Women, Wine, and Sippy Cups

Filed in archive Wine News on January 28, 2007

Most of my friends who have children don't do a whole lot of wine tastings at home like we get to do. Part of this is because they need to be careful about how much they drink, even though they may be at home, because they have little ones to take care of. Other issues may be breastfeeding if you have a new baby, or just the fact that you are ready to drop into bed five minutes after your children fall asleep. Who has time to enjoy even one glass of wine?

But, that's one of the things about being a parent - taking time to enjoy yourself is not enough of a priority for most people. But, can you have your wine and sippy cup too? Yes, says the author of Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay, according to this article, Alcoholic Play Dates -- Do Booze And Babies Mix?

An afternoon get together for three stay at home moms is a happy hour, and not just for the kids.

Call it the cocktail play date: a jungle gym, the sandbox, and a backyard bar.

"To me, it's a way to unwind, have a glass of wine, you're with the kids. I'm not talking about having six and then Hopping in the car and driving home," said Stephanie Wilder-Taylor.

For Wilder-Taylor and her friends in Encino, it's about hanging with the kids and feeling like a grown-up.

"There is a group out there that might argue that this is not the place. To those people I say, that's good for you. Be sober 15, 16, 17 hours a day with your kids and I would like to see if they're a great mom," said Wilder-Taylor, who is the author of a book called "Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay."

This from Publisher's Weekly:

When Los Angeles comedian and television writer and producer Wilder-Taylor got pregnant, she feared undergoing this process: "a perfectly sane woman who swigs Jack Daniel's, never goes to sleep before eight a.m., and has had at least one STD gives birth and suddenly becomes a different person... [who] subscribes to three dozen parenting magazines, thinks a wild night is tossing back two O'Doul's, and never hits the hay after eight p.m." Of course, now that the author has a daughter, she's smitten; the child "grew on me every day, and by six months I was definitely her bitch." Hoping to be the voice of reason amid a cacophony of parenting advice (in the form of books, mothers-in-law and others), Wilder-Taylor dishes on sharing the parenting responsibilities with your husband ("I felt like saying, 'Didn't you get the memo? WE'RE PARENTS NOW! LOOK ALIVE!' "), breast feeding ("it hurts like a rhesus monkey biting your nipples"), meeting other new mothers (only they can answer questions like "How the f*** does this Diaper Genie work?") and other aspects of new parenthood. Crass but reassuring, Wilder-Taylor succeeds in putting fears at rest.