My kids on “The Morning Show” – soooooo cute!
Oct 31, 2008 What's Going On
Our day started Thursday morning very early, since a car was picking us up at 6am to get us to The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet by 6:45. (If you’d like to see the kids’ segment, go here.) The kids got up much easier than I thought they would. Pasta Boy Cloud Boy pretty much jumped out of bed when his alarm rang at five. Munchkin Spa Girl gave me a little more trouble at 5:30, but nothing like what I was expecting. Since she was supposed to show up in her PJs, getting ready took her about two minutes.
Pasta Boy was hoping for a limo, but was not disappointed with the giant Chevy Suburban that showed up when he found out he would get the entire back seat to himself.
I’ve never really thought that the kids looked alike at all, they don’t even really look like siblings most of the time. But in these two pictures, I don’t know, they both have the same smile and they look very much alike.
Traffic was very light and we got there a good 20 minutes before anybody else who was appearing on the show, which was nice because I had a chance to feed the kids some breakfast and settle in before everybody else got there. Soon to arrive would be the crew, the on-air talent, and the multitude of guests (including 4 kids and 1 teen with parents, and a whole bunch of dogs with handlers), so this was the last calm time we had for hours.
When everybody else arrived, we were given our costume supplies and I started getting Spa Girl ready while a really nice intern from Real Simple got Cloud Boy ready. This was all taped and was supposed to be a teaser for the show, but didn’t make it in – something about not wanting to reveal anything about the costumes.
After all of the kids were ready, they did a dress rehearsal. Last night, Spa Girl had practiced holding slices of cucumber and putting them over her eyes. This was traumatic for her for reasons I don’t understand – as far as I know she’s never had a run-in with a big cucumber in a dark alley. But eventually she got over it and was ready to hold the cucumber slices. However, right before the kids went on they were handed little trick-or-treat pails, and that was that – no cucumber slices. I tried to get her to carry one in one hand – she was so cute putting them in front of her face! – but she flat-out refused. I think in her head, she did the math and realized that if she were holding a trick-or-treat pail in one hand and a cucumber slice in the other, she wouldn’t have a hand left to get candy into the pail. There was no changing her mind, and things were going so well I decided not to push it.
When Cloud Boy went out on the stage, he stood where he was supposed to stand and looked where he was supposed to look, but the expression on his face was miserable. I think he was just concentrating so hard on going to the right spot that he forgot to smile. And when Spa Girl got out there, she went to the right spot – and then stood there with her back to the camera. So after the dress rehearsal I had a little talk with the kids, trying to let them know what they could have done better without making them self-conscious or nervous. This was NOT easy. The last thing I wanted to do was freak them out before the show. Spa Girl was nervous already – she had been talking the whole day before about how she was too shy to go on TV. And I gave her plenty of chances to back out, but she always said she wanted to do it. So I had no idea if she was actually going to walk out there when it was her turn.
We went back to the greenroom. We had an hour and a half until the kids were going on, the room was really crowded, and it dawned on me that I had completely forgotten to bring anything for the kids to do. It was like I had never taken them anywhere before. I always bring something, even if it’s just a deck of cards or some books. But I had nothing for them. I let Spa Girl watch SpongeBob on my phone, and the mother of the boy who was dressed as the highway let Cloud Boy play games on her phone for a while. After she needed her phone back, all Cloud Boy wanted to do was go play with the dogs, but I wouldn’t let him. All I could think of was his costume getting chewed or peed on before the show, so I made him sit on the couch almost the whole time. I have to say, they both behaved way better than they had any reason to. Cloud Boy was bored out of his mind, and all Spa Girl wanted to do was touch her face and scratch her head, but couldn’t because of the make-up and the towel. Plus, if she so much as shrugged her shoulders she got green make-up all over her clothes. There was a little whining, but all things considered they were excellent.
As it got closer to their time I made them both use the bathroom. They always complain when I make them use the bathroom, but we have certain rules: you use the bathroom first thing when you wake up, before you leave the house, and before you go to bed. Well, now we can add to that, before you go on TV.
Then I touched up Spa Girl’s make-up and got her robe back on, and put a few more cotton balls on Cloud Boy. In retrospect, I think his costume needed some kind of headpiece, maybe a hat of cotton balls taped to some pipe cleaners or something. Compared to the other costumes, his looked a little bare.
We were all brought backstage at the commercial break before their segment, and while they were waiting I gave them gentle reminders about smiling and where to stand and to not talk. Cloud boy was fascinated with watching the monitors. He kept switching between peeking out onto the stage and watching on the TV, amazed that he was seeing it from two different angles.
The bunch of grapes went out first, and then it was Cloud Boy’s turn. He remembered to smile, although he looked, I don’t know, subdued. But when the woman from Real Simple, Kit, made a comment about not spraying other trick-or-treaters with his water gun, he pointed it right at her face and got a big laugh. Then he walked over to the giant cauldron of candy and toys they had set up on the stage – smart move on their part.
Then it was Spa Girl’s turn. During the dress rehearsal there hadn’t really been anybody out there, and now there was an audience, a crew, and three hosts, so she looked a little overwhelmed. But it didn’t matter because the audience absolutely adored her. And when her turn was over, Cloud Boy very nicely showed her where the candy was.
After the kids’ segment was done, we all went back to the green room, and the cauldron of candy went too, and the kids immediately swarmed it. Good thing too, because it delayed me getting the kids’ costumes off.
I had taken off Spa Girl’s robe and towel and was just about to take off her make-up when someone came back in saying that they decided they wanted the kids out there again, for the end of the show. Bunch of Grapes had already taken off her balloons, and Highway Boy had already taken off his cars. I threw the robe back on Spa Girl and someone else put the sleep mask on her head and we all ran back to the stage. I ducked under a camera and off of the stage with about two seconds to spare.
The kids all stood around the hosts and the dogs while things were wrapped up. I’ll try to post that clip tomorrow. Cloud Boy keeps leaning back into the camera’s view to pet the dog that co-host Juliette was holding. Then the show ended and as we were all walking back to the green room, the biggest dog peed all over the floor and the bottom of a big camera.
Finally, with the show over, Cloud Boy got to play with the dogs.
I took Spa Girl’s make-up off but didn’t bother changing them out of anything else. New guests had arrived to tape some other stuff and we were in the way, so we got out of there. The kids got to keep their costume pieces and trick-or-treat pails, and the ride home at 10:30 was full of chocolate. I was too tired to care.
I really hope that Cloud Boy didn’t notice how many different people said that Spa Girl was their favorite. He seems over the moon about the whole thing so if he did notice, he doesn’t care. After we stopped home to change and rushed to school, Cloud Boy told every single person we saw that he had been on TV. He kept asking me if we could do it again tomorrow, and when I made it clear that something like that probably wouldn’t happen for a long time, he kept asking about different shows and how to get on them. Oh boy.
All in all, a really interesting morning. Everyone at the show was very nice, and I liked watching the chaos from my chair in the corner. I’m the kind of person who stays up all night preparing for things and worrying about them, so I’m always amazed watching people do things on the fly with minutes to spare. But they do it every day, so it’s just routine to them. Crazy. I couldn’t have a job like that, I’d have a little heart attack every morning.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Product Giveaway: Blankyclip
Oct 31, 2008 Contest/Giveaway
I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen a product and said to myself, “It’s so simple! It’s so perfect! Why hasn’t this been around forever?” That’s the reaction I had when I found out from a friend about blankyclips. Invented by a mom when her oldest child was a baby and taking all of his naps in a moving stroller, she had an “a-ha!’ moment and the blankyclip was born. Thankfully my kids are past the stroller and blanket stage, but if I ever have another I’ll definitely buy a pair of these.
All of our blankets, even the really nice handmade ones that we got from Grandma and tried to be careful with, ended up dirty around the edges. They’d start out nicely tucked in, but just a little movement from the kids would cause them to fall into the dirt and slush and whatever else was on the sidewalk (I don’t want to think about it too much). These clips would have solved that problem for sure. They clip on to any stroller, baby seat, or swing, and can be used to keep a blanket on a baby, or to cover the stroller completely to keep out the light or wind.
I can’t think of a better gift for a new mom than these clips. It’s one of those things they won’t know they desperately need until they’ve wrecked a few blankets. They come in three styles: Bears (with plush blue blanket), Ducks (with plush ecru blanket), or Sheep (with plush pink blanket) for $48. And Adrienne, the inventor, is going to give a Duck blankyclip/ecru blanket combo to one of my lucky readers! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, between now and noon eastern on Election Day (GOBama!) saying what special baby/child item you’ve lost or damaged, or how these clips could help you protect the stuff you love.
Any comments received after noon eastern on November 4th will not count! The winner will be chosen at random by random.org. Only continental U.S. mailing addresses are eligible. Only one entry per person per day please. I’ll say that again: you can answer once per day!
UPDATE: Since I posted this contest a day later than I normally do, and since Tuesday is a holiday, I’m extending the contest until noon eastern on Wednesday, November 5th!
Good luck, and thanks so much to Adrienne and blankyclip!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: blankyclip
Cloud Boy and Spa Girl
Oct 30, 2008 What's Going On
Sounds like the title of a new cartoon, doesn’t it?
OK, haven’t had a sec to stop and post yet, but just noticed that The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet has a video up already of the costume segment. My kids are the second and third ones out. All the kids did a fantastic job.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Add new tag, Halloween, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
“My God, it’s early” edition
Oct 30, 2008 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: video
I’m on the radio, and my kids are on TV!
Oct 29, 2008 Uncategorized
I just finished taping an interview for Mom Talk Radio, which is hosted by Maria Bailey, one of those women I would love to hate if she just weren’t so nice. She has four kids, and her own company, and her own radio show, and she’s an author, and she runs marathons! I have a feeling that I got more winded typing that than she gets running.
Mom Talk Radio airs Thurdays at 11am on WJBW 1000m AM in South Florida, so if you happen to be reading this in South Florida, turn your radio on tomorrow! For the rest of us, we can listen to Maria’s podcast, and I’ll post and Twitter when the podcast goes up (probably in a couple of weeks).
The airwaves are going to be full of me and my progeny tomorrow, because my kids are going to be modeling home-made Halloween costume ideas from Real Simple Magazine on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, a national morning show on Fox (at least it’s on Fox here in NYC; I don’t know about everywhere else, but you can check here).
I’m not sure what possessed me to say “yes” to getting up at 4:45am to get there in time, but it sounded like fun. And who wouldn’t want their adorable kids to be on TV? When I told Pasta Boy about it, he said “On TV? Oh boy! One of my goals was getting on TV before I’m a grown-up, and I’m going to do it when I’m seven!” So I guess his excitement is reason enough. Munchkin seems a little more laid back about the whole thing. Not really sure she really understands what’s going on.
It should be somewhere between interesting and disastrous. Between getting up super early, being in unfamiliar surroundings, being in front of an audience and cameras, Pasta Boy’s spastic unpredictability, and Munchkin’s legendary stubbornness and propensity for throwing morning tantrums, I’m curious to see how it all turns out. The show airs here in NYC on Fox 5 from 9am to 10am. I’m not sure where in the show the kids will be, but also slated for tomorrow is a doggie fashion show of Halloween costumes. W.C. Fields once said, “Never work with children or animals.” And this show is going to have both.
This is definitely ironic seeing as my last post for the NYC Moms Blog was about how I think there’s no shame in buying your kid’s costume at the store. But from what I’ve heard, even I could make these last-minute costumes.
Anyway, wish us luck! Or secretly wish us disaster if you’re that kind of person. Either way, it will be live, and it will turn out how it turns out!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Halloween, Mom Talk Radio, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
This Week’s Time Sucker
Oct 29, 2008 Time Sucker
OK, it’s because of crap like this that I do well in trivia games but suck at actual, you know, stuff. (Well put, I know.)
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: useless information
Munchkin & Pasta Boy On TV
Oct 29, 2008 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: video
