Santa's Other Wordly Contribution

This morning at breakfast:

Sonya-"I think Santa was home schooled."

Me-"What?"

Sonya-"I think Santa was home schooled."

Me-"Why do you think that?"

Sonya-"Because of Santa Clause is Coming to Town." (the Christmas special) "He lived in the cold and snow, so he couldn't go to school, so he was taught at home."

Me-"Oh really?  I didn't know that.  So do you know there are other kids that are home schooled?"

Sonya-"Yeah, that's why the whole world chose to home school.  Because Santa taught them."

Me-"But everyone isn't home schooled.   You aren't."

Sonya-"That's because some parents can't teach their kids everything because they don't know it."

I suppose I can't argue with that logic.  I can barely help her with her first grade "pre-geometry" math. 

 I really wish I was kidding about that. 

A Quick Holiday Message

Hello all!  I'm sorry I've been a little behind in the posting lately.  It's that crazy time of year.  I'm just taking a little time to spend with the girls, my husband and parents, while they're here.   I just wanted to take a minute to say Merry Christmas to all of you out there who keep up with me and my girls!  Thanks for all your support over the past year and a half.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.  I promise to go back to my normally scheduled writing program once the craziness of this time of year passes.  Don't worry, I already have stories.  Like Sonya wanting to get her ears pierced out of nowhere.  WHAT?!  Stay tuned...


MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!  From my crazy family to yours!  

Pointing Out The Obvious (To Mommy's Embarrassment)

Ever since Sonya lost her first tooth, my girls are obsessed with loose teeth now.  Sonya does have another loose tooth right now, but Lana and Georgia are always telling me that one of their teeth is loose.  Which of course it isn't.  They just want to be like their older sister.  Not to mention that they saw how she was given money for her tooth, so it seems like a good trade off.  Unfortunately for them, it'll be a few years before a tooth actually does get loose.   In the meantime they inspect every kid now to see if they have missing teeth then point it out to me when they do.  


On a completely different note, a couple weeks ago my dishwasher decided to stop working. (Stick with me, these stories will tie together)  Something that I was SO happy about since I was planning a Christmas party and had eight different types of cookies, not to mention appetizer to make.  This meant A LOT of dishes.  So yeah, great timing.  Doesn't it always happen like that?   I called Sears to come out and repair it for us.  First they weren't going to come for almost a week.  A WEEK!   Then I did call and manage to get a sooner appointment.  But in the meantime I had to wash dishes by hand.  Something I hadn't done since I was eight.  It was like living in the dark ages.  


Well, last Wednesday the repairman came to our house to fix our disabled dishwasher.  He was a very nice man.  However, upon first glance looked a little rough.  Like he had some bad younger years but was trying to get his life together.  He had a number of tattoos, which is not  a big deal to me.  I don't mind tattoos and in fact have one myself,  but it was the kind they were (skulls) and the places they were (on his neck).  The kind of thing that screams bad ass.  There was also the fact that he was missing about three teeth in the front.  But like I said before, he was a good guy.  He fixed my dishwasher, and he asked about the girls.  He had a two year old boy at home and we chatted about the terrible twos. 


As it turns out, my dishwasher had a build up of calcium due to the hard water we have here in California.  There was so much that it wouldn't run or drain properly.  He was telling me what I could do to keep it from building up again.  Lana was in the kitchen with me while he was explaining all this.  Then out of nowhere she looked over at him and then back at me and excitedly said,


"Look mom!  He lost his tooth!"


Ummmmm....eeeerrrrrr......yeeeeaaaahhhh....so THAT happened.


Well, I did what I needed to do.  I ignored her and carried on my conversation hoping he didn't hear her or at least understand what she had said.  Luckily, Lana didn't push the issue, which is kinda weird for her, because most of the time she would have made a bigger deal about it.  If he did hear her he didn't let on, which I was thankful for, although I did feel badly that she had said that.    


He finished explaining to me what to do with the dishwasher and soon left.  Thank goodness Lana didn't say anything else embarrassing, like "why is there Halloween on that guy's neck?".  Between Sonya recently saying embarrassing things and now Lana, I'm thinking that perhaps I will just give them all big pieces of bubble gum whenever people come over so they can't talk at all.  Well, either that or duct tape.  

Mommies Make Mistakes Too

After twenty years of driving you would think I would know how to pull up to a curb in front of a parked car without incident.  You would think that, but you wouldn't be correct. Tuesday afternoon I tried to pull up to the curb in front of a parked car and did indeed have an incident.


I say incident, because it wasn't really enough of a deal to be an accident, although it certainly was an accident.  I wasn't meaning to hit the four door sedan sitting there so innocently, parked across the street from the park.  It was Tuesday and I was dropping Sonya off at Girl Scouts after picking her up from school and violin practice.  My Tuesdays are always crazy.  Her Girl Scout meetings are at a little cabin next to the park. I usually pull up to the curb, she hops out and goes to the cabin as I watch her.  This time I had to park on the opposite side of the street, because there was no parking on the side near the park.  Therefore I was going to have to get out and walk her across the street.  


I finally found a suitable spot and started to pull up to it.  I saw the car sitting next to me.  It's not like I didn't.  I'm not even sure how it happened.  I mean sure I've been crazy busy for a month now and had a ton on my mind so I was distracted in that sense, but it's Christmas!  Who isn't?  It's not like I wasn't texting or talking on the phone.  I wasn't even yelling at the girls, but all of a sudden as I'm pulling in front of this car I hear,


EEEEEEESSSCRREEESSSSSSHHHH!   CRUMPLE CRUMPLE  EEEEEE..... 


At first I had no idea what I was hearing.  Then I did. So this is what happened next.


"SHIT! FUCK! DAMN!"


Yes, that was me saying some VERY bad words in front of all three of my girls.  They were out of my mouth before I could stop them.   I immediately  followed it up with,


"Those are very bad words girls!  Don't ever say them!  Mommy shouldn't have said them!"


Then another,


"Fuck!"


I mean since they had already heard it, might as well get another one in there.  


Then they started asking me what happened.  They were wondering what made me react in such a way, not to mention the noise they heard.  I told them I accidentally hit the car behind us as I was pulling up to the curb.  


I was frazzled, but got Sonya of of the van, across the street and headed to her Girl Scout meeting.  Lana and Georgia kept questioning what was going on and what I was doing.  


What I was doing was assessing the damage to both cars.  My van had a big scratch down the side, but in all honesty, that side didn't look so good before anyway.  It wasn't bad.  Huh.  Maybe the other car wasn't bad either and I could pretend like this WHOLE thing never happened.  Nope.  The other car had a giant noticeable scratch too.  Enough to know that it wasn't there before, but not horrible.  Something that could easily be fixed.  I hoped.  


So I did what I knew was the right thing to do.  The thing that would make sure Karma wouldn't track me down and hit my van with a big rig.  I left a note on the windshield.  Maybe the person wouldn't bother calling though.  There was still hope I could pretend this never happened.  Except he did call.  Luckily he was a very understanding considerate man.  He had been at the park playing with his kid when it happened. He told me that he googled my name since I left the note and found this blog.  Then he said to me,


"You're really busy, so why don't you just call your insurance company and have them deal with this, then you don't have to worry about it.  I just have one child and know how hard it is.  I can't imagine three!"  


I found it amusing that he thinks I'm so busy after reading a bit of my blog.  What would lead him to think that I wonder?  I find it even more amusing that people can google me and come upon this website and look!  One accident and I have a new reader.  (Hi Mychael!) Perhaps I should hit more people parked near parks since they most likely have children.  Although my insurance rates would most likely increase, which would sorta defeat the purpose I suppose.  


Anyway, my insurance company was great, they are dealing with it and it's off my plate.  I am sorry that this nice guy has to deal with getting his car fixed.  He did tell me he worked freelance, and since he's slow right now this would give him something to do.  See I helped him out!  Just spreading the cheer everywhere this holiday season!


I didn't tell Andy at first, because he had a lot going on the day it happened.  Plus I wanted to get all the information I needed about what, if anything, it would cost us and how to proceed.  I knew I would eventually have to tell him, not because of the scratch on the side of the van he'd probably never notice that, but because I had three eyewitnesses who would surely rat me out at some point.  Not to mention the fact that someday when one of them drops the F bomb, he's going to be wondering where they heard it.  GUILTY.  It sucks too, because I'm usually so good at watching my language around them.  Oh well, as long as we're not in public if they do say it we'll be all good.  Otherwise you'll be reading about it on here.


I will try to be more careful from now on.  Not that I'm not usually careful.  In fact my insurance company said my rates would most likely not increase, because this wasn't that bad.  Also because, as they put it, I've had a "boring record" for the past fourteen years.  I did have a couple speeding tickets and was nabbed with a rolling stop when I was younger.  Now I'm a good driver.  I do fear I have made my girls a bit nervous in the car now though.  Later that day when I went to pick Sonya up from Girl Scouts, I had to turn around in the middle of the street.  During my three point turn I got close to a parked car and Lana said,


"Watch out Mommy!  You don't  wan to hit dat car!"


Thanks Lana.  Where were YOU two hours before?

Like An Elephant, She Never Forgets

Last Tuesday morning I woke up, in a panic realizing, I forgot to do something.  Every Tuesday I take Georgia to "class".  It's a parent education class at the adult school down the street.  It's great, because we go together, she plays with kids her age while I hang out with the other moms.  Then we do a circle time and sing songs.  Afterward, all the moms go to a different room to have a discussion while the kids play next door.  We all take turns watching the kids.  It's an awesome program and I wish I would have done it sooner, but I didn't even know about it until last year.  Anyway,  last Tuesday Santa was coming to visit the class during our circle time.  We were to bring a wrapped book so Santa could give it to our child.  Of course,  I forgot to get a damn book.  No worries though!  We have a TON of books at home and I was sure I could find one that we hadn't read much or at all.  I knew she wouldn't know even if I took one we had read before, but Georgia wouldn't be the problem.  Sonya would.

Sonya has a fantastic memory.  She always has.  My mom has even mentioned that it seems almost  photographic.  I wouldn't be surprised, since she learned things like her numbers and letters so early.  I knew when I was looking through their books on Tuesday morning, my challenge was going to be finding something Sonya didn't know we had.  I came across a book called "The Goodnight Train", which we've had for well over a year.  It had been stuck in with all the other small paperbacks and I think we maybe read it once when we first got it.  It was a cute little story, perfect for Georgia and I was sure Sonya wouldn't remember it.  I really have to stop underestimating that kid.

Well,  Santa came to Georgia's class and she was so excited to see him.  She ran run up to him and gave him a hug, when he called her name to give her the present.  She had no idea we ever had that particular book and was excited for it.  I knew that meant that it would be a bedtime book, which meant Sonya would hear the story too.  Little did I know, I wouldn't have to wait for bedtime for Sonya's memory to be tested. 

We picked up Sonya from school later that day and Georgia was telling her all about her visit with Santa and how she got a present.  Then Sonya asked what book it was.  I told her it was "The Goodnight Train".   Immediately she said,

"We have that one at home."

"No, we don't," I argued with her.  Then I lied, "I think we checked it out from the library before.  Maybe that's what you're thinking of."

"Nope, we have it already.  I know," she said.  

Great.  She knows.  Now what?  I continued to try and convince her that I didn't see that book in their bookshelf and I really thought we just got it at the library at some point.  She was not at all convinced.  

Then that night we got it out to read before bedtime.  As soon as Sonya saw it she said again,

"Yes!  We have that one already!"

"Sonya, I looked in your bookshelf today and I didn't see it at all," I told her.  Then I said, "It doesn't matter.  This is Georgia's gift from Santa and she likes it, so can you just drop it please."

"Okay," she said.  Then more quietly to herself, "But I  know we USED to have that one."

Then when I was done reading it she said, "Yeah, I remember we had it because Nona gave it to us."  

SERIOUSLY??!!  She not only remembers that specific book that we have read maybe, MAYBE once, but she remembers who gave it to them?!  Over a year ago?!? 

My only saving grace is that Georgia is too young to understand.  And for as smart as Sonya is she didn't figure out I took the book from home.  She just thinks Santa gave us a book we already had, but now has mysteriously disappeared.  This will be one of those stories that will be fun to piece together for her when she's older and no longer believes in Santa.  In the meantime I really have to watch everything I say and do with her. 

Actually, I could put this to good use and just start verbally giving her all my lists I make of things that need done.  Then I don't have to go searching to figure out where I put my lists.  I'll have Sonya there to tell me what's next.  Maybe I could even rent her out for other people with bad memories.  It would be an extra way to make some cash.  I mean she is six, so it's about time for her to start pulling her weight around here. 

Starting Young

Today I had to make a trip to Costco with ALL THREE GIRLS! AHHH! THE HORROR!  Actually they were quite good, so that's not really what I came to tell you today.


When we first got there I grabbed a shopping cart and parked it in back of the car parked next to us.  I took the girls out of the car and loaded them into the cart.  Georgia and Lana were in the front, Sonya was hanging on the side.  I was trying to get everything together when I noticed three men with a shopping cart full of Costco goods, standing next to the car I was blocking.  I was obviously in their way.  I felt bad, immediately apologized and began to move.  There were two African American guys and I only mention this because I swear one of them was someone famous.  He looked like a younger hotter version of LL Cool J.  He smiled at me and said,


"No, no problem, don't worry!"  Then he looked at the girls and said, "Hi girls!"


The girls responded back with a chorus of "hello's".


The cute guy's one friend was on the phone and the other one was pushing the cart, which led me to believe they were some sort of entourage to this very handsome charasmatic guy.  Living in L.A. you run across famous people just about everywhere.  Sometimes you recognize them, sometimes you're not sure if you do.  He may have been someone. Who knows?  All I do know is that he was very attractive and personable while the other two guys he was with were, eh.


We continued to walk down the aisle toward the Costco and I noticed Lana looking over my shoulder back to where the men were now loading their goods in their SUV.  Then she looked at me and said,


"Mom, doze boys is CUTE!"


What?  Did I hear that right?  She's three, correct?  How does she know what cute is?   Well, I guess the handsome, alluring stranger made her figure it out.  Great.


Have I mentioned how much I'm dreading the teen years?

The Happiest (and Sometimes Scariest) Place on Earth

This past Thursday was our annual family trip to Disneyland.  This year I had only one kid in diapers!  Even that isn't too bad, because most of the time she informs me when she has to poop and we make it to a bathroom on time.  Anyway, I love our trip to Disney every year.  It's a fun day with the whole family and our friend Melinda who gets us in for free!  Because really, who the hell can afford $76 a ticket these days? Yes we use Melinda to get us in for free, but we also love her company.  Plus in all fairness she uses us to get out of work for a day and go to Disney instead.  It's not a bad trade off.  (Thanks again Melinda!)  It's also a day that forces me not to cook, clean and be distracted by other duties.  A day to  hang out and have fun with my kids and husband.  That's just what we did.  


I think we rode more rides than we have in the past, which I was excited about, because I love rides.   We did the usual ones like Dumbo, the carousel and  Teacups.  Well, Sonya and I didn't ride the Teacups but everyone else did.  She and I were more keen on keeping our breakfast in our stomachs for the time being.  Riding the Teacups would have made that impossible for us.  Then we tried some new ones.  Andy and Melinda took Sonya and Lana on the little roller coaster in Toon Town.  Unfortunately, Georgia wasn't quite tall enough and she was NOT happy about it.  She cried for about five minutes after they left.  I distracted her by taking her into Goofy's house and Donald's boat. Every once in a while she would realize we were alone and the reason for that was because she couldn't ride the roller coaster, so she would get upset all over again.  Poor thing.  Hopefully next year she'll make the cut.  


We also did new rides like, Autotopia. That's the one where you drive the cars around the track.  Not sure why we never did that one before.  I guess we just never got over there in the past.  We only saw it this time, because we decided to go on the Finding Nemo ride.  This ride opened over three years ago, but we've never gone on, because the line has always been too long.  Even on days when the park was not crowded, like it is most of the time when we go after Thanksgiving, it was at least a 45 minute wait.  With three kids 45 minutes might as well be three hours.  Our wait time limit is usually 20 minutes tops.  Fortunately, that was the exact wait for Nemo on this day.  


We got in line not really sure what to expect of this ride.  Actually, I was pretty certain it was tame.  You get in a big submarine and ride around a track in the water.  The old ride there was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which I remember being kind of scary, but this was Nemo!  A story about a cute little lost fish who's dad comes to look for him.  How scary could it be, right?  I mean it was probably just like being in a floating aquarium. 


 I guess I haven't seen Finding Nemo in a few years.


It started out harmless enough.  Except there was the guy behind us who freaked out when they closed the top of the submarine. He decided he had to get out RIGHT THEN, leaving his five year old son in the care of a stranger for the ride.  I'm assuming he was claustrophobic.  Why even get in line, I'm not sure, perhaps he thought he could handle it.  Guess not.  We were all fine.  So far.  It started off like I thought the whole thing was going to be.  We were just looking through the portholes into what looked like the ocean, but with fake fish and fake coral.  The girls were enjoying it, until we "dove deeper" and ended up in darkness.  Then it also got extremely loud, which I guess was good, because then nobody could hear the screaming and crying of my two youngest girls.  They were both in hysterics, Georgia more than Lana. They both kept saying "Mommy!!  I wanna go hoooommmme!"  Oh boy.  


It wouldn't have been that bad if we were on Snow White or Peter Pan and they would have gotten scared.  Those rides are over in, what, 2 minutes?  Not Nemo.  No, Nemo was more like Pirates of the Caribbean length.  Perhaps a little less, but I'm guessing we were in that sub for at least seven minutes with my screaming children, which felt more like an hour.  


When we finally got back to the start, the girls had calmed down some, but GG was still talking about going home.  She was much happier when we went to the Autotopia and let her drive Andy around the track for five minutes instead.  


The rest of the day went more smoothly.  There weren't  even any major kid breakdowns to speak of.  We managed to convince Sonya to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, which she liked.  I wasn't sure if that was ever going to happen.  Next year we'll attempt the Haunted Mansion with her.  Although the other two are sticking to Toon Town and Dumbo for a while.  Even now they Lana keeps saying,


"I do not wan to go on dat Submaween wide again!"


All in all it was a great day.  We had ice cream for dinner and stayed for Fireworks.  Then we changed all the girls into their PJs when we got to the car and they were asleep within five minutes of leaving.  


I guess next year there will be no "Submaween wide" for the Dadekains.  They're just going to have to find Nemo without us.  

The Big, Big Girl Bed

I know posting has been light the past week, and I apologize for that.  Can't say it's going to get much better until after Christmas.  I'm about to enter into a very crazy time because of the holidays. Oh and since I didn't have enough going on, I've volunteered to do things at Sonya's school and for Georgia's class over the next few weeks.  I blame my mom for this.  She also can never sit still.  Thanks mom!  Anyway, I will do my best to keep you updated when I can.  Keep checking back!  In the meantime I did want to tell you about Sonya's move to her new room.


Sonya turned six a few weeks ago, and I'm embarrassed to admit, was still in a toddler bed.  I know, I know, but we were just trying to figure out when and how to move her out.  Georgia was still in her crib and that particular crib turns into a double bed, so it was going to mean a whole lot of work getting everything switched around.  Since my in-laws were here until Tuesday, we decided it would be a good idea for Andy and his father to put the bed together on Sunday.  We would get a mattress for it and be all set.  There was also the matter of moving toys and clothes around while purging ourselves of a ton of baby toys we still had. (I won't tell you how sad that particular task made me.  Well, maybe not as sad as taking down the crib.  Tear.)  So the plan was to have Sonya at least sleeping in her room by Sunday night, even though the things in the rooms would still need moving.


Ah plans! How they rarely work out.


Andy and his father went to buy a mattress on Sunday afternoon.  I told him just to buy it and put it in the van because it would fit with all the seats down.  Instead they got it delivered for Monday night. Apparently it was cheaper price and a better mattress to have it delivered.  Don't ask me, I wasn't there.  Sounds kind of strange, but fine whatever.  Sonya slept on the floor with her sisters in her old room on Sunday night.  It was so nice with all of them in there together.  They went right to sleep with no problems.  Oh WAIT!  That's right, they were up until TEN PM!!  Sonya managed to fall asleep amidst the chaos around nine, but the other two were in full party mode for another hour.


Monday came and I worked on the rooms some more.  It look like a bomb exploded in my house, but it was slowly getting done.  The mattress was scheduled to be delivered between 6-9pm.  I just LOVE the delivery window, don't you?  I don't know why, but I had one of my premonitions that it just wasn't going to come.  I ignored it.  Then when 8:30 rolled around, but the mattress didn't, I knew I was probably right.  We eventually put Sonya to bed with the girls again.  This time they were all so tired from the night before they fell asleep fairly quick.  Still, she was supposed to be sleeping in her new bed and here she was on the floor again.  No phone call from the store, nothing.  The store was already closed, but I called and left a message anyway, letting them know I wasn't so happy.


Let me tell you now, if you're ever in a situation like this where you've been wronged, leave it to me to make it right.  I become what I like to refer to as "nice bitchy".  You can tell I'm mad, but I'm trying to act nice to not put the other party completely on the defensive.  It's only when I don't get results do I get "bitchy bitchy".  And I have had to go there a few times.  It's not pretty.  Ask anyone in my family.  Especially when I'm hungry and waiting for a table in a restaurant and someone who walks in after us gets a table first.  OH NO THEY DIDIN'!!  Do NOT go there with me.


Anyway, I received no phone call the next morning, so I called them myself.  I started out nice bitchy, preparing myself to take out the big guns if needed.  I explained the situation and the polite man on the phone, who didn't really have anything to do with our sale or what happened, went to investigate.  When he called me back he explained that somehow the invoice did not get faxed over to them, therefore they didn't even know there was a mattress to be delivered yesterday, and could they deliver it tomorrow instead? To which I replied,


"No, you may not.  You may deliver it today and it will be before 6pm."


"Ummm, oookkayy, I don't think there's anyway we can get it there before six though...." he said.


"Well, my daughter had to sleep on the floor last night because you didn't bring the mattress when you said you would, and that will not happen again today.  If you don't want an angry customer, then you will deliver today before 6pm," I told him.  Yes, I was quickly approaching bitchy bitchy.


"Okay, hold on," he told me.


Then he came back to the phone and informed me  they would have it at my house  between 2-4pm.  Well, look at that!  They DID have time today.  I thanked him and hung up.


Around 3pm, the mattress arrived.  The delivery man was apologetic and nice, but there was one tiny problem.  The box spring we got to go with it, was WAY to big for the bed.  He knew as soon as he took one look at the bed.  He told me there was a "bunky board" box spring that was smaller and would be a better size.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to deliver it until Wednesday, but we could keep this one until they could switch it out.  It wasn't their fault we got the wrong box spring, so that was fine with me.  It was a bit ridiculous looking though.  I felt like I should put a pea under the mattress to see if Sonya could feel it while she was sleeping, thus proving her a real princess.

After he left, I continued my quest for the room swap.  It was a mess and I was exhausted.  Then around 5:30 the mattress store called back.  It was the same delivery guy.  He felt bad at how high the bed was and managed to find the smaller box spring in their Burbank store.  Would it be okay for them to deliver it and take the other one sometime within in the hour?  HELLS YEAH!  I told him.  Well maybe it was more like, "that would be great", but I was excited that they were making up for the faux pas from the night before. 


So they did.  They redeemed themselves for their mistake and I was able to leave nice bitchy behind and just be nice.  The bed was much better with the smaller box spring and it looks great.  Sonya was  excited to sleep in her new room and new bed last night.  Despite the fact that earlier in the week she told me she was a little sad that she would be the only one sleeping without a partner, she fell asleep just fine.   Plus she did find a new partner and Jazz found a new comfy spot to snooze.  I wish I could say the other two who are now partnered up fell asleep just fine too, but I think it's going to be a long time before the party ends in that room... if ever.




Now, my first baby girl is back to the first bed and first room she ever slept in.  Even if it is much bigger and more grown up.  That's the part that makes this the most difficult, because so is she.  

*Just a quick note-we are not completely done with the room and yes the animal border will be coming down and replaced with something else.  For now, it's my last baby reminder.  Tear.

Finger Lickin' Clean

After eating lunch today, Lana gets down from the table to come find me outside hanging up some Christmas decorations.


"What are you doing mama?"


"Hanging these decorations up out here," I reply.  "Are you done with your lunch?"


"Yup."


"Did Medz Mama (my mother-in-law) wipe you off?" I ask.


"No," she says.


"Well, go in there and ask her to clean you up," I tell her.


Then she looks at me, licks all around her lips and says, "That's okay, I can lick myself clean instead."


Nice to know that my children are learning  hygiene from the cat.  

Locked In!

Every Friday morning I take Georgia and Lana to gymnastics.  They have both been going to gymnastics since before they can remember.  No joke. Lana, since infancy and Georgia, since before she was born.  Sonya started going when she was two, so her sisters have just followed suit.  They all love it, so that's why we keep going, despite the Hawaiian vacation we could have taken with all the money we've spent there.


When we go on Friday, Georgia has her class first with me, then Lana has a class immediately after, without mommy. Sometimes during her class she decides she needs to use the bathroom.  Usually she'll come get me and tell me when this happens, so I can come help her.  I guess Friday she decided she was big enough to do it alone.  Only she wasn't.


I was chatting with my friend Melissa.  Quick aside: This is a different Melissa than the one I've mentioned before, who I've been friends with since college.  This is mom Melissa.  She has three kids all around the same ages as my girls.  Our husbands used to work together too, so we've been acquainted for a while.  Now her youngest and Lana are in the same gymnastics class together, so every Friday morning we chat and catch up on the latest with our kids or what's going on in Burbank.  Our small town in the middle of a big city.  And Melissa reads this blog.  (Hi Melissa!)  Anyway, back to the story.  We were chatting away not paying much attention to our little gymnasts, when teacher Danielle ran over to tell me Lana had locked herself in the bathroom.


Uh-oh.


I ran back to the where the one room bathroom was and talked to Lana through the door.  She was crying and scared.


"Lana," I said calmly.  "Lana, it's okay, calm down."  More crying.  "It's okay girly.  Just unlock the door.  It's just like the lock on Georgia's door at home."


I didn't think she should have a problem with the lock because she's unlocked that particular door before by herself, and it was the same type of lock as the one door at home.  That one she had locked and unlocked quite a few times on her own, so I couldn't see the problem.


"I CAN'T unlock it," she sobbed.


"Why not, Lana?  You know how." I encouraged her.


"I can't cuz my hans aw soooaaappyy!!" She started to cry more.


Then I realized what had happened.  She went in there thinking she could do this all by herself.  Went to the potty, no problem.  Wiped herself, no problem.  Got soap on her hands, no problem.  Then she went to turn the water on... big problem.  The faucet in the bathroom  has one of those handles that you pull up to turn on and push down to turn off.  She can never pull it up, I always help her, especially after already having soap on her hands. And because she had soap on her hands, she couldn't get a grip on the lock to turn it and let herself out of the bathroom, making her stuck.


"Oh girly!" I said.  "Can you go get a paper towel and wipe the soap off your hands?"


At this point Melissa had come back to help talk to Lana, but we were both  laughing at the same time.  Quietly, so Lana couldn't hear us.  I mean it WAS funny and she wasn't in any danger, just a bit scared.  Plus it reminded me of the time my sister Beth locked herself in our bathroom at home, when she was about the same age.  We had a babysitter over and she couldn't figure out how to get Beth out, so she called her boyfriend to come over and take off the entire door handle.  I remember pushing books under the crack in the door so Beth had something to do while she was in there waiting to be rescued.  The crack under this door didn't look big enough for a book.


Teacher Alex came back with some keys to try in the lock.  When none of those worked, he tried a paper clip. I started eyeing the doorknob, trying to figure out how long it would take to disassemble it.  At the same time, Melissa and I kept talking to Lana through the door, encouraging her to wipe off her hands and try the lock again.


Then, all of a sudden the door popped open and there stood Lana with a look of shock on her tear stained face. I'm still not positive if it was her or the paper clip that opened the door, but I think it was her.


"YAY, LANA!" We all yelled.  She walked over to me and hugged my leg and got a little weepy again.  I assured her that everything was alright and she was fine.  I hugged her for a couple minutes.  Then she pulled herself together and went off to finish her class.


She was fine after that.  No harm done.  If this was Sonya, I'd say she'd never go to the bathroom alone again until college, but Lana, she tends to bounce back and try things again.  We'll see what happens if she tries to go by herself next time.  I think I'll put a couple magazines in my backpack, just in case.  I'm pretty sure those will fit under the door.

Waiting For Excedrin's Baby Headache Medicine

Yesterday was one of those days I had all these things planned to do and got pretty much none of it accomplished.  The reason was because in the morning Georgia came down with a migraine.  I know some of you just looked at your computer cross eyed and thought WHHHAAAA??  Yes, Georgia suffers from migraines at the ripe old age of 2.  I thought I had mentioned that on here before, but after researching my back blogs, I didn't see anything.  We discovered it over the summer.  Here's the quick back story.


Georgia would have these episodes when she would, out of nowhere, start to cry and whine that she was going to "frow up".  Then she would.  Every 15-20 minutes until there was nothing left in her stomach.  Afterward she would pass out cold for a nap or  for the night if it was close to bed time.  I kept thinking she had a stomach bug, but when she would wake up she'd be completely fine, ready to eat anything and never developed a fever.  When I took her for her two year check up in June I mentioned these symptoms to the Pediatrician.  He wasn't extremely worried, but thought it best to refer me to a neurologist, just to check things out.


 A few weeks later we went to see a very sweet and extremely informative neurologist, who deals with kids and adults.  After relaying all of Georgia's symptoms, she did a quick check up on her. I also informed her of our family history (migraine candidates on BOTH sides of the family).  She came to the very certain conclusion that what GG was displaying was the kid version of a migraine.  Apparently, they can get them as young as SIX MONTHS OLD!  Instead of the normal headache migraine that adults get, they do this throw up and then pass out thing.  I guess some adults get that too.  The sleeping is what resets their brains and gets rid of the migraine.  Other than sleep there is not really any medication or anything to be given to kids this young.  Trying to prevent the migraines, by learning Georgia's triggers is probably the best way to help her.  It's figuring out the triggers that's the tricky part.  It can be anything from certain foods (chocolate, sugar) to lack of rest.  Plus, everyone has different triggers.  Up until yesterday she hadn't had and episode since June, before we even saw the doctor.  I was even beginning to think maybe she didn't suffer from migraines, until yesterday happened.


First of all, I partially blame Andy for the one yesterday.  Just five days ago, when he was on the computer with his parents, he mentioned to them how Georgia hadn't had an episode in a while.  Does he not know that the universe targets people who say such things like that?  Does he not know you're supposed to knock on wood or something if you're going to say such a thing OUT LOUD??  Have I taught him NOTHING?!  I guess not.  On the plus side, I did discover one of her triggers yesterday.


Thursday mornings is my alone time with Georgia.  I usually run errands with her that day, because it's so nice just having one kid to worry about  and she loves all the attention.  She's usually really good, because she's alone with me. I had plans to go to the bank, post office, get the car washed.  That kind of thing.  Originally the car wash was last on my list, but for some reason I decided to make it first.  Regretted THAT decision later.  It was the only thing I got to do yesterday.  For those of you who live in Los Angeles, you know there are car washes everywhere.  Nobody really ever washes their own car here.  Maybe during the summer on a hot day for fun, but it's so much easier to just go get it done, and it's not that expensive.  Since my in-laws are coming this Sunday, I thought it best to have someone get rid of the goldfish, cheerio, pretzel infestation on the floor of my car.  So we went to the car wash down the street and I decided which wash package I wanted.  Some of the packages  include an air freshener spritz.  Sometimes I get it sometimes not, depends on how much money I feel like spending.   Yesterday I did.  THIS was my downfall.  I chose vanilla scent.  Also probably a bad idea.


Most of the time the scent is not overpowering, but someone went a little crazy with the spritz yesterday, and the smell hit me in the face as soon as I climbed in the car.  Georgia commented on it immediately too,


"It smell like I eat in he-a."


I kinda got what she was saying.  The vanilla smell is reminiscent of a vanilla cake baking, but more perfumy.  So at first she kinda liked it, until 30 seconds later when she didn't.


"I gonna frow up!  I gonna frow up!" She started to whine.


What?  She was fine two minutes ago.  We were having fun at the car wash with the cute doggie, someone let us pet, and the gumball I bought her. Now, all of a sudden, she was going to throw up??  I was confused.  We stopped at the post office on our way home and I got her out of the car.  She was pale and listless, but seemed better outside of the car.  Then we got back in to go home and she was right back to,


"I gonna frow up!"


Then I realized it must be the scent.  Could strong scents trigger migraines?  I had no idea, because I don't suffer from them myself.  I got her home without "frowing up".  I laid her down on the couch with her blankie


Then I Googled migraine triggers and strong scents was indeed on that list.  Son of a BITCH!  I found a trigger for Georgia!  Suddenly I realized, Oh crap.  I had to put her back in the car to pick Sonya up from school at 1:20.  So I rolled down all the windows, but that didn't seem to be getting the smell out fast enough.  Then I remembered how coffee beans cancel out strong smells, so I put a bowl of beans in the car.  An hour later I went to see how it smelled.  Well, the good news was the vanilla scent was dissipating.  The bad news was my car smelled like a vanilla latte now.  I felt like I was driving inside a Starbucks for the rest of the day.


Unfortunately, I had to wake Georgia  to pick up Sonya from school, which was not a good thing to do.  Her brain had not reset entirely and I could tell she was still in migraine mode as soon as I picked her up.  She was very pale, very weak and still claiming she had to "frow up".


Then she did.


In the van.


The one I just had washed.


She did, thankfully, manage to keep it contained to her blankie and car seat, so it wasn't everywhere.  But once the vomiting starts, it just keeps going until nothing is left.  Every twenty minutes or so she would whimper and cry and I'd bring her the bucket until eventually, her stomach was empty. She would still cry every so often, but nothing would really happen.  Poor thing.  I felt so bad for her.  She layed on the couch all day, looking like death's door.


I tried to get her to sleep again, but she couldn't.  Then we got to a time where it was just to late for her to go to sleep unless I wanted her up at 3am.  No thanks.  So we waited it out.  I was just aiming to get to 6pm to put her down, but somewhere around 4:30, she sat up and started acting more lifelike.  Then she said,


"I going to go pway now."


She got down and went to play with her sisters for the next hour.  She ate her entire dinner later on too.  The migraine had apparently disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared earlier in the day.  It was as if nothing had ever happened.  It was just... weird.


My youngest sister, Megan, has suffered from migraines in the past and when I told her this story none of it surprised her like it did me.  Strong scents will trigger her migraines too.  She also told me how terribly awful you feel when you have one and when it's gone, it's just gone.  Like it never happened.  Usually, it happens after you sleep though.  That's what threw me off with Georgia yesterday, because she never slept again before it went away.  It was like a light switch just flipped off in her head.  Like I said, weird.


So, while it's true I didn't get much accomplished yesterday, it wasn't a total loss.  I did learn to keep Georgia away from strong scents, particularly the car freshener spritz.  Well, at least I'll save a little money next time I get my van washed.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Sonya has never been one of those kids who I have to worry about saying embarrassing things about people.  I don't know if she is smart enough to know better, or is just to shy to talk in front of people she doesn't know well.  What I mean by this is she's never pointed things out to strangers or even people we know that might make them feel uncomfortable.  Like the time my mom was out shopping with my niece, Gracie. A nice woman came up to talk to them and comment on how cute Gracie was.  Apparently the woman has some out of control hair, and Grace pointed it out by telling the woman that her hair was a mess.  My sister was just grateful it was my mom who took the hit and not her.  As many times as I've been put in similar situations with Sonya, she has never said something like that.  Until Friday.


My Grandpa came over on Friday afternoon to see Sonya for her birthday, give her a card and the annual birthday gift of $10.  It's so cute because he's been giving the same amount for birthdays since I was a kid.  Only when I was a kid I also got  pieces of stale bubble gum taped to the inside of the card.  That might have been my favorite part.  He does have six grand kids, and fourteen great grand kids and after a while that money adds up.  Perhaps $10 was a good amount to choose and stick with all those years ago, especially living on a fixed income.  Either way, Sonya was excited for the money and couldn't wait to put it in her piggy bank.  


We hung out and chatted for a while.  Then we went to the kitchen so Sonya and I could make her birthday cake.  Grandpa sat and watched as we made the batter.  Sonya decided that was a good time to ask a few questions rolling around in her head.  


"Is Grandma dead?" was the first thing on her mind.  


"Yes, Sonya," I told her.  "Remember she died over the summer and went to heaven?"


"Oh yeah."


Then she thought for a minute and asked, "How old is Grandpa?"


"Why don't you ask him?" I told her.  So she did and he told her that he was 83 years old.  


Then she looked over at me and asked, "Why isn't Grandpa dead yet?"


Ummmmmm...ha...ha...Oh Sonya....


I wanted Southwest so I could "get away".  


It's not like the death questions are entirely new.  We did deal with this a bit back in June, but it caught me off guard once again.  Especially since this time it was IN FRONT of my Grandpa.  


It didn't seem to bother him at all though.  He's well aware of his age and the fact that he is close to the end of his life.  He started talking about telemarketers  calling him, and how he explains to them that he's too old and doesn't have time to buy what they're selling.  After that the comment was forgotten.  I think.  Eh-Grandpa's probably too old to remember anyway.  Actually, that's not true.  He has a pretty good memory, but I'll just pretend he doesn't to save me the embarrassment.  

A Reminder

One day last week I was feeling particularly guilty about my bad mom behavior.  The little girls were down for a nap, I was in the kitchen cleaning up (this is what I spend 95% of my day doing), and Sonya was coloring in the living room.  I started thinking about how I yell at the girls sometimes, get frustrated with them, and don't always the find time to play with them.  I began to feel terrible about the way I was doing my job as a mom.  So I said to Sonya from the kitchen,


"Sonya, I'm sorry that I'm not such a great mom sometimes."


Without missing a beat she said,


"You're an AWESOME mom!!"


That response caught me completely off guard, because I honestly expected her to say something like, "that's okay".  I started to tear up.  I really wasn't fishing for a compliment or validation but she gave it to me anyway.   That is why even though there are times, MANY times, the girls make me want to tear my hair out, hop a flight to Hawaii or down a bottle glass of wine during the day, there are moments like that one with Sonya that make it all worth it.  No matter how much I complain, become frustrated or annoyed, there are times where I'm joyful, proud and awestruck.  I have never for a moment regretted my decision to take this job six years ago today.  Hearing how awesome I am from my daughter makes it all worth it a million times over.


Happy 6th Birthday Sonya!  Thank you for making me what I am today.  An awesome (if sometimes temperamental) mommy.

She Works Hard For the Money, Oh Wait...

Tomorrow is Sonya's 6th birthday.  SIX!  I can't believe it!  When did I get here?  It's just hard to believe that I've been doing this job for the past six years.  The funny thing is I thought it was going to get EASIER at some point.  Stop laughing, mom.  Okay sure, it is easier in some ways.   I don't have to wake up to feed a baby in the middle of the night anymore and there is only one child left in diapers, but in other ways it's much, MUCH harder.


After the past three days I just had, I think I would much rather be holed up in my house with an infant who wants to eat every 2-3 hours, and poops twice as much.  Since Monday, I haven't spent more than an hour at home  from the time I've gotten up until around 7pm at night.  What could a stay at home mom possibly be doing all day?   Well... I've spent my days picking up and dropping off the girls at school, library time, gymnastics, violin, Girl Scouts, the dentist and the doctor.  We had a reception at Sonya's school on Tuesday night for a contest she entered, for which I volunteered to make cookies in all my spare time.  Then I had a meeting in the middle of the day yesterday for the parent adult education classes I take Georgia to, for which I had to bring a casserole, since it was a pot luck lunch.  Also done in my endless amounts of spare time.  Oh yeah, and  I took the girls to a  Fundraiser dinner last night (by myself) to Bob's Big Boy, where I lost my credit card.  THAT was a treat. (It was later recovered though. Whew!)  All this culminating to Georgia throwing up at bedtime last night and then again at 12:30 in the morning, 12:45 and around 1am.  I was up with her and the pukey laundry until 2:15 this morning.  Not to mention all my day to day house duties, which continued to mock me.  As much as Andy helps when he's around, or I make him help, he was not here for any of this.  Well, except the after midnight throw ups when he kept GG occupied as I changed the sheets in her crib three times.


So yeah, not easier.  In fact after six years, I'm pretty sure I deserve a raise.