, either way, it's going to be a fabulous bed for him. You know, kids have the best imaginations. He's going to love using it as a spaceship, no matter what you do with it, Laura.
Laura
Thank you. Thank you. OK, so that was my OMGM freaking out. I think we should move on to our BFPs and BFN so we can wrap this up so I can get going on making that giant bed. That's right.
Shanna
Yes, chop chop.
Laura
OK.
Shanna
We're back and we wrap up every episode with our weekly Big Fat positives or Big Fat negatives. Laura, you're up first and I want to know what you got for us.
Laura
I have a BFP. All right. And it is an app for the iPad, although I'm not sure it might be on Google Play as well. This is an app I got for Augie based on a recommendation from my alumni moms group, actually. Somebody posted like we're going on a road trip with a four-year-old like give me apps and this is one that people kept repeating over and over that I had never heard of so I was like oh I got to get it. And it's called teach your monster to read. Have you ever heard of it? Oh yeah I think I have heard of that one. Tell us more though. So it's a paid app, it was $4.99, but I think it was well worth it because you don't have stupid ads popping up all the time, which I really like.
Shanna
And it's rare to find a good kids app that isn't like a weekly subscription, a weekly subscription that costs an arm and a leg. I'm like, thank you, just $5 and give me the thing.
Laura
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, no in-app purchases or any of that crap. So love that about it. And so what it does is it's like the premises you have this monster right and your kid gets to like personalize the monster and you're supposed to be like it's he stranded on like a alien planet or something and you have to teach him to read together up the letters so that you can get him off the planet or fix his spaceship or whatever. But there are all these little games that you can play, like little sub games. And it slowly builds up this like phonics recognition for your kids. And it's honestly like it's crazy to me. So I knew that Augie was like starting to get really interested in reading. And he was starting to like identify small words and stuff. And like he loved pointing out letters and books and stuff. And was definitely showing all that like early interest stuff.
But I hadn't like sat down to try to teach him to read or anything. He's played this app like, you know, an hour here and there all week. He loves it. He thinks it's so fun. Um, and the kids like seriously learning his letters and like the letter sounds like that's awesome. He's learning how to construct words. Like I walked into his room the other day and he was like spelling the word king, you know, and he was like, it's like a multiple choice type thing. You know, you try to find the K and he finds it, you know, all that stuff. I'm just like blown away at how well it's working.
Shanna
Yeah.
Laura
And I'm just happy he's not watching YouTube kids. So I wanted to spread the joy and let people know that if they have preschoolers who are starting to show interest, like this is a very fun app that seems to work really well.
Shanna
Awesome. I love educational apps that are also engaging. I mean, it's so hard to find that perfect balance. So that sounds really awesome. I need to get that for Cece because she's super interested in letters and reading and stuff. I think she would like that too.
Laura
Yeah. Let me know how it goes. Yeah, for sure. So again, that's teach your monster to read. Cute. And I found it on the Apple App Store. Yeah. So Shanna, how about you? Do you have a BFP or a BFN? I have a BFP.
Shanna
Yay. Yay. This is a big one for me. It's in the self-care department, which I do not do enough of. I stopped getting professional haircuts around about March 2020. Something happened around then? Like why? A little something. I started cutting my hair at home and I'd get like a balayage kit and add a little blonde that really didn't do crap to my hair. Whatever. Just sad hair for so many years. I've been reluctant to kind of get back into finding a new stylist and everything. Well, I am so proud to say that I finally did it. I found someone to go see and I got my hair cut and highlighted and I am feeling fresh. Ooh, I want to see. Oh, here, let me show you a photo of right out of the salon.
Laura
Ooh, I left a fresh out of the chair photo. Let's see. Oh, Shanna, you looking good girl.
Shanna
Thank you. It feels so good, especially the color. Like I just love having lighter hair. I feel like my hair has gotten darker as I've gotten older. And so I just like feeling fresher, like it hearkens to my childhood being in the Arizona sun, you know, all the time. lightning my hair. I just like that feels like me personally. So that felt really great. And she didn't take much length off, but just like gave it an actual cut instead of just a chop along the bottom and a somewhat straight line.
Yeah, it just, it feels good. And the stylist was so nice. I talked all about our podcast to her because she has kids and we were just talking about our kids the whole time and we really hit it off and she was awesome. And it was just like two, two and a half hours of total fun, like just a great time.
Laura
I love getting my hair done. I stopped, you know, during the height of the pandemic, but then my stylist who I've been going to for like 13 years or something. Maybe 15 years now. Oh my god. Really? Yeah. Ava, she's amazing. I've probably talked about her on the podcast before. She's also a mom. Like at this point we're like friends, right? So she actually started an outdoor like salon spot and like she has a salon and she had like really cool outdoor spots during the later stages of the pandemic. So I was like, that was the first thing I like took a risk and did because I was like, mama needs her red hair.
Shanna
Yeah. It's just, you know, stylists just do it better. They just do it better than I can do at home. My old stylist that I went to for a while became a real estate agent, so I had to find someone new. And I just always am like, I don't know. I don't know how to pick. It is hard. And then I forget about it. But yeah, so yeah, feeling good.
Laura
Love it. Well, I'm proud of you and I'm glad you're pampering yourself.
Shanna
Thank you. Yes. Much deserved. But I think that's it for me and I think that's it for our show. Should we wrap things up?
Laura
Yeah. But before we do, I have a five star review to read.
Shanna
Awesome.
Laura
This is from Becca on Apple Podcast. Becca says, the best podcast, five stars. I love BFP. Every Monday, I'm so excited for a new episode. Every conversation is insightful, funny, relatable, and just feels like I'm with friends. Thanks for such a wonderful podcast.
Shanna
Aw, that warms my heart. Thank you, Becca. Yes, thank you, Becca. Anything we can do to make people's Mondays better, right?
Laura
Truly, truly. We are the anti-Garfields here.
Shanna
Although I do love lasagna. If you would like to leave us a five-star review, please do us a favor and head on over to Apple Podcast and drop us those five stars, say a few things you love about the show, and we might read it on an upcoming episode. If you have any OMGs I'm freaking out that you want to share with us, you know we'd love to hear them. Laura, where can everyone reach us?
Laura
We are on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok at BFPpodcast. We have a website, bigpatpositivepodcast.com. If you want to send us an email, you can always throw a voice memo in there. Just send it to contact at bigpatpositivepodcast.com. And finally, if you want to join legitimately the coolest group of people on the internet, just search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It's a private group, so you have to request to join. Once you answer those two membership questions to make sure you're not a robot, we will send you straight through to all the amazing, wonderful, insightful, heartwarming, hilarious conversations we're having in there.
Shanna
Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Have a big, fat, positive week, everyone. See you next time. Bye. Bye.