Celebrities

Sometimes when I go places with my two sons, I feel like I'm traveling with a couple of A-list celebrities.

Because of the, "Oh my GAWD! They are SOOO cute!" factor here's some of the things they've experienced:

They have gotten free food and/or drinks from restaurants. And I'm not just talking about Denny's where kids eat free on Tuesdays.

They have received complimentary clothing. "Let's give that little boy an Amoeba Music t-shirt."

They've been blinded by a camera-phone picture snapping frenzy. (The phone wielders were tourists who mistakenly thought my sons were on some Disney Channel show.) And the last time we got pictures done professionally, I thought the photographer was going to have an orgasm.

"Yes, YES! Ohhh YESSS! That's the perfect shot!"

All that enthusiasm ended when it was time for the group family photos. "Um, mom, let's have you move a little to your right. Um. No. A little more. Um. No, let's try a different pose."

My sons are very mellow about all this attention and I've had to learn to not growl at people who compliment them. We've had to have a couple of chats about how cute is as cute does, but they are, overall, very unassuming.

However, this past week, I've had to deal with them making celebrity style demands due to the arrival of an even bigger celebrity, their grandpa.

My dad has been here in LA for work and the level of frenzy surrounding his visit was unprecedented.

There have been requests for more time in the bathtub because, "We need to get extra clean for grandpa."

They asked to have their hair washed, brushed, and dried with the diffuser attachment on the hair dryer. Why all this effort? "So grandpa won't think bugs live in our hair."

My punk-rock, skateboarding youngest made the ultimate sacrifice and washed all his hand-drawn ink pen tattoos off his arms. He didn't want grandpa to think he was a bad boy. He also didn't want to wear blue jeans because, "Grandpa doesn't like blue jeans." This is not true, but the mythology was powerful enough to cause some impressive temper tantrums when it came time to get dressed.

Despite their admiration of him, my dad got to experience being part of the Olinga/Toussaint entourage while we were all at the Cheesecake Factory in Marina Del Rey. Not one, not two, but three servers crowded around to coo over these two. I think my dad was getting a little annoyed by the gushing girl who kept saying, "Oh my gawd! They are so cute! Can I babysit for them? I'll babysit for free, they're so cute!"

Afterwards, my dad told me I should be afraid of the future. I absolutely agree.