we have a long history of dance parties in our family. they usually spontaneously begin when i am tired of waiting for my kids to finish their dinner or breakfast and a good song comes on the sonos. they take a break from eating (you would think i am serving them HORRENDOUS meals by the way i have to threaten and bribe them to eat - theo had a particularly painful masticating period where it could honestly take him fifteen minutes to consume a single bite of scrambled egg - something you don’t really even need to chew! i would be beside myself with boredom and fury and end up drinking that unneeded, extra glass of wine - not at breakfast, mind you, just dinner.) generally, my offerings are very “kid friendly” as i, myself, have the palette of a five year old and favor mid-western comfort food over anything with too much spice or herbs sprinkled on top or any kind of blue cheese or raw onions or mayonnaise or raisins or any brown, dried fruit or salmon or any fish that isn’t white and mild and preferably fried. 

my kids actually eat all kinds of things that i would never touch (just not a lot in terms of quantity.) they have an “adventurous eating club” with their father and they happily suck down oysters, chomp on grilled calamari - the “leggy” ones, not just the circles, sample frog’s legs, chow down on raw herring or eel sandwiches and look forward to popping those big, red, salty fish eggs on sushi rolls into their mouths. sometimes i can’t even watch them eat (even though i’m proud of them for trying so many things. theo once ordered steak tartare at boulder’s newest, steakhouse no. 316. it came with bone marrow and raw egg and he had to mix it up himself. i was amazed that he would forgo the opportunity to have impeccable steak frites for that raw mess, but he loved it.) so when we are out for dinner, i frequently order off the kids’ menu and they get “adult” food. that way they can enjoy herby, fishy rainbow trout and i can safely munch on grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup. but at home we have fish sticks, not oysters, so we need the dance parties to break up our dinners.

theo eating a “paling” (eel) sandwich in amsterdam.

lulu eating oysters at jax.

lately, lucy and i have been theming our parties and our favorite is “girl power.” we start with the original “i will survive” by gloria gaynor (1978) and make our way through the decades:

“i’m coming out” by the BOSS (1980)

“hollaback girl” by gwen (2004)

“run the world (girls)” by miss bey (2011)

“girl on fire” by alicia (2012) …lucy used to belt this out as a toddler in the back seat of the car when we were driving around town!

“praying” by kesha (2017) - we love a big HOWL in the middle of a song.

“good as hell” by lizzo (2019) - BEST way to start the day.

and just this week we’re really into “instagram” featuring natti natasha.

this is the chorus:

who the hell do you think i am?

i don't give a fuck about your instagram

listen up, 'cause i'm not that girl

ain't enough liquor in the whole wide world

who the hell do you think i am?

i don't give a fuck about your instagram

fly away, little peter pan

now you know who the fuck i am

(inappropriate?)

you should see my girl jam out to this song… NO ONE is going to get in her way, especially if they are trying to feed her pedestrian fare like (her mama’s favorite) meatloaf and mashed potatoes.