Natural parenting class

September 26, 2012

Cloth diapering is an age-old practice that has had a resurgence amongst new parents as they become more environmentally aware. Sweet Cheeks wants to help new parents as well as experienced ones learn everything about the benefits of cloth diapering and baby wearing. In this class Sweet Cheeks will guide parents from types of diapers to washing and even how to properly use and choose the right carrier. Already have little ones? While mom and dad are learning, they’ll keep the older kids entertained. Plus, there are secret savings at the store for those that attend.

Registration required. 6-7:30pm. Free. Sweet Cheeks, 5577 Monroe St., Sylvania. www.puresweetcheeksbaby.com—JG

TSO’s Promedica Halloween Spooktacular

Matt Desmond

September 26, 2012

It is never too early to introduce kids to the joy of classical music, and no event all year gives young music lovers more of a shiver of anticipation than the Toledo Symphony’s annual Promedica Halloween Spooktacular. It’s a thrilling and chilling afternoon at the Peristyle, packed with seasonal family fun. You’ll get a tour of some of the more pleasantly eerie corners of the classical repertoire, presented with plenty of flair. Your kids will definitely want to be in costume — the musicians sure will be! And be sure to come early for pre-show activities, brought to you this time by Toledo School For the Arts.

2-4pm. $20-25. Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theater, 2445 Monroe St. 419-246-8000. www.toledosymphony.com —MD

A revolutionary experience

Karen L. Zickes

September 26, 2012

My children have seen the likes of far more restaurants than my husband and I ever experienced growing up. Times are different these days, and going out to eat is a norm for many families. However, it’s still something special for my kids when we treat ourselves to an upscale dining experience.

Taking it up a notch
I gathered from Revolution Grille’s website that it was a step up from the usual eateries we frequent. When we arrived, luck was on my side and we were seated in a semi private dining area. After the diners at the table next to us had finished, we had the room to ourselves. Out of the flow is the way I LOVE to dine in nicer restaurants when I have children in tow.
Now that my youngest is six years old, however, I’m less skittish about taking the kids to nicer venues. That new calm didn’t keep me from immediately removing all the sparkling stemware from our pre-set table before one of my little ones inadvertently sent glass shattering across the floor. The atmosphere was welcoming, with the open all-made-from-scratch kitchen as a focal point. There are even seats available that put you nearly in the kitchen with the chef.

The Short Course

Kid-friendly: Yes, but it’s a more upscale venue
To avoid wait: Reservations recommended on weekends
Noise level: Loud
Bathroom amenities: No changing station
High chairs? Yes
Got milk? Yes, as well as freshly-made virgin raspberry daquiris, raspberry and apple juice, and lemonade
Kids’ menu? Yes, ask server for selections

Ready for a revolution
Proprietor and Chef Rob Campbell opened Revolution Grille in June. After years of working in top notch restaurants, Chef Rob was ready to do it his way. ‘His way,’ it should be conveyed, is not conventional, but that’s exactly why you’ll love it. “My goal is for it to be completely spontaneous,” Chef Rob says. He best describes the food as ‘eclectic American cuisine with ethnic influences.’

Our attentive waitress Beccie handed each of us an Android tablet (which looks a lot like an iPad) that served as our menu. My kids’ eyes grew wide. Revolution Grille is the first and only restaurant in the area to use Menuvative, an interactive electronic menu that provides detailed information and fabulous photos about every dish. It even uses a pairing program to assist guests in choosing the best wines to complement each offered entrée. This is most definitely less conventional, as our waitress said most upscale restaurants never have photos on the menu. For the record, my camp loved the tablet menus and I’m certain my children looked at every picture available. Admittedly, I did too.

Awaken your taste buds
They aren’t just cooking at Revolution Grille; rather, they are constantly creating. Trying new things is half the adventure there. I have experienced a variety of ravioli dishes, but nothing quite like the eclectic goat cheese ravioli at Revolution. With roasted plum tomatoes, grilled eggplant, arugula and oregano it was delicious and exciting.

Our waitress could see my daughter’s hesitation to try anything other than the cheese flatbread. She brought up the picture and description of the Chicken Schnitzel a la Holstein for $13.95. With chicken, prosciutto, asparagus, red onion, lemon beurre blanc sauce, and a fried egg, I thought, ‘No way would she try that.’ She also offered ways my daughter could alter the dish if there was something that didn’t sound appealing. My daughter embraced the dining adventure and ate every last morsel, including the egg on top! Unfortunately, my husband devoured his sautéed walleye before I ever got a bite. He assured me it was delicious.

They do offer kids’ entrees such as mini cheeseburgers, cheese flatbread, and grilled chicken for $4.95 plus drink. The children’s menu and kids’ beverage cups are available. That evening my boys enjoyed a tasty flatbread pizza and cheeseburger with homemade chips from the kids’ menu. Fun dessert items, like a bacon and marshmallow covered fudge cupcake, are creative finishes to a meal.
Our trip to Revolution was a fun treat for our entire family. We were fortunate to meet Chef Rob personally and talk to him about his restaurant. As you might guess, my kids really enjoyed chatting it up with him.

Bottom Line: Revolution Grille is a welcome adventure in dining. Guests will love the unique combinations of flavors throughout the menu and the wide variety of entrees. Though a bit more upscale, it is still family friendly should you decide to bring the kids along. You might even want to request the semi-private area where you can relax a bit while dining with the younger set.

Karen Zickes is a mom of three active children and freelance writer who resides in Holland, Oh. She can be reached in c/o [email protected].

Passing on the gift

Matt Desmond

September 26, 2012

Could he have been the next great athlete like Stephen Strasburg or Dirk Nowitski? We’ll never know — Christopher Fellows, an instructor at Toledo’s Dance FX Academy of the Arts, might have been born with an athlete’s build, but the world of sports was too small to hold him. And long before he reached his current height of six foot one, he’d accidentally found his lifelong passion — dance.

“It started when I was six,” Fellows remembers. “My sister was taking ballet classes, and I liked to make fun of them. Then, one day, the teacher challenged me to try it myself.” Ballet wasn’t the most obvious path for a kid growing up in Ithaca, New York, but Fellows took to it immediately. “It was something I had fun doing.”

Fellows trained at the Ithaca Ballet, then moved on to the School of American Ballet in New York City. He studied with the man who’d become his mentor, Azerbaijani dancer Rafael Grigorian. “He brought over a bunch of Russians to do a show on Mark Twain,” Fellows remembers. He then spent 13 full seasons as a professional dancer, with companies in Alabama, Chicago and Milwaukee. “Because of my height I tended to play a fair number of villains,” he says. “Sometimes I’d be passed over for a role because I couldn’t fit into the costume. But sometimes it opened up other opportunities.”

A friend at the Milwaukee ballet recommended Fellows for a guest-teaching job at DanceFX, and he enjoyed the experience. “I always felt there was a lot of potential in this area,” he says. When the full-time job became available, he jumped at the chance to relocate. Now in his fourth year at Dance FX, Fellows is eager to share those opportunities with new dancers, and to show them that they can succeed, despite physical limitations. “I like helping people overcome obstacles and learn something about themselves,” he says. “That discipline to achieve goals can be translated to anything. Even if [students] don’t ‘get it’ until they’re older.” He focuses mainly on ballet, though Dance FX offers instruction from jazz to tap to hip-hop — “pretty much anything you can imagine,” Fellows says. “We like to give all our students an opportunity to get onstage. We have a strong curriculum and there’s a lot of opportunity going forward.”

Fellows is happy to be here, and he takes seriously the opportunity he’s been given. “Anytime you train for something, you have a lot of people who devote time and energy to you, whether you realize it or not. I feel like it’s a responsibility to pass on what you’ve learned. It’s the only way to keep the art form alive.”

There’s nothing more precious than passing on your art to your own children, and Fellows has that opportunity, too. His five-year-old son, Aidan, is taking lessons at Dance FX, and Fellows couldn’t be happier. “He likes moving, and being around other kids,” Fellows says. But he knows that every child eventually chooses his own path, and he’s at peace with that. “If he’s not enjoying it,” Fellows wryly muses, “maybe I should push him to football.”

Fright night

Mary Helen Darah

September 26, 2012

I love Halloween. As a mom it’s the only holiday where dust and cobwebs go with the decorations, eating large amounts of chocolate and baked goods are given a thumbs up and you can dress according to whatever happens to be going on with your body. That pretty much explains why I have been everything from a killer bee (pregnant), Cher (a rare moment where my stomach saw the light of day) to a “the honeymoon’s over” costume complete with bunny slippers, pore-cleansing face mask and fluffy robe (pretty self-explanatory).

Anytime you factor motherhood into the equation, it takes things to a whole new level and Halloween is no exception. My oldest loved to dress up, and her choice of costumes made this woman who breaks out into hives at the mere sight of a sewing machine a happy camper. My highly creative middle child on the other hand informed me one year she wanted to be an elephant. My youngest wanted to be “herself,” and is STILL miffed at me for making her wear the “cow” outfit complete with udders that I borrowed from the neighbors.

Personality study
I gained some valuable insights into their psyches every 31st of October especially in dealing with their “loot.” Lauren, in stereotypical first-born style, would arrange her candy with all the Snickers in a row, then the Hershey Bars, and so on, to determine the statistical probabilities and ratios of each. She would then make a graph to confirm her findings. The girl and recent grad is now titrating paralytic drugs as an ICU nurse. Helena would make pretty decorations out of her wrappers (her goal is to be a special ed teacher) and Maria would hoard hers in a secret hiding spot and was known to swipe the “good stuff” from her sisters and attempt to sell it back to them at a later date. She wants to major in professional sales.

Through the years we have enjoyed the hallowed eve with family and friends. I even survived the years of dressing two families in themed costumes. I was almost thrown over the edge when my ambitious friend Terry decided that if we were going to be dressed as people in the shower (loofas, shower caps and encircled by a shower curtain) that the look wouldn’t be complete without constructing individual showerheads. To this day I have an aversion to paper towel rolls and foil. My Mom gave her two cents worth and helped me slit the back of my “curtain” to reveal a set of fake “buns.” I totally forgot how I looked from behind until I stared into the eyes of a poor little trick or treater at my door after I bent over to give him some candy.

Monster bash
My kids will say (along with close to 100 neighbors, friends, and family) that our annual Halloween party is the best part of the holiday. As with most things in this house it started out as a small gathering and, as one friend put it, “it grew legs.” Even the most conservative guests, including my father, get into the spirit of things. For 364 days my dad is the former Eagle Scout, army man, entrepreneur we know and love but, just like a werewolf, he annually transforms into another form. Some of his most memorable transformations were as a Hawaiian dancer complete with coconut bra, cheerleader and, my all-time favorite, World Cup Wrestler, when he borrowed (as if I wanted them back) a pair of my tights.

Through the years we have had some eyebrow-raising moments including a middle-aged mother of three dressed as a Victoria’s Secret swimsuit model. We also had a former 6’7” college basketball player come dressed as a transvestite. I did not know where not to look first. The most upsetting costume to walk through our doors was worn by my daughter’s high school friend who came dressed as part of the male anatomy. We immediately removed him from the party and told my little confused godson that he was a giant “Twinkie.”

Some parting words of advice my pretties: make 100% certain that the person who you THINK is wearing an inflatable costume actually IS before making comments. Also, when you find yourself surrounded by kitchen clean-up helpers at 2 am all wearing tights (including Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Robin Hood, and yes, even Rocky Horror dad) realize that you are one lucky witch.

The balancing act, part I

Michelle Rowe

September 26, 2012

Pack lunch, kids to school, sign fieldtrip release, work, meeting, phone call, dog to vet, pick up kids, dinner, laundry and exercise if time allows. Does this sound anything like your daily routine? Do you frequently find your needs falling to the bottom of the to-do list? If you answered emphatically YES, you are not alone. Finding balance while juggling a full plate is not always easy, but finding balance, nonetheless, is essential.

I would be lying to you if I told you I thought motherhood was a breeze. I would also be lying to myself if I thought I had everything balanced perfectly. Many days I feel like a circus clown juggling different roles as a nurse, mother, wife, taxi driver and referee. I constantly look around at other women and find myself asking, “Am I the only one who feels stressed and overwhelmed?” In my quest for balance I have had to prioritize my personal commitments and my family’s full plate.

Balancing priorities
I have become more relaxed about laundry and household chores. I have learned not to lose sleep if there is a dirty dish in the sink. My definition of balance is very different from the images we are bombarded with of modern moms in commercials, TV shows and magazines as they take it all on glamorously. My house would definitely not pass Martha Stewart’s rigorous standards or even the white glove test, but I am at peace with that. I would rather take a walk at the park with the kids or share dinner with my family than sweat over the little things — those details can wait until tomorrow.

So the question remains, how does today’s modern mom find balance in her mind, body and spirit? When it comes to women’s health and well-being, women often neglect their health while taking care of their family, work and coping with daily stressors. So how can one find balance everyday?

Stress management
Balance can be found in so many different ways. It can be as simple as gardening, chatting with friends, even getting your hair styled, devoting some time to much needed personal attention. Whatever you find that relieves stress, and that you enjoy, can help you find balance. Sometimes I laugh at the moments when I find that elusive balance. I’ve made hair appointments at 7pm midweek, just so I could share dinner beforehand with my family, and I’ve left the salon with soaking wet hair so I could be home to tuck the kids in bed. My balance was feeling good about pampering myself, but still making time to share the moments with my family that are important to me.
It’s important for mothers to remember that their well-being and health can influence the family in so many positive ways. When moms are feeling stressed and they don’t make their personal balance a priority, they struggle with giving 100% to their career, family, faith and health. Women are a pivotal part of a family’s success and health.

Michelle Rowe is a local mom who can juggle reader responses too! To reach her, email [email protected]

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