"They're so...little."

I walk into Chucky Cheese to wait for the birthday party people to arrive. Of course, being the anal retentive Virgo that I am; I got there before anyone. I walked into chaos of children running around everywhere, their parents chasing them and loud noises from the mini kid rides filling the place. The lady at the door tells me to go ahead and go to the table but I decided to stay by the front. Standing there stiff, uneasy and not knowing what to do with myself in this situation. I thought about my siblings and how if they were here with me, they wouldn't care how old they were and would start getting tokens to start playing with the rest of the lot. I called my sister-in-law and told her this to which she said, "You are *so* right. That's totally what we'd do." I saw the cutest....cutest...cutest little boy walking one way and looking another with drool all over his face. He's walking and walks right into someone's legs, composes himself and keeps walking without even batting an eyelash. I couldn't stop giggling at what had just happened. He was so incredibly adorable. I think he was 2 years old. Then I see this woman dragging her screaming kid, picking him up and basically holding him upside down with all his wins at Chucky Cheese in her hand. She had such a hard time showing the kids' stamp to the lady at the front so the management could make sure the right parent leaves with the right kid. I could tell that kid did not want to go home. She basically dragged her screaming child out the door.

The birthday party arrived. In walks my neice, who I was meeting for the first time. My friend tells her, "That's Auntie Sasha." In her cutest 3-year-old voice she runs to me and screams, "AUNTIE SASHA. TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!" I picked her up and hugged her and carried her back to her birthday table. Of course, being the proud Aunt that I am, I immediately started taking pictures of the kids. Then we all sang and danced with the Chucky Cheese mascot and the fake character "musicians" that were on stage. I couldn't believe I was actually dancing at Chucky Cheese to help the excitememt of four 3-year-olds.

We then proceeded to be assigned one kid per person as we took them to the play area. I was walking around looking for my friend when she walks up to me and says, "I can tell you don't have a kid. You forgot about the one you were supposed to watch." To which I let out a giant, "OH SHIT WHERE DID HE GO? THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!" Short and cute and all screaming and running around. I can't tell you how many times I almost got ran over by 2-5 year olds.

I bent down to give a two-year-old who arrived later her balloon. I say to her, "Now make sure you hold on to it." She looks at me and gives me a sly smile and then slowly starts to let go of the string. I dived to catch it before it floated away to the ceiling, falling on my face as I did that. The two-year-old lets go of the string, points at me and laughs as she walks away. I was left on the floor holding a balloon with everyone laughing at me, including myself.

I think I had just gotten punked by a two-year-old.

It took us forever to grab the kids and walk out the door to leave. As I stood there with one at the door, I saw the mother of the two-year-old trying to peel her off one of the car rides. I see the other 3-year-olds runnning ahead of my friend and jumping on some ride. They obviously didn't want to leave. We get to the front and I say to the lady checking to see if the stamps on all our hands matched, "Oh no no no. I came in alone and I'm leaving alone."

I was in a great mood nonetheless when I left there. Amazing how being around kids can put one in a jolly mood. To be young and carefree again...I tell ya, 3-year-olds have it made.