Hellobee

We recently went to Mr. Dolphin’s brother’s wedding and we all had a great time. It was so much fun to see the little guys dressed up in bow ties, spend some time with family and, of course, celebrate a new marriage and addition to the family (I finally have a sister!). Because the wedding took place on the West Coast and was an evening wedding, the kids were battling jet lag and their bedtime to stay up for the festivities. In addition, they had not slept well for the several days prior to the wedding and in hindsight, I think Panda was a little overstimulated from all the activity. I was trying to prepare as much as possible to avoid complete meltdowns during the wedding. Luckily, my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law were very thoughtful and had a lot of things covered to make the whole experience go a lot more smoothly! Here are things that helped.

Color coordination between myself and Panda was purely coincidental! Lion was super proud of his bow tie.

1) Toys/distractions during the ceremony.

Lion was one of the ring bearers, but definitely got a little bored just standing at the front. At one point, I went and got him and had him sit in my lap and handed Panda off to Mr. Dolphin’s stepmother. I let Lion play with a paper fan that the bride and groom left on all the seats, which entertained him for a few minutes before he started wanting to return to Mr. Dolphin. I didn’t want him running back and forth during the wedding ceremony, so insisted that he remain where he was at this point. Luckily, Mr. Dolphin’s stepbrother who is great with kids was sitting next to me and played with Lion, showing him how to open and close the fan and pretending to eat Lion’s fan with his own. Panda also got enjoyment out of the fan, happily chewing on the ribbons hanging from it.

The wedding had a cocktail hour between the ceremony and the reception. The outdoor venue of the ceremony lent itself perfectly to burning off some extra energy. Initially, I had Lion staying close to me while I was trying to feed Panda his bottle, and Lion found a bunch of rocks that he started piling up on the walkway. Lion’s aunt ended up taking him and leading him off to where the rest of the kids were. I thought he would end up people watching, but he shed his shyness and got involved in the action. A lot of the kids at the wedding— there were something like 11 children and 6 infants at the wedding—enjoyed just running in circles in the grass and Lion joined in on the fun with his cousins, whom he was meeting for the first time, and the other kids.

3) Having food ready before dinner starts.

We ended up having to sit down for a bit before the bridal party came in and food was served. Again, the bride and groom thought ahead and had the children served early, but we didn’t know that was going to happen and it still took some time before sitting down and Lion’s pasta appearing. I knew that it would be a very long day for Lion, who already had a sleep debt, so I cheated the meal in my favor by getting a protein bar in the shape of a circle and passed it off as a cookie.

Sure enough, within five minutes of getting Lion seated in his high chair and holding Panda on my lap (Mr. Dolphin was one of the groomsmen and so was off with the bridal party), Lion looked at me and says very loudly, “I want to EAT!” I quickly went off to grab the diaper bag and asked if he wanted a cookie. He was thrilled when he saw it and actually gobbled down about half of it before his pasta was presented to him. Lion gets hangry easily so I knew that having some food was critical. I also kept some animal crackers in reserve because he never gets them, but because Grandma and Grandpa had them in their house, he was obsessed with eating them all week long. We ended up not having to break those out, but I’m glad I had them as a backup.

4) More toys for the reception.

This wedding had a seated dinner, toasts and speeches, and couple sunset photos – about two hours from the time we sat down to the time the first dances began – all before the dance floor opened. It is a long time to sit for a toddler and we brought some old favorites and new toys with us to help get Lion through the evening. He really enjoyed his new portable playmat, though he was pretty cranky at this point (well beyond his normal bedtime) and had a meltdown before we took him outside to cool down and burn off some energy. He came back and was happy to play.

The bride and groom were also thoughtful enough to prepare little goody bags for the kids and waiting at Lion’s place setting was a bag of crayons and a coloring book.

Animal obsession.

5) Going outside/away from the party when necessary.

While we fortunately didn’t have to miss any of the big events like the entrance of the wedding party, toasts or special dances, we did bring the kids outside to get a little break when needed. Panda was having a hard time falling asleep, even with his pacifier, because of the noise and activity going on. Getting some fresh air and away from the loud music helped calm him and get him to a place where he was able to fall asleep. Likewise, getting outside helped Lion who was no longer confined to his high chair. Mr. Dolphin and I brought the kids upstairs on two or three different occasions and each time, we returned with happier kids.

6) Enjoy the music and dancing.

Lion loves music and dancing. During the toasts, when the music was paused, Lion kept asking (after copying Mr. Dolphin) the rest of the table, “Where the beat go?” He was thrilled when the dance floor finally opened, even though he was pretty tired at this point. Love toddler dance parties.

Ready to dance the night away!

7) Having help.

The biggest key was having a lot of help from Mr. Dolphin’s family. Lion was obsessed with Grandpa and having him sit next to Lion during the seated dinner was definitely helpful. At some point during the reception, Panda fell asleep and Mr. Dolphin’s aunt offered to hold him for awhile so that I could eat and get a break; she ended up not wanting to give him up! Having Lion’s family help wrangle and entertain the kids was invaluable, especially since Mr. Dolphin was pretty busy as part of the bridal party!

We were lucky that this wedding was a pretty family friendly wedding and even when there was a little bit of fussing or we were on the verge of a meltdown at various points, I took comfort in the fact that there were plenty of other toddlers and infants around. The bride and groom definitely tried to make it as easy as possible for the kids, too, by thoughtfully providing special treats and making sure they were fed first.

A bit fussier on this trip than he is usually, but we caught a smile here!