Oops, We Went There Again

The funniest thing happened today at Chuck E Cheese, or as Luke would say, "Chuckie Cheese." (We cannot agree over the pronunciation, or the fact that I can read and he can't.) I realize that the fact that Luke and I like to go to Chuck E Cheese puts into question my well known status as a Boulder hippie/elitist snob, but I am not going to defend myself. I'll just say we don't eat there. (Except when we do.) So Chuck E Cheese has some sort of elaborate system involving coded hand stamps for making sure you don't leave without your child, or with extra children, but despite my many (3) trips there, I have yet to figure it out. The first time I wouldn't let them stamp Luke's hand because he hates hand stamps. I guess they let it slide since it was 9am and we were the only people there. The next time, we had loving grandparents with us and I left to go to Costco, so how effective can the stamps be?

Before I get to the hand stamp debacle, let me just say this: Chuck E Cheese is not baby friendly. I was staring at the door, thinking, "How am I going to get this stroller in there?" and saying, "Luke, do you think you can get the door?" and Luke was struggling with the door when a big grandma looking person came out. Thank goodness! But I guess she was in a hurry because instead of holding the door for us she let it hit Luke in the head. She wasn't an employee so that really has nothing to do with Chuck E Cheese not being baby friendly, but let's just say it's hard to feed strained organic green beans to a baby in a room full of flashing lights and crazy noises. OK, I am all over the place here. Let's get back to the hand stamp. Once we finally got through the door we had this conversation:

CEC Employee: Would you like a sticker for the baby?
Me: No thanks, he isn't really in to stickers.
CEC Employee: (Says nothing as she leans toward the stroller with giant metal hand stamper.)
Me: Whoa, wait, is that necessary?
CEC Employee: I ASKED if you wanted a STICKER!
Me: (Confused) OK, I guess we'll take a sticker.
CEC Employee: (Big Sigh. Eye roll. Stamps sticker and gives it to me.)

Luke and I got stamped without incident, and I managed to keep track of the sticker until we left and was therefore allowed to take Jack home.

Then on the way to the car, after our visible only to black light secret codes had been read, Luke said, "Wouldn't it be weird if Daddy got a new black light and when we got home we could show him our hands and he would see the stamp and know the number was 65?"

Yes, it would be weird if Daddy was shopping for black lights while we were at Chuck E Cheese.