On Friday, I asked if I should keep Mazzy up to see her first fireworks. I got a resounding "yes". We went. Below is her real-time review.
In case the visual does not depict her thoughts clearly enough, I'll translate:
"I don't get it. Why have you brought me to the side of a road in the middle of the nowhere to sit on a lawn chair? Is this what grown-ups do at night when children go to— Oh my god what is that horrible booming sound??!….. Ooooooo—Lights!…. But man, that's really really LOUD!…. Also, something is biting me. Did I mention it's really LOUD?!…. YAWN. Can I have some milk? YOU DIDN'T BRING ANY?! Did you think that because you let me stay up past my bedtime, I would be so grateful that I wouldn't make any of my normal daytime requests? IDIOTS!…. OUCH! LOOOOOOUD!!!!!! Oooooooooo— Lights!!!….. Was there an option to stand farther away from the booming source??…. MILK!!!!!!!!!…. Are the mosquitoes always part of the experience? Cause I am NOT A FAN…..YAWN. It's so LOOOOUD!!! Is this the finale? Cause it seems like they're trying to trick us into thinking we're witnessing something spectacular by using all the crappy lights all at once. And you know what? It makes it even LOOOOOOOOOOOOOUDER!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey— Mom? In the midst of all your excitement in taking me to the fireworks, did you ever stop to consider the damage they could potentially do to my eardrums????"
"Yes, babe. I am thinking that RIGHT NOW."
For the record, last night's fireworks were the loudest I have ever heard in my life. Either that, or having an 18 month-old really skews your perspective on volume.
On a postive note, as soon as we put Mazzy in the car to go home, she applauded.
And then promptly fell asleep.
Happy 4th to me.
Haha! I love the translation of her reaction here! At least she didn’t cry… and she applauded afterwards!
Hope you had a great 4th!
Great photo! I’d probably look like too, except I’d have my fingers firmly in my ears.
I was 28 weeks pregnant when my husband and I went to some local radio awards show. There were many stage performances and we were pretty close to the speakers. I was convinced I’d deafened the baby.
Fortunately I was wrong. Funnily, he can actually sleep through fireworks now.
Happy Fourth! (or what’s left of it)
We usually try and stay a little bit away from the fireworks so that our kids don’t become deaf from the noise. Downside is it’s harder to see. Can’t win them all.
They are on tonight. My kid went to bed early and is sleeping through the whole thing. My big, fearless dog is shaking his fur off so I am up mollycoddling him, catching up on blogs. Happy 4th to me…
You are brave! We didn’t do fireworks, not because I am worried about hearing or bedtime (well, not too much), but because I didn’t see how I could possibly keep my little guy even remotely entertained during the two hours or so between setting up a viewing location at the park and when they finally started!!
She did not cry. She is a tough kid.
I remember going to some concert while I was pregnant and I had heard that the baby will move a lot in such a scenario. Nothing. That worried me for completely different reasons. Nothing breeds more paranoia than pregnancy.
Farther away would have been smart. We were staying ridiculously close to them so it didn’t occur to us to drive farther away.
Mazzy was swimming all day and ended up taking a really late nap, waking up at about 5:30. I thought that was a sign we should brave it— since her schedule was off anyway.
I hear you. Had the fireworks been when they were originally scheduled on Sunday night, we would have been with my whole family and would have gone super early to get good seats, dragged lawn chairs, food and blankets, etc. and the whole experience would have been a good two-three hours.
But the fireworks were canceled due to rain, rescheduled for Monday night, and my family all went home. Mike, Mazzy and I were the only ones left.
We drove out about five minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to start, got out of the car as soon as we saw people gathered, had an awesome view and then hightailed it out of there as soon as they ended since we were standing right next to our car. (This also explains why we neglected to bring milk.)
Total time: 30 minutes.
We will be doing it our way every year from now on.
Note: It’s possible we were able to get so close because the crowd was much smaller due to the cancellation. It’s mainly a vacation town and most people probably went home earlier in the day.
So funny how we think things are a great idea until we actually get the kids there. Sort of like attempting a 4 hour long car ride and then staying in a non-child proofed hotel with all of my kids (our 4th of July plans gone wrong).
I never realized just how loud they are either and I also spent half the time thinking about my child’s eardrums. Kids. They ruin everything. 🙂
we are at the beach now in a state with legal personal fireworks and so our neighbors are kind enough to put on a show every night at percisely, yeah you guessed right, my kids bedtime.
i kept them up for the town fireworks last night b/c i am the most awesome mom ever and then they were cancelled.
am thinking i am not actually that awesome of a mom ’cause i can’t imagine keeping them up again tonight for the rescheduled show.
you are champs for taking mazzy and i’m glad she had a good-ish time!
We traumatized our kids with the neighborhood show (pirated ‘works from New Hampshire) on Sunday night. Was insane. Saw NYC on t.v. and have to admit, they were amazing!
So sorry. We’ve been in a house all weekend with my mom and stepdad and my sister and her husband which means we have to share a room with Mazzy. That has been my #1 rule about vacation— it’s not a vacation unless the crib is in a different room than you are. We have been up every morning at 5am and needless to say, snuggling is the only thing possible in the bed.
sad and true.
Emphasis on the “ish”. Don’t know what I’d do with fireworks right next door. I’m sure it’s not safe to stick earplugs in a baby’s ears, is it?
We were out in the Hamptons so no Macy’s extravaganza for us. Just small town fireworks in a field somewhere.
Also, I will never forgive the NYC 4th of July fireworks for moving from the East River to the Hudson on the West side. We used to have the most AWESOME view from our balcony. Now? Maybe a glimpse of light through a building.
We skipped the fireworks in favor of what we felt was a more toddler-friendly 4th of July activity – ice cream. That’s right – we plowed her with more sugar than she’s ever had in her life and then promptly went home and put her to bed. Amazingly, she actually fell asleep vs. bouncing off the sides of her crib. Whew. That could’ve seriously backfired on us.
Your post makes me sorta glad we skipped fireworks. I think it would’ve been one of those things that sounded great in theory, but in reality would’ve been a disaster.
Bahahaha! What a coincidence, my 2 year old thought the same thing Mazzy did of our Canada Day fireworks on July 1st.
Oh, and even though he got to stay until almost 11pm…he woke up at the crack of dawn anyways.
PFFT.
We bought Aura an ice cream sandwich just as the fireworks began. She kept oohing and aahing and I was so pleased she was staying up hours past her bedtime the night before she had an important early-morning appointment right up until the point that I saw she was admiring how many chocolate chips were in the ice cream sandwich.
Yes, yes. I know. She was spot-on. Chocolate chips are better than fireworks. BUT STILL.
The noise is part of the reason why we don’t ‘go’ to the fireworks, but rather watch the ones that go airborne from our backyard. We took our oldest to see them live once, but he physically held my hand on his ears the whole time. So…our backyard solution has always worked well. Until this year…..someone one street over was illegally launching their own fireworks and so it was Loud!
Love your translation/interpretation! :>:>
K started to cry at first but then she got into it and started clapping. Third kid gets to go to fireworks no matter what! 🙂 The look on Mazzy’s face is awesome. ha!
I’m Canadian so we celebrate on the first.
We thought about taking our daughter, who is 15 months old, to the fireworks but she fell asleep on the way so we headed home.
I could hear the faint sounds from my house and I thought “geez, they’re really loud! Jerks!”
Imagine my thoughts had we gone.
Shockingly, here in NH the neighborhood was not alive with the usual 4-day lead-up and 3 day post 4th fireworks which serve only to make my dogs, and therefore my household, miserable. We had an amazing 4th in Maine watching fireworks on the beach. All 6 of the little girls with us were too entertained by the tidal puddle nearby to even notice the show.
Can’t neighborhoods just create dusk fireworks with new technology solely for moms with small kids? I wish they would turn on the lights earlier!
Kudos to you. I have not even braved my 4 year old to go to the Fireworks yet because my 2 year old wants to do everything he does – that would be a disaster and she would be hard to get back to bed. Perhaps from our porch we may see the Summerfest view in Milwaukee, WI!
Ear plugs! I use them with my son 🙂