The Wiggles & More

That's right, folks, we attended a "Wiggles" concert earlier this month at the Target Center. If you don't count the Toby Keith concert that Collin "attended" in-utero, this was his first concert and he enjoyed every minute of it! We have to admit we had fun too. Based on all the crazy characters for children to choose from these days, we find these guys pretty tolerable...and dare I say it...entertaining?!? Who says parents can't have an active social life!

Collin really enjoys the Wiggles at home. We have not gotten any of the videos or CD's, but we watch the TV show every morning when we wake up and he has the "Murray guitar" on which he "rocks it out". Literally, Collin tells us he is "rocking out" as he rolls on the floor rock star style...Captain Feathersword is his favorite character though, and thanks to the souvenir stand we now own a pirate hat, a doll and our very own "feathersword".

Anyway, we do have a few choice episodes of the Wiggles taped that we use as well...ok, we have 11 taped episodes.... which I guess qualifies as more than a few. I never really wanted Collin to watch a lot of TV as a child...he is probably cursed with the couch potato gene by having Doug and I as parents so why encourage it. However, when he came across the Wiggles he had SO much fun I could not resist allowing it. I honestly have to say that his investment in the songs and conversations on the show have actually helped his verbal skills along...so I am glad we gave it a chance. Seeing Collin enjoy the concert was just the icing on the cake.

To make our big "family date" complete, we went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory to take advantage of Collin's love for all things pasta. After a brief wait to be seated, we went to our table and got out the crayons that they provide in a plastic cup as a means to manage toddler behavior. Collin accidentally dropped it (really an accident...this time) and it bounced loudly on the floor and rolled completely under the chair of a woman diner seated near us. I was quite embarrassed as I walked over to retrieve the cup, never looking her in the eye...but thankfully the woman was gracious about it. We then continued on with our dinner, where Collin enjoyed some of Dad's soup and I was a big enough proud mom to take a picture of Collin during our dinner out.

A yummy spoonful of minestrone soup

Dinner continued and suddenly it struck me...I had looked up and finally clearly saw the woman's face as she was seated next to us. It was Melissa Gilbert from Little House on the Prairie. My son had (accidentally) almost assaulted "Laura Ingalls Wilder" from the hit TV show with a plastic cup!

I bided my time, but had to be sure. Right as she and her companion were about to leave I walked up to her one more time and asked if indeed she was Melissa Gilbert, which she confirmed. I apologized for the cup again and explained that I had been so embarrassed that I never really "looked" at her when I gathered our crayon cup back. She told me not to worry...she has four children of her own and has seen plenty of things thrown across a room. After getting her autograph on a Spaghetti Factory place mat (yes, I'm a geek), she told me she was on dinner break before a performance and was also chaperoning her young teen son's first date..he was sitting a few tables away as well.

They left and I went back to my table. It then dawned on me that the innocent photo I took of Collin eating minestrone soup was a paparazzi shot...If you look closely I have cropped and lightened the background and that is Melissa Gilbert in the background.

Melissa Gilbert in the white tanktop

We knew we'd enjoy the Wiggles and our family date, but could not have predicted the rest of the day! Who says parents can't have an active social life??? We are mingling with stars!