Chuck E Cheese's!

I'd never been to the place. Neither had Elizabeth. But she was sure she wanted to go. Apparently, the kids at school talked about it a lot. (Peer pressure starts early, eh?!)

We were getting low on Pull-Ups – a requirement for K-2 (and church). And my favorite stores hadn't been running any spectacular sales lately. (I haven't paid real money for diapers since I started really couponing at CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, etc. in mid-summer of last year.) So, I decided to go "cold turkey" (or, as we say in Uruguay, a lo criollo) with potty training and use "big girl" clothes. No transition apparel. And Elizabeth got the idea amazingly quickly – with the "help" of two accidents! By the end of the first week, she was consistently going to the bathroom on her own. (No, I'm not going to write any books, based on my experience with one easily trained child! But I am very, very thankful for an easy transition!)

And that's where Chuck E. Cheese's comes into the picture. Although Elizabeth had graduated with honors at home, she was reticent to "tell" her teachers at school when she needed to go. She mentioned Chuck E. Cheese's to John Mark and me, and the light bulb went on! "If you tell your teachers and stay dry at school..." And the rest is history!

We had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese's. (I so enjoy being Mommy to my precious Little Punkin Spice!) We shared one small pizza (pretty good, actually!), and they gave us five free game tokens. We sat in the toddler play area, and Elizabeth was happy to "ride" with Barney and Bob the Builder – even though the vehicles weren't even moving! And we spent our five tokens on three rides and two pictures – and had a great (fairly frugal) time!

And Elizabeth graduated to K-3 on Monday, June 1 (because she stayed dry at school on Friday, May 29, the last day of the 2008-2009 school year!) She was obviously excited!

And there's more good news! Chuck E. Cheese's is currently running a promotion – 10 free tokens for completing a Reward Calendar! We'll probably be going back!