First off, let me say that I love this online Raising Arizona Kids Calendar. However, I must say if you can find the magazine you will love that even more. The website gives you a great calendar of events for any given day, but is limited to just that day. The magazine offers a month long calendar of events and fun activities that often I wouldn’t have even heard of without it.I have been grumbling about what to do with my children this summer, and decided to take matters into my own hands. I tried a few different sites before I came to this one, and this one had just what I was looking for but didn’t know it yet.

Through June 1st Winnie the Pooh is playing matinee hours at the Broadway Palm Theater. For $15 you sit down to a buffet lunch at noon, followed by the show at 1:00. The buffet was simple but perfect for my kids, and the show was very well done while not being too long to lose their attention. We sat near the back, which concerned me when purchasing the tickets, but everyone in the room has a fine view of the stage. And afterward we even got to meet Pooh and his friends and got their autographs! My son, the 5 year old, was beaming from ear to ear. If you can get tickets before it is gone, I highly recommend taking any child under 10.

After Pooh is gone they will be performing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in late June and July.

It was a great experience all around, and I would recommend these two services to anyone.

The children in my house are ages 5, 3 and 3 respectively. What this means is that I got the baby portion of my life over with very quickly. In my family we called that the “Slug Stage”. What this also means is that although I’m caring for three, I have no experience with what comes next at any stage or age. It’s a boot camp for Moms. A sink or swim situation.Any time a new obstacle comes up, it’s a learning experience. I’m sure that’s true for everyone, but for me it’s a lot of pressure. If I can’t figure out how to handle a new problem or issue in a hurry, it will quickly become a problem x 3. Can’t get child #1 to stop burping at dinner? Well then you can be sure #2 and 3 will take full advantage.

However, the reverse is also true. If I can manage to understand something early enough, it’s easy to remember the solution by the time child #2 is dealing with it. (Quite often it’s the next day.) Getting rid of the pacifiers in our house came so easily it was almost scary. Want to get rid of the cribs and install big kid beds for everyone? No problem. The little ones want to be just like the big kid anyway. That’s the power of three.

Three times the mess, three times the fights and three times the laughter.

The magic number three also applies at playtime. Sometimes it’s a wonderful thing to have a choice of play partners. For my son he has his choice to play bigger kid games with my daughter, or rough and tumble boy games with Jack. For Emma she’s got the big kid to look up to, and the smaller child to teach. And Jack likes to vary between dress-up with the girl or wrestling with the boy.

But again, there’s two sides to every coin. A lot of the time their various choices don’t quite mesh. Emma wants to play dress-up, but the boys are busy jumping off the couch. Inevitably someone ends up unhappy. Someone’s crying and the other two are off in their own world. It’s a magic (and seldom seen) day when the three of them can agree.

They’re learning to swim together this summer. They’re going to Kids Camp together. For now they’re spending every waking moment together. But one day soon Nick will be in school full-time and I’ll be left behind with just two. I’m honestly not sure if things will then get better or worse. But they’re always going to be new.

I don’t care what my calendar says about the first day of summer arriving in June, the Arizona Summer has arrived. The sun is out, my kids are free and the pool is calling our names.We started them off in safe little flotation vests for the first few trips, but in a very short span of time my children have become water babies. They’re naturals. As I was in my day. That’s just what happens when you grow up in Arizona, you learn to swim young and you learn to love it. Because you will not feel cool again until November.

It’s coming up on day 3 of summer for us, and I’m already counting the weeks until school starts again. I want to be enjoying this time at home with the kids, I really do. But in this kind of weather, there are only so many places to go. You either slather them in sunscreen and take them somewhere to get wet, or you find a nice air conditioned museum/library/indoor playground to take them to.

We do have a membership to the zoo, but from the moment you pay the $85 fee you’ve already mentally subtracted the summer months right off the top. Even the animals don’t want to be at the zoo in the summer. In fact, the Letter From The Editor of the zoo newsletter was actually asking for suggestions on how to cool down and perk up the poor inhabitants of that fair institution. I’m afraid I can’t help him. And even if I could I can’t afford the gas to get out there. But it never has seemed fair to me that they brought those poor black bears to live here in our heat and sun. Everyone knows you don’t wear black (or fur) during our summers.

So I guess it’s back to the pool again tomorrow. I should have invested in Banana Boat years ago. I could afford to buy my own pool by now.

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” ~Russel Baker

My son is five years old. He’s been potty trained for 2 years now, he trained early and easily and I stopped worrying about his toilet habits long ago. But that’s just how they get you right where they want you. Lulled into complacency, confident in their abilities, they throw you a curve ball.Apparently this afternoon Nick was too busy to stop playing in the sprinklers long enough to use the restroom. I found this out when I heard him slam the back door and sprint through the kitchen into the bathroom. As he ran he was chanting, “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh”, which never means good things.

I found him in the bathroom dumping poop out of his underwear into the potty. On the floor next to him was a turd. Behind me, another one that I’d just missed stepping in. And a trail of them leading all the way out the back door.

I couldn’t be upset with him, because I know there’s a terrific Hansel and Gretel joke in here somewhere. And I’m sure I’ll find it before his date for the prom.

I’ve come to realize that I hold a lot of fear in my heart. Specifically I fear crowds, heights and enclosed spaces. I’m sure there are more, but these are the big ones. And these three things can sometimes happen to a person all at once, such as at a place like Makutu’s Island.If you haven’t been, (and you’re braver than I), you really must take your kids. They will absolutely love it and they will sleep like babies when they are done. It’s a jungle room the size of Home Depot in which your children can run, jump, play and slide.

But back to the point. There are areas in Makutu’s where you can find yourself 20 feet in the air, inside a cramped tunnel, with children surrounding and climbing over you. This problem is not exclusive to Makutu’s Island, I’m merely using them as an example. But that just happens to be the last place I remember leaving my stomach.

Suspended 20 feet in the air with a full view of the ground below, feeling the creek of the chains above me and breathing the stale air of the plastic tunnel system… I temporarily lost my mind. The children around me who had been decent and lovely until then suddenly appeared frightening and angry. They wanted me to get out of their way, and I genuinely wanted to oblige them. But I couldn’t. I could not make my legs move any further. I crouched there and began to sob like a child. I wanted to move so badly, but to me it felt like there was no where to go. My body wanted OUT, but my mind was too embarassed to call for help.

And then I saw her. My Emma. She was 10 feet in front of me and had come back to check where I’d disappeared to. This same three year old girl who has been attached to my hip like an albatross for the past 6 months, was suddenly my greatest hero in my time of need. Emma led me out of my plastic captor with a chipmunk grin, and I gave her the biggest hug of her short life.

She had no idea what she did for me at the time, but I’ll try to remember her kindness the next time I’m exhausted of her constant attachment to my leg. It’s only a phase, I know. But just when I couldn’t wait for her to get over it, I realized my leg is going to miss her when she’s gone.

I spent this past week doing what every mother should do once in a while. I left town.All by myself. No children, no chores, no laundry and no responsibilities. I went to New York City to visit an old friend, and I won’t give you all the details but needless to say my week started with two full days of shopping and ended with a visit to the Naked Cowboy. I had a fabulous time, and I recommend a similar trip to the rest of you.

While I was gone, I left my children in the care of my dear friend Karli. She picked them up from preschool everyday and brought them back to my house until my husband came home in the evening. She even cooked dinner for all of them, which I told her was above and beyond the call of duty. But she was a trooper, and claims to have had an easy time. In jest I asked my husband if Karli was a better wife than I, and he merely said, “No comment.”

The interesting part of coming home was listening to her describe her reflections on the differences between caring for her single child, Olivia, and watching all three. She says with one child she has to be a mother, a friend, an entertainer, a comforter and a maid. But with multiple children the roles change. It is true that mealtimes are more difficult to manage in that by the time you are done making three sandwiches, the first child is already done eating and wants more. She asked me when I ever find time to feed myself, at which I replied “That’s what nap time is for.”

But on the upside, playtime is a completely different world with more than one child. They always have someone to play with. You are no longer their “best friend” or their “safari partner”. You have time to do the dishes, pick up the toys or just sit down for a moment.

Karli has always known that she only wanted one child. There was never a question in her mind, even before Olivia was born. It’s a plan that works for her. In my case I’ve always wanted two, and sometimes more. I knew what it was like to have a playmate growing up, but I was lucky that my older brother would take the time with me. Not everyone is so blessed. When my second child came along I prayed my children would be as fortunate in their relationship as we were. And I believe they are.

Why then do I feel like I’M the lucky one?

Obscure things happen when you’re a parent. I was just now strolling through my house when something in the hall bathroom caught my eye. I paused and backed up in curiosity, only to find my daughter sitting on an office chair right in the middle of the bathroom. She wore a jeweled crown and a regal expression of self importance. When asked what she was doing, she answered, “I’m the King.” Not the princess or the queen, but the King himself. Right there in her throne room. She told me to get her some juice.

I still can’t stop laughing.