Kid's Day was celebrated
last Thursday. What, you may ask, is Kid's Day? Well, let me explain. One
afternoon about 32 years ago, you could almost see the wheels turning in my 8
year old son's brain as he contemplated something. We had celebrated Mother's
Day for me & my mother. As we were discussing Father's Day plans a few
weeks later, our child asked an interesting question, "Why isn't there a
Kid's Day? There is Mother's Day & Father's Day."
We replied with our parental
logic that he had birthdays & Christmas to receive gifts & celebrate.
Darrin replied, "But you have birthdays & Christmas, too." We
pondered this conversation for all of about two minutes before deciding that he
was right & we should definitely celebrate Kid's Day. That day a new
holiday was born.
Kid's Day was not a specific
day but was celebrated between Mother's Day & Father's Day. There were all kinds of ways to observe it. The very first Kid's Day, shortly after
Darrin's declaration, consisted of us letting him skip school to attend the
premier of "Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
Some years it was
incorporated into a family getaway for Mother's, Father's & Kid's Days or
it could be a special event or, occasionally, just a gift. Mostly, it was a way
to show him how special he was to us & how much we appreciated him. Over
the years Kid's Day became less of an event as Darrin grew up. But it was still
resurrected on occasion since he will always be my "kid" regardless
of his age.
Now, that Charley is four, I
started explaining the concept of Kid's Day to her the last couple of times
I've seen her. I told her the story of how her daddy "invented" it
& that we were going to start celebrating Kid's Day with her. Darrin &
Charley have been staying with us for a few days so I took the opportunity to
introduce her to her first Kid's Day this past Thursday.
To keep the day appropriate
for her age, we started with a trip to Krispy Kreme donuts. She loves her
sweets & loved watching the donuts move down the conveyor belt by the
hundreds as they fried in the oil. Her favorite part was the machine that
flipped them over to cook the other side. After much consideration she chose a
chocolate glazed donut with sprinkles. I had my favorite, a glazed devil's food
one.
From there we headed to Toys
R Us where I let her pick out her first Kid's Day gift - which given our
history, turned into gifts (plural). I knew this was going to happen since Gaga
is a total sucker where Charley is concerned. We managed to whittle the ten
things in the cart down to four.
She chose a Periwinkle fairy
doll (Disney fairies are a favorite), a set of six Frozen action figures including
Sven & Olaf, a princess dress & a new feather boa (she loves to play
dress up). Her "old" feather boa has lost over half of its feathers
these past couple of years. It seems that my natural frugality flies out the
window when it comes to spending money on Charley.
We spent the afternoon of
Kid's Day in the pool. It has been really hot so the pool was warm enough for
Gaga to enjoy it with her. Later I had the table set for dinner & was busy
cooking away in the kitchen when Charley says, "I want to eat outside."
Our pool area is really beautiful. It looks like a free form pond with dark
walls. There are large rocks around it & a waterfall. We have a covered
area next to it with a table & chairs. It is a lovely setting & Charley
really likes eating out there.
We tried to convince her
that it was too hot but she was adamant. She & Darrin went outside to check
it out & see if it was feasible. When they returned to the kitchen Darrin stated, "Charley really, really wants to eat outside. And after all, it
is Kid's Day." So, we had our dinner outside in 100 degree weather &
nobody seemed to mind at all. It was a great ending to a wonderful Kid's Day!
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