We went to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese today. Our friends have a little girl who's 3 months older than Otto, and it seems like just yesterday that Deb and I were pregnant together. Their daughter loves Otto (at just 3, she shows excellent taste, no?). We're going to plan a play date soon because she keeps asking to see him. Otto, being a typical guy, is oblivious to this admiration. But he's always happy to get out and have fun.

Anyway, back to Chuck E Cheese. Or, as I call it, the Parental Torture Palace. Aye aye aye, the cacophany!

Otto had a great time. He ate pizza and cake, danced to the Cheesy music, and really got into the whole game-playing thing. He now knows what tokens are, that you need one to play the SpongeBob SquarePants driving game, and how to drop that token in and start the game. He even did the pedal and the steering together, all on his own (he kicked my foot out of the way when I tried to help him). We played lots of games, but that one was his favorite.

Actually, Jon and I enjoyed ourselves. It's just kind of loud there. And it was very busy today -- a popular place for the birthday party, is Chuck E's place. We left after maybe 2 hours, and Otto was asleep before we made it to the car, wiped out by the noise, energy level, and activity.

Lately I've been thinking it would be fun to have a Wii. I've never been a big arcade person or good gamer (my poor brother can attest to that). But playing Mario Kart with Otto sounds appealing. And the Wii just looks like so much fun! The bowling game, Big Brain Academy, the Mario games. I think it's the remote, the one you can shake and throw and use to imitate all sorts of natural motions, that makes me want to try it. Plus those wonderful commercials.

Other than having fun at the party, I've spent my day doing laundry. What is it with my laundry problem? I attack the laundry faithfully a couple of times a week, but I can never seem to catch up. Go out of town one weekend and I'm behind for months. Sheets, towels, rugs, clothes... I think they multiply in the baskets when I'm not looking. Really, I do. Nothing else explains it.

Load in, load out. I'm off to switch laundry loads, then head upstairs to put away what's clean and get ready for bed. Tomorrow's a long day, with a 9:30 meeting at the beginning and a 6-8pm program at the end. Mondays are busy for us, so the inbetween hours will go fast.

Hope y'all had a good weekend!