Extraterrestrial

The other day I found myself saying something I never thought I'd say.

"Are you going to the Expo Kid thing tomorrow?"

In that moment I felt like a TV dad. The kind of dad you watch on sitcoms. The one who always knows what to do, the one with the unwavering moral compass, the one who's always in the garage fixing the car available for an impromptu pep talk. Well, that moment didn't last long. And while I don't desire to become anything like a TV dad (who in reality, become abusive alcoholics anyway) it was nice sounding like one.



Lately, I've been finding myself in strange and unfamiliar territory. I've been hanging around a lot of moms. And it's not like there are other dads there who I can commiserate with, usually I'll be the only dad there. So I'm slowly developing a new skill. "Mom-Talk", it's like small-talk except with moms. Unfortunately I suck at small-talk so I foresee learning mom-talk to be an arduous and painful journey.

But I'm starting with the basics. Like asking people if they're going to the Expo Kid thing. Which is now part of my vocabulary.

So we entered the huge hall where Expo Kid 5 was happening (now on their 5th year) and once again I was in strange and unfamiliar territory.

There were dads in attendance too I swear.

With the school year about to end, Expo Kid put on a showcase for all sorts of summer activities for the kids. It ranged from arts and crafts activities to science and math classes and even a summer camp.

A unicorn!

Isn't that background from Mass Effect?

Another interesting thing that was there was yoga for kids by My Masterpiece Yoga. My child definitely needs to be more zen. One can hope.

And if your child has the talent and the inclination for the big stage, My Talent has programs for the performing arts like singing, dancing, theater, ballet, etc. 

For the more mathematically minded kids there is CMA Mental Arithmetic and Mathemagis. If they like playing with abacuses the whole day, then this will blow their minds.

No more lying at dinnertime. This really is an airplane going into your mouth.

I didn't know there were so many different kinds of bibs, like a bandana bib.

See?

That's the advantage of going to these expos. And yes, those are our bags.

The disadvantage of going to these expos. The marks from carrying said bags.

An easy plug and play filtration system. OCMom approved.

"'Snot your average wipe!" - Boogie Wipes

I thought these were pretty cool solely on the fact that a dad was wearing one in their promo pics.

Clearly, there was a lot of stuff and a lot of moms and I did get to practice more mom-talk, which I'm beginning to discover is not as hard as small-talk because people love talking about their kids and I'm always curious about other people's kids because I like stories. Stories you can only hear when you go to an expo.