Daniel Tiger Pandemic Birthday Celebration

Months More of Pandemic One More Birthday Boy

In April, we celebrated the big boy’s fourth birthday. Obsessed with ninjas, heroes, and Ninja Turtles, we did a socially distant small party where family members connected via FaceTime and wore homemade ninja hero masks.

Encouraged by the experience of doing a Cake Call, special masks for attendees, and special moments throughout the day, I am looking to do the same for the little guy. He happens to be obsessed with Daniel Tiger. He knows all the songs and sweetly sings along with them whenever they play. I know the Cake Call will be hectic and the song will be choppy and delightfully off-key but it makes the experience just a little more fun. For Daniel Tiger, instead of superhero ninja masks, I am looking to do Katarina Kitty Kat headbands that light-up! He is turning two after all so he will love the light-up features.

For Those Not Familiar with Daniel Tiger

Daniel Tiger is a spin-off of the beloved Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The Tiger Family is actually a character of Mister Rogers, one of his puppets, Daniel Striped Tiger. The new show takes Daniel and some of the other puppets as inspiration and moves to the land of make-believe. It is targeted towards young kids ages 2-4. Both my boys love Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. We even used Daniel’s help both for potty training and introducing the big boy to becoming a big brother.

Lessons Adults Can Learn From Daniel Tiger

• “If you’re feeling frustrated, take a step back, and ask for help.” How many times does it help to walk away from frustrating things, like techy computer things? Stepping away and coming back, I find, help to come back with a solution or a different angle.
• “When you’re sick, rest is best.” My big boy sang this to me the other day, so sweet. I am not usually one to rest so big boy or hubby has to remind me of this song.
• “Keep trying, you’ll get better too.” Practice makes perfect, right? This is so important as we try new things, we didn’t learn how to walk well in a day, new things will take time too.
• “Find your own way to say I love you.” This is so important. We live in such a materialistic world, do we know what it means to make gifts from scratch anymore? This one was an eye-opener after having kids. Every flower and drawing is the best present in the world.
• “If something seems hard to do, try it a little bit at a time.” Being a mompreneur, this one is one to remember all the time. I encounter things that are hard and out of my comfort zone (doing FB Lives?!) but did a little bit at a time and now have a regular schedule.
• “When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath, and count to four.” My about to be two-year-old sings this one and we all sing it when we need a break. Quarantined in the house altogether, we sing it a lot!
• “Saying I’m sorry is the first step, then, how can I help?” This is such an important lesson. Saying sorry is great but it doesn’t fix things, asking the real question, how can I help, makes all the difference.
• “Everyone’s job is important, we help in different ways.” At a time when we are learning to be more open about our differences, this is such an important lesson. We all help in different ways and that is what makes our world so special.

Special Lessons During COVID-19 Time

All of these lessons may be helpful at different times. Reflecting though, I found these three to especially call out during this time of Coronavirus.

• “See what it is, you might feel better.” There is so much wrapped up in fear with COVID-19. I am not saying we should make believe it doesn’t exist but understanding the facts is super important with something like this.
• “When something seems bad, turn it around, and find something good.” A global pandemic is bad. There is no one that will argue with that, what has been amazing though is the time as a family because dad doesn’t commute for two hours a day, the regularly scheduled Zoom calls with extended family, and enjoying some simplicities.
• “It’s okay to feel sad sometimes, little by little, you’ll feel better again.” This is so important to remember, especially during COVID-19. Things are scary, and hard when we can’t be with friends or family. Little by little, we will figure it out and this too shall pass.

Ugga Mugga Bags

For the big boys’ birthday, we did masks for superheroes. For me, it had a double meaning in that it also celebrated our family members that are heroes in our life. For little guy’s birthday, we are doing cat ears for Daniel Tigers’ neighbors. I wanted to include a little something more so I decided to make little shopping bags to add the headbands to with an Ugga Mugga Daniel Tiger. If you are not familiar with Ugga Mugga it means “I love you” in the land of make-believe. I think it is appropriate in our current times to spread lots of love.