Christmas Caroling

So I thought that before the holidays were over, I should share with you my daughters' takes on Christmas songs.  All kids sing the wrong words to most songs, and damn if it isn't the funniest thing ever.  Here are a few of the songs that have been sung in my house over the past few weeks.  

Lana LOVES to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two bon deet, my two bon deet oh my two bon deet!"  Don't ask me what bon deets are but perhaps, "sister soozie sitting on a missile" would know.  

Sonya has been the biggest butcher of words this year, mostly because she's the one who sings the most and the loudest for all to hear.  I have NO idea where that comes from.  For the past two years she's sung songs like "We wish you WERE Merry Christmas".  I wish people could be Merry Christmas too now that I think of it.  Then there's Jingle Bells.  Let's be honest-who hasn't thought it was a "one horse soap and sleigh"?  I'm pretty sure I thought those were the words until at least 19.  I'm not kidding.  Sonya sings it this way, of course, but my favorite part about that song is when she sings, "Bells on cocktail ring".  Guess I need to put down the martini glass after the holidays. 

I think my ultimate favorite mix up she's sung this year is to "Deck the Halls".  Instead of "Donning her gay apparel", she sings, "now we know our day apparel!"  Which if she understood the word apparel would kinda make sense, but I'm pretty sure she has no idea what apparel is.  

Georgia is too little to mess up the words, since she's still working on just saying the words.  However, one of the cutest things she does is dance around and sing her best to the song "Misfit" from the Rudolph special.  We have this little toy with Hermie the elf, and when you push the button he sings, "I am not just a misfit...".  Georgia loves to walk over there, push the button and sing the song as best she can.  "I no mi-fi!  See bum bum!"  Not sure about the last words, but she's proud of herself, and she's so happy when she gets to sing it.  (Oh and as a side note, yes I did say she was walking.  FINALLY!  She made it before the 18 month mark, which was Monday.  Let the games begin!)

After New Year's we will work on putting away all the Christmas decorations and CDs.  This always makes me a bit sad, even though I'm ready to do it by then.  At least I can I look forward to next year to see which songs Sonya will finally figure out, and which ones Lana and Georgia will pick to butcher.  

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope it's a happy and safe one.

If Only They Had Been Two For the Price of One

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had as lovely a Christmas as we did here at the Dadekian household.  I have a few stories for you, but I thought I'd start out with the one where Lana cried first thing, upon seeing the presents Christmas morning, and it was totally my fault.  Well, Andy's too.  Actually, I blame him more.  Here's why.  

For a month and a half now all Sonya had been asking for was a princess scooter.  It's the ONLY thing she wanted for Christmas.  Every time we saw Santa at the mall or when he called on the phone, that was it.  A princess scooter.  So what did Lana want?  Of course the same thing.  Only Lana really hasn't ridden a scooter much, and I'm not sure if she knew what she was asking for.  Still, we should have known better.  

Andy and I went shopping for the girls one night a couple weeks ago to the only toy store ever invented, Toys R Us.  Why is that the only toy store around, by the way?  They really have a monopoly on the toy business, and it's a bit annoying because some of the employees there are not the nicest people in the world.  Since it is the only place to go for the biggest selection of toys, off we went.  It was a Saturday night and it was a madhouse.  Fun times!  We couldn't even find a cart when we first got there.  More fun times!  Good thing we were going to a party and drinking after that.  We had no idea what to get anyone, other than the scooter, so we went there first.  There were no princess ones, but there was a purple and pink one which I was pretty sure Sonya would be okay with.  It came with a helmet and pads as well.  We put one in the cart and I went to get another one, when Andy stopped me.  

"We don't need two," he said.

"But Lana said this is what she wanted too," I protested.

"They can share it," was the response I got.  

Oh sure that's fine for the guy at work all day not dealing with two sisters fighting over who gets to ride the scooter next.  I thought about arguing more, but dropped it, because the fact is Lana is 2 1/2 and I wasn't even sure this was something that would hold her interest past Christmas morning.  She was only asking for it, because her sister was, and I knew that since we were on a budget this year, if we got two then there would be nothing else we could get them.  Still, I had a baaaad feeling.

The next few days I heard more from Sonya about the princess scooter, and whenever Lana was around she would add in her, "me too", about wanting a scooter.  I tried my best to hint at the fact that maybe Santa would bring one for them to share, but I don't think either of them heard me.  

On Christmas Eve Andy put the scooter together and I made sure it came with a tag that said to Sonya AND Lana from Santa.  Christmas morning the girls were up around 7am, which was pretty normal wake up time for them, so that was good.  They were naturally over excited to run to the living room and see what Santa had left for them.   Sonya and Lana sat in our bed and waited patiently for Andy to go to the living room and "check" to see if Santa had come.  Once he let us know it was okay to come out, they ran screaming from our room in complete craziness.  I followed behind with Georgia who had no idea why I had woken her up from her sound sleep.  

Then we got to the living room.   (Insert record scratch here.)  Sonya squealed when she saw the scooter and jumped on, and Lana stopped and looked around searching for hers.  Meanwhile I'm yelling,

"Read the tag Sonya! It's for both of you! Read the tag!"

Sonya read it out loud but it was too late.  Lana burst into tears and wailed,

"I wanted a scooooterrrr!"

I tried to tell her that one was for them to share and Sonya tried as well, but she only cried harder and said,

"I wanted my own!"  Then she walked back to our bedroom crying the whole time, and my heart broke into about a thousand pieces.  I felt terrible and was sure I had ruined Christmas for my middle child forever.  She didn't get the one thing she asked for.  Well, she did, but it wasn't her own.  

I followed her back to the bedroom and tried calming her down.  I explained to her that Santa thought it would be best if she and Sonya shared the scooter so they could get other presents too.  That didn't matter to her.  Then I told her if she came back out to the living room, she could have her turn on the scooter too.  Hearing this, she stopped crying and followed me back out to the living room.  She perked up and took her turn riding the scooter around the island in the kitchen.  When she was done she said,

"Here, sis, your turn!"

Well, were at least helping them with sharing.  She was fine the rest of the day.  We opened the rest of the presents and she didn't seem to be upset about the scooter anymore.  She and Sonya even shared the scooter very nicely.  Well for now.  I'm smart enough to know that won't last forever.  That is why I took my friend, Stacy's, Cars scooter off her hands.  This way when the fighting really starts, I can pull that out as at least another one to use.  Although I'm sure the new purple and pink one will still be the more coveted.  

My hope is that she's young enough that she won't remember.  However, it will be stuck in MY memory for the rest of my life.  Not to mention that we have it all on video.   The Christmas I made my daughter cry.   I can tell you that I won't be doing that again.  Next time they both ask for the same thing, they're both getting it or nobody's getting it.  I mean I know in the grand scheme of things, this won't matter to her, but if someday she's in therapy and the, "Christmas she didn't get a scooter", gets brought up, I can place most of the blame on Andy for this on.  After all, I am the one who tried to get for her  in the first place.

On the First Day of Christmas

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and by a lot I mean all.  This time of year it's worse, since I'm baking cookies, making party food, and homemade ravioli in addition to the regular day to day of feeding and cleaning up after everyone in the house.  It was made clear to me just how much time I was spending when I heard Sonya making up her own words to, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" one day last week.  In place of "a partridge in a pear tree", she sang,

"And one mommy cleaning up the kitchen!!"

Yeah.  So. I guess when Christmas is over I should step out of the kitchen for a bit.  Trust me, I'll be more than happy to do it!

All I Want For Christmas

This is a little song that popped into my head this morning as I was changing Georgia's diaper, completely exhausted.  For some reason she decided it would be fun to be up for three hours in the middle of the night last night.  Of course I had gone to bed late, because I was working on Christmas cards, so I got almost zero sleep.  This has been an on going theme in my life lately, really always, but it's been worse the past month.   I thought I'd share the song with you all.  (To the tune of All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.)

All I want for Christmas is a full night's sleep

a full night's sleep

OH a full  night's sleep!

All I want for Christmas is a full night's sleep,

so I can remember myyy Christmas!

It's been so long since I have felt 

rested and full rejuvenation!

Gosh oh gee how happy I'd be,

if I could take a vacation.

All I want for Christmas is a full night's sleep

a full night's sleep,

OH a full  night's sleep!

All I want for Christmas is a full night's sleep,

so I can remember myyy Christmas!

SO, anyone who needs any last minute ideas for me, now you know what I really need.  Not sure how you can wrap that and put it under the tree though.  

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Last week, this is what Sonya said to me about all the holidays over the past few months;

"I love this time of the year!" she told me.

"You do, why?" I asked.

"Because you know, Halloween is fun and all because you get lots of candy, but your mother doesn't let you eat it all.  Then there's Thanksgiving, but all there is on that day is FOOD!" At this point she's exasperated and totally rolling her eyes with a "who cares" look on her face.  "Then it's Christmas! And that's the best because you get LOTS of presents to open and toys and if you're good your mother might even let you PLAY with one!!"

First of all, I love the way she referred to me as "your mother".  She did it in such a way, so it seemed like she wasn't talking about me, necessarily, but all mothers.  Let's be honest, it's me.  No I did not let her eat all of her Halloween candy, and yes I talked up Thanksgiving to them and there was only FOOD.  But for the record, I will most certainly let them play with at least one of their presents on Christmas.  I'm not totally heartless.

Secondly, if you had any doubt what holiday was every child's favorite, I think we've answered it here.  What she hasn't realized yet, is that Christmas combines all of those three.  Presents, candy, and FOOD!   Once she figures that out there will certainly be no question.  

PAR-TAY!

Yes I am indeed alive.  Barely.  I wasn't sure I was going to be awake this week considering I had about a total of 10 hours sleep all last week.  See Andy and I decided to have a Christmas party on Saturday night.   The amount of time and energy that goes into preparing a party like that is one thing.  We did it before we had kids.   Add taking care of 3 kids while doing it, and you put yourself on a different playing field.  One that means you're up making Christmas cookies until 12:30 every night.  This is our second year doing it. So yeah, not much time to update on here.  So sorry about that, but the party was a success even if we are a little crazy to do it with three kids.  Let's just say, all the Christmas DVD specials have been watched at least once at this point.  (Some twice.)  

Some of you may be wondering, "where did the girls go on Saturday night?"  This was probably the part that caused me the most anxiety.  Trying to get them to sleep BEFORE the party started.  I'd love to say we just dropped them off at my parents or in-laws, kissed them goodnight and told them we'd see them early afternoon the next day, giving us enough time to sleep off whatever hangovers we were bound to wake up with.  Unfortunately, both sets of our parents live in Florida, therefore we were stuck trying to prepare for the party and get them to bed, mostly on our own.  So, they got to have a slumber party in mine and Andy's room.  We moved Lana's mattress to our room, Sonya has a little inflatable bed, and Georgia got the pack and play.  

Georgia was actually pretty easy to put to bed, since she had one nap that lasted only an hour and a half.  She protested for about 30 seconds, then passed out.  One down!  The other two proved to be more of a challenge.  I expected this. 

 First we let them stay in their beds in our room and put TV on to watch, which was a big treat.  Then I went to turn off the TV around 7:45,  to try and get them to sleep.  At that point they wanted to know who was at the party.  Thankfully, nobody had arrived yet since the party wasn't even starting officially for another 15 minutes.  Not to mention it was raining.  Lots and lot of rain like we never get in Los Angeles, so people would be arriving late or not at all.  Rain here is like snow anywhere else.  People FREAK out.  However, I knew some people would be arriving soon and then it would be all over, so I had to get them to sleep fast.  

I promised them both some sort of prize the next day if they would just be good and go right to sleep.  Who was I kidding?  Right before I left the room Lana said to me, 

"Mom, can I come to your party?"

It broke my heart, just a little bit.  She asked so genuinely, like she really wanted to come and party with us.   There was a part of me that wanted to tell her sure she could come, but then the rational I- still-have-shit-to-do side of me took over, and turned her down. 

"Not this time, Lana.  This is a party for mommies and daddies.  Next time okay?"  I promised her.

"Ooookkaaayyy," she said a little sadly, then laid down.  

 I closed the door, went to finish my party prep, and they went to sleep like little angels. The End.  I wish.  If you actually believed that you haven't been reading this blog very long.  Or at all.  So no, I was back in there at least 6 or 7 more times.  Each time I gave them a new threat or a new bribe.  I finally ended with promising them a cookie in the morning, if they would just go to sleep.  This is what seemed to finally work.  A cookie.  For breakfast.  Yup, I was desperate.   I think they fell asleep somewhere around 8:30-8:45 and luckily, there weren't a lot of people at our house yet.   

The good thing is they did sleep throughout the party.  I think the murmur of a party going on is actually very comforting.  I know it was when I was a kid and my parents would have parties.  I would get excited about the party too, and for some reason felt comforted when I woke up to hear it going on.  Lana did wake up toward the end of it, but that is her usual wake up in the middle of the night time.  Andy brought her out so she could see what was going on and then she went right back to sleep.  She did get to come to the party after all!  

The next morning they were up WAY to early.  I made Lana lay down in bed with us for a while, then put a show on for them to watch in the living room.  Luckily, Georgia was still sleeping.  Sonya took it upon herself to get the cookie I had promised them.  I guess a promise is a promise, so I wasn't upset about it.  Even if they did leave cookie crumbs all over the floor. Oh well at least  I didn't have to get out of bed to give it to her, so that was a plus!  

Overall putting together a party like that with three kids in tow is quite a task, and perhaps a little crazy, but we managed to get it done.  Truth be told we had a great time and I do like throwing parties, so it's totally worth it to me.  Not to mention the fact that even though we don't have family here to help us, we have a ton of friends who pitched in.  My friend Julian, some of Andy's friends from work, and especially our neighbors across the street, Kelly and John, who helped by playing with the girls on Saturday and CLEAN UP on Sunday.  You guys rock!  Because really isn't that what the holidays are all about?  Helping each other out so we can ALL get drunk, eat lots of food, and have a great time.  

Self Esteem

Sonya  started reading before she went to kindergarten, but her writing didn't really start until after.  She had written a few letters here and there, but it wasn't until she started school that the words started to appear.  She likes to write words all the time now, and is always asking for paper to draw and write on.  Yesterday, she found one of my notepads that I make all my lists on, because yes, I'm a lists type of person.   After I got out of the shower yesterday, she brought back a piece of the paper, gave it to me folded and inside she had written:

"I Love Mom."

 Awwwwww...I know that's what I thought.  She had drawn me a little picture as well.  I thought I was special.  Then about an hour later I found 8 more of those pieces of paper on the kitchen counter, each with an "I love____" on them.  There was one for Daddy, GG, Lana, and her friends Lourdes, Gwen and Elias.  Turns out I wasn't so special after all.  Then I found the one that made me laugh out loud.  It read:

"I Love Myself." 

I guess that's good parenting though, right?  I mean we've taught her to love her family and friends, but also to love herself as well.  Don't we always hear that you have to love yourself first, before loving anyone else?  I guess she's got that covered. 

 

The Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday was our yearly family trip to Disneyland.  We started this tradition after Sonya's 2nd birthday a few years back. Oh- and after my friend Melinda got a job working for Disney so she could get us all in for free.  We like to go the week after Thanksgiving, because they have all the Christmas decorations up and it seems to be a time with less people in the park, which is always a plus.  I was especially excited to go this year for a couple reasons.  One-I'm not pregnant, Two-I'm not breastfeeding.  Trust me when I tell you, it's not so much fun nursing a baby in an amusement park.  Trying to find a nursing location a few times during the day is, well, it's a pain in the ass.  So for the first time in three years, I was neither of those things and all the girls were old enough to really enjoy everything.   I'll give you a couple of the highlights.  

Last year the Small World ride was closed.  This was both good and bad since it's one of the rides we can all go on, but it can get extremely annoying by the end.  Just about anyone can identify with that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day.. or week.  Yesterday, it was open, once again, and we decided to all go on it.  Sonya was apprehensive, for some reason.  I guess she thought it would be scary somewhere along the ride, but I convinced her it was far from scary.  Andy and Melinda were sitting with Lana behind Sonya, Georgia and me.  The boat started it's journey and the children's voices started to belt out the Small World ear worm.  Sonya had been griping my arm preparing herself for a dark scary place, I'm assuming, but once she saw how bright, cheery and sunshiny it was in there, she let go and started singing along.  After about a minute into the ride, I heard Lana say out loud, 

"I want to get off."  I turned around and looked at her and then at Andy and she said again, "I want to get off the ride now."  Well, I got news for you kid, there is not getting off.  Enjoy the next ten minutes!  I was preparing for a meltdown from her, but the sensory overload of the ride kept her quiet, so all was fine.  

I think one of the best parts for me yesterday was taking Sonya on her first roller coaster.  I've always loved roller coasters. I can't remember a time I was ever afraid.  In recent years I've started getting queasy after riding them, but I choose to ignore that feeling because I love the thrill of them so much.  For the past few years I haven't really been able to ride them, once again-pregnancy.  Sonya hasn't been big enough until this year to ride, but to be honest I never thought she would even think about riding.  She's a bit on the cautious side when it comes to things like that.  I've tried to get her to ride kiddie coasters before without success.  Yesterday when we saw the line for Big Thunder Mountain was only ten minutes, I was ready to go.  Melinda and I decided to ride leaving Andy with the girls.  Sonya asked where we were going and I told her to the roller coaster.  

"Do you want to come with us?"  I was fully expecting her to say no and that be the end of it, but to all of our surprise she nodded her head yes.  

"Okay come on!"  I grabbed her before she could change her mind.  She walked up to the "you must be this tall" sign, and she indeed was that tall,so they waved us through.  Melinda and I talked up the ride during the ten minute wait.  When we go to the front they told us we could all ride in the same car, so Sonya sat in the middle.  She was a little nervous but seemed excited.  We told her to scream as loud as she wanted and she did just that.  I forgot that there are a few dark tunnels in that ride and that's what she fears the most is the dark.  I just talked to her during those parts telling her it was all pretend.  By the end of the ride she was smiling and laughing.  

"Did you like it?" I asked.

"YES!" She exclaimed.

"Do want to go again?"  I figured Andy could take her since it was only a ten minute wait.  

"Nope!" She answered.  Baby steps.  

Andy did convince her to go on Splash Mountain with him a couple hours later and she seemed to like that one as well.  I was excited that we finally have one old enough to go on the fun rides with us.  Next time, Space Mountain!  Okay, maybe not that one, but at least the Matterhorn perhaps.  

All in all we had a fun day.  Georgia loved seeing Mickey and "Mimi" up close.  She also loved the carousal and was NOT happy when it stopped and I took her off.  We watched the Christmas parade, had a great BBQ dinner and ate ice cream while watching fireworks.  There weren't really any breakdowns from any of the kids... or adults.  They were really good all day, despite being exhausted by the end.  Most of all we got to have fun  spending time as a family.  That alone makes it the Happiest Place on Earth for me.    

 

footnote-Just a special thank you once again to Melinda for being such a great friend and taking us.  We couldn't do it without you and I mean that literally.  For $72/person-we couldn't afford to go without you.  THANK YOU!!!