My neighbor's wife was expecting. Expecting any day actually. In order to pass the time, the guy's wife invited everyone over -- all the other moms from the office, school and the bowling league and they were all playing baby shower word scramble. You heard that correctly; a baby shower word scramble. I had just popped in to return a power drill - men do that type of thing - and seated before me were no less that 25 women of various shapes and sizes. Some I knew, some I didn't. And they were all intently trying to unscramble a list of 20 or so words. The hotly contested prize for "round one" was a ceramic cake dish. Hey - I want a piece of this action! So I pulled up a chair, grabbed a baby shower word scramble sheet and pencil and got to work. It dawned on me right then and there that I'd been retired a little bit too long.

I never realized how many words you can scramble up that have to with pregnancy, child birth and just plain raising kids. At this baby shower word scramble soirée we had enough of a vocabulary to pull from to play 20 rounds of a word scramble. Check this out: high chair, diaper, baby wipe, car seat, labor, epidural (seriously, how can play a word scramble and NOT use the word "epidural"), nursing, first steps. The list never stops. All you have to do is mix up the words and you're ready to play! I felt so guilty. I was having fun. Despite being pretty much the only guy in the room. Well, there are worse things in life.
After about 15 rounds of action we were all ready to take a break from the baby shower word scramble, so a word scramble game wasn't the only thing we played.

I don't who thinks these games up - other pregnant mothers maybe? Anyway, my personal favorite, at least from a guy's perspective was "Guess the size of the expectant mother's tummy". Good thing my wife was there when I played that one. Basically there was a ribbon that seemed to be about two years long. It was passed around the room and everyone initialed the ribbon at the circumference they felt would reflect the mother's extended tummy. The important rule was that no one can "cheat" by measuring their friend's stomach. Closest measurement wins a prize. In this case, designer pot holders. I'd have settled for a beer. Not that it mattered anyway, because I lost.

I bowed out at this point. Content just to watch for a while instead of being a player. The moms continued on with their games and another one that I rank right up there with a word scramble game is the "Baby Food Identification Game". It's a game that is as easy as it sounds. With 8 to 10 different jars of baby food on hand, and each one without it's identifying label, contestants have to identify the contents by sight alone, they receive one bonus taste if they can't figure out the contents. Everyone writes their answers down on a piece of paper. The winner gets more Tupperware. I think this game can be modified for men and played with beer. I'll have to give it a try.

I must say that this baby shower seemed a lot more fun that what I was expecting. And honestly, I wasn't expecting anything. I was just returning a power drill!