Little B Visits Chuck E.

I think I’ve discovered the secret behind the sensory overload chamber known as Chuck E. Cheese—caffeinated air.

Today was a day my mother has looked forward to since she first found out I was pregnant; we finally took Brayden to Chuck E. Cheese. My mom, Brian and I bore witness to the wonder that was B’s first fun zone experience. Pure toddler insanity. If Dateline NBC’s Chris Hansen ever does an expose and discovers they caffeinate the air, I would believe it.

In typical Brayden fashion, he toddled in and had to appraise the situation before concluding it was to his liking. He sized up the pictures of the mouse/rat/? and decided to give the place a whirl. First up was a ride on Clifford The Big Red Dog. Well, make that three rides.

After that first ride, everything becomes a blur. Seriously.

From fun rides like the Ken Chuck E. Derby (that is seriously its name)

…and super neat video games like flying fighter jets

…to scurrying through the air maze

…and racking up tickets during skill games,

we did it all during our nearly two hour visit. And I do mean all.

We took more video at Chuck E. Cheese’s than we’ve ever taken of Brayden in one place/situation ever. I took the footage and turned it into a three minute highlight reel of all the best moments. I think you’ll particularly enjoy the part that starts at 53 seconds. The image of an emergency fire and rescue extraction flashed before my eyes as I saw him starting to shimmy under the Plexiglas…

I don’t think it’s possible for us to have had more fun. My mom was totally ticket crazy and played each skill game with reckless abandon in the name of “tickets for Brayden”. Sure, sure. Even Brian got into it when I caught him exchanging ticket maximizing strategies with another dad at one of the token push games. Needless to say, I don’t think it’s going to be hard for Brayden to convince us to come back once he’s old enough to start asking for such things.

Before we left, we went into the showroom to say bye to our friend Chuck E., and surprisingly enough the animatronic mouse/rat/? totally didn’t weird Brayden out.

Our last Chuck E. Cheese moment involved redeeming 20 of our hard-earned tickets for a green plastic mouse/rat/? whistle that Brayden instantly became obsessed with.

A very successful outing overall and another toddler milestone gamely conquered by little B!