Toddler Pin-Ball

Our basement is pretty much a toy room. We keep all the big toys down there, along with my husbands toy, his pinball machine. I don't really like hanging out in the basement, especially on a nice, sunny day, so Pumpkin views it as a real treat to go down there. One would hope that it would have something to do with the slide, or the mini-kitchen, or the play dough, or the drawing supplies, but it doesn't. All she wants to do is make me play pinball so she can watch. Toddler pinball is a little different than what you are used to. You either have to sit on a bar stool with your child standing up right in front of you on the same stool, or if you are tall enough, you can stand behind the bar stool. Either way, it's hard to see. It kind of turns it into a bit of a sport. Visibility is the biggest issue, especially when she leans forward to bang on the glass, obscuring total view of the flippers. Then you have to wrestle a bit over the flipper buttons, all the while trying not to breath because of that which lurks in the diaper before you. I got up to 13,000,000 points today! Does anyone want to challenge me?

So I'm still the only one I know who is watching, Scott Baio is 45 and Single, and I'm kind of sad about that. I have no one to talk to at the hypothetical water cooler about it. I'm still watching it on line since we don't get the channel on cable. It is soooooo frickin' funny. Part of Scott Baio's "therapy" this week was for him to attend a "cuddle party", to engage in intimate, yet non-sexual contact. I'm not going to get into what happened on the actual show, but I would really like to address the topic of cuddle parties? WHY WHY WHY WHY would anyone want to go to one? It's a bunch of strangers, coming together to spoon each other! WHY WHY WHY? Just so you know where I am coming from, I have a rather large space cushion. Very few people are allowed in my space. To be honest, the only people I want touching me are my husband and daughter. I don't particularly like hugging my parents, and I really really really hate it when my dad grabs my face and plants a wet kiss on my cheek. He doesn't get me, and continues to do that every time I see him. My friend once tried to join me and another friend on a love seat and I had to jump off. We could all fit on it, but I cannot sit while touching thighs with other people. I can't say for sure where this "problem" of mine comes from, but I do recall swatting off my parents friends when they all wanted to hug and kiss me when I was small enough to appear huggable and kissable. I don't think I have had any REAL episodes of unwanted touching in my life, aside from the odd octopus-of-a-guy I may have dated, and who wanted to see what he could get away with. I think I would have a real anxiety attack if forced to participate in a cuddle party. Does anyone think this isn't creepy?