Mexican Lucky

I'm sure many of you, if not all, have had the good fortune to hear and get the Daft Punk song, "Get Lucky" stuck in your head.  I feel like everywhere I go I hear it.  The girls have heard it too.  Now, upon first hearing it, you realize-hmmmm THAT'S not really an appropriate song for children to hear and repeat.  But see then again, we forget as adults a couple of things.  First of all kids have no idea what it means to "get lucky".  We only think they shouldn't be hearing this song because WE know what it means.  I'm sure if you ask any five year old what "get lucky" means they would assume it would have something to do with a finding a big bag of candy.  Or perhaps a week stay at Disneyland.  They certainly would have no idea that it has anything to do with sex, especially because they don't even know what sex is.  Well, at least MOST young kids don't know this.  Mine for sure do not.

Secondly, we also forget that kids do not hear the right words for any song.  This has been well documented on this blog.  However, all this did not keep me from becoming a little nervous when I heard Sonya singing this song the other day.  That is until I heard what she was singing.

"We're up to Mexican song, we're up to Mexican song, we're up to Mexican lucky!"

Yup.  Apparently, her version is about Mexicans, and Mexico.  And because she is the oldest her little sisters have followed suit which is why Lana and Georgia were walking around singing it like this yesterday:  

 

They are so going to laugh at themselves someday when they find out that song is about sex.

The Teacher's Lounge

Last Thursday night was the girls' school PTA meeting.  I tried to attend these meetings every month to help out with what is going on around the school.  To be honest, if it weren't for the PTA and Booster Club at our school, there would be no extra anything at the school.  It would be teach the kids, go home.  There would be no family picnic, or Halloween parade.  No music teacher for the Kinders and first graders.  The parents really do the fundraising to get what we need for the school.  Including extra teachers.   I like to attend the meetings to know what's going on and what needs to be done.  It's great that I can be more involved now than I have been in the past since all three girls are at the same school.  That does not mean I want to be president of the PTA, however, so don't get any ideas.  I just want to help out.  It  is also how I got roped into being in charge of hospitality for the meetings.  You know, because I felt like I had five minutes in my life that weren't quite filled up yet.  Done!

Actually, the hospitality job isn't that difficult.  I just have to set up tables and paper goods before the meetings once a month.  I also have to buy drinks and make sure people who come to the meetings bring a food item to share pot luck style.  Easy enough. 

Last week was my first time doing it.  Lana had gymnastics for an hour, so after I dropped her off I took Sonya and Georgia with me to the school.  I figured I'd put them to work with helping set up.  It is nice having older kids who can actually help you with such things now.  It's not like they are just another obstacle in a stroller I have to contend with anymore.  (Although, yes, I sometimes still miss those obstacles.)  

They helped to carry the drinks and the ice in.  They helped me set up the tables and put out paper goods.  Since the meeting wasn't going to be for a few hours, I had to put the sodas and ice in the teacher's lounge refrigerator.  I told the girls to follow me, that we were going to the teacher's lounge.  This was met with an excited Sonya who said,

"Oh wow!  I've never gotten to go in the teacher's lounge before!"  

She acted like I was taking her to Disneyland.  I didn't get it, but whatever.  I opened the door to the room and since I have been in there many times before I knew it looked like any break room in any workplace.  Tables to eat at, fridge, sink, coffee pot.  That's pretty much it.  Nothing too exciting.  This, however, was not at all what Sonya was expecting.  

As soon as she walked into the room, the giant smile she had on her face fell.  Then she said, 

"This is IT??!!"

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"I really thought there would be a jacuzzi in here," she said.

Yes, I burst into laughter.  How could I NOT?

"What?  Why would you think there was a jacuzzi in here?" I asked her.  As far as I knew teachers weren't ever roaming the halls of the school in wet bathing suits with towels wrapped around them.

"I don't know," she shrugged.  "I just did."

As I continued to chuckle, she checked out the rest of the room.  

"Ok, there's coffee, I thought that would be here.  But there's no bottles of wine," she said more to herself.

"Wait, wait-you thought there would be bottles of wine AND a jacuzzi in here?" I asked.  Honestly her teacher's lounge sounded pretty kick ass, if you ask me.  

She nodded yes.  Then I asked her,

"Sonya, what else did you think would be in here?"

She looked at me, hesitated and said, "Ummm...Nooottthhiingg..."

Which I knew meant she had something else in mind, but didn't want to say.  Well, since I had laughed out loud at her other thoughts, I guess I couldn't blame her.  

"No really," I encouraged her. "Tell me what else."

"Well," she began.  " I thought there was a big closet full of fancy dresses that the teachers put on and walked around here in, before they quick changed to go back to class."

My daughter has quite the imagination.  

"Nope," I told her.  "It's just a place for the teachers to come and eat their lunch while you guys are having your lunch.  Not really to exciting huh?"

"No," she admitted.  

I think she was pretty disappointed. She was really expecting some kind of Shangri-La.  It's funny how build things up in our mind that we know nothing about.  Especially kids.  Then again, this should make future talks about things like Santa Clause and the Tooth fairy a little easier.  All I will have to say is "remember that time when you thought the teacher's lounge had a jacuzzi? Well..."

The Little Girls

On a daily, sometimes hourly, basis my youngest two drive me crazy.  They are constantly egging each other on and getting the other one wound up.  Getting them out of the house for school in the morning takes a full two hours, when it really should take all of 25 minutes.  There are times I'm ready to separate the two of them and not let them play together for days.  It really just gets infuriating sometimes to try and penetrate their little world long enough to get them to brush their teeth.  Then I drop them off to school in the morning and watch them walk in together like this. 

I am incredibly lucky to be the mom of these two incredible, loving, sweet, albeit sometimes crazy little girls.

From Grey to Bald In One Picture

Last week when my in-laws were here, Lana came home with pictures she drew for everyone at school. She had drawn herself and whoever the other person was she was planning on giving that picture to.  Everyone had the right color hair and eyes, because she is observant like that.  My father-in-law has some hair still, but what he has is all white.  As Lana was handing out the pictures she gave my father-in-law his and said,

"Medz Papa, white crayon doesn't show up on the paper, so I just didn't give you any hair."

My mother-in-law and I were in hysterics laughing.  My father-in-law was not as amused.

"Huh.  Well, I don't like that very much," he told her.

To which Lana just shrugged her shoulders. 

Oh well! What could she do?  He would just have to be drawn as bald until they make a white crayon that will show up on white paper.  

I Can Just Call My Van The Mystery Machine

A couple of nights ago I was having dinner with the girls and we were chatting about their recent ear piercing.  Lana came up with a question I didn't really have an answer to.  

"Where does the skin go from your ear?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, not quite sure what she was talking about.

"Like when they punch the earring through. Where is that skin?  You know like when we punch holes in the paper and a little piece of paper comes out.  What happened to that skin?"

I understood then what she was saying.  She was thinking the ear piercing gun was like a hole punch.  It makes sense actually, and I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before.  Where DID that piece of skin go that got punched out.  I had no idea.  I told her as much.

"That's a good question, Lana," I told her.  "I'm not really sure where the skin goes." I wasn't sure that there was skin that came out at all.  

That's when Georgia looked at me, eyes wide, hands next to her face and fingers waving, much like "Creepy Sandwich", and said in her creepiest voice,

"Itsh a myyyssstthhhttteeewwyyy!" (mystery)

Did I mention their new favorite show lately is Scooby Doo?

A Little Hurt For A Whole Lot Of Pretty

A couple of years ago Sonya got her ears pierced.  This is one of those things that we never had a specific age in mind of doing.  My sisters both had their girls' ears done done when they were babies, but I didn't really feel like dealing with it then.  Some people make it a rite of passage into teen hood and do it when kids are 13 or older.  Andy and I didn't really care.  We figured we'd let the girls do it whenever they wanted to do it.  Sonya did it a month after she turned six.  As Lana approached her birthday last March, I kept trying to convince her to have them pierced.

"Will it hurt?" She would ask.

"Yes, but only for a minute, then you have pretty earrings!" I tried to tell her enthusiastically.

"Then I don't want to," she said.

"But it's only a little hurt for a whole lot of pretty!" I tried again, borrowing a phrase BethAnnDoddKoehn had used on her daughter.

"Nope!" She decided, so I let it go.

Georgia was always back and forth on if she wanted to do it or not, but I kind of wanted them to do it at the same time.   I knew if I got Lana on board, Georgia would follow suit.  Part of the good and bad with that kid.  She's easy going, but she goes along too easily with what Lana is doing.  Basically this means I have to hide the alcohol in the next 10 years, because if Lana does it I have no doubt Georgia will follow and the vodka bottles will be empty.

Every time my in-laws or my parents have visited in the past year, I would ask Lana again if she wanted to get her ears pierced.  I was trying to use the- your grandparents are here and they would love to see you do this! technique.  Sonya had hers done when my parents were here for Christmas a couple of years ago.

"Maybe next time," she'd tell me.

So when Robert and Julia were on their way here last week, we mentioned it again..

"Do you girls want to get your ears pierced this weekend with Medz Mama and Meda Papa?"

Our answer was finally met with an excited "YES!!" from both of them.  

So we went with it, before they could chicken out.  We decided to do it on Monday morning after going out to breakfast.  Andy and I  kept asking them all weekend about it, and they both continued to show excitement.  There was talk of what kind of earrings they would get and Sonya even showed them her collection of earrings they could borrow later.  (Let's see if THAT actually happens).  Andy was convinced we were going to walk out of the mall on Monday with one ear pierced and three not.  I wasn't so sure though.  They were both looking forward to it, and Georgia had always been more on board with this than Lana.  In order to keep it that way, I made Lana go first.

We got to Clarie's in the mall and I filled out all the necessary paperwork.  The girls picked out their earrings they would have for the next 6-8 weeks and then it was time.  Here is where I learned a big difference in their personalities.  It's nothing I didn't already know, to be  honest, but it became so clear during this process the way they both approach and handle certain situations.

Lana sat in the chair looking nervous. The woman marked her ears for where the earring would go. Right after she made the mark on Lana's ears, before she pulled out the piercing gun, Lana started to freak out.  She whimpered a little and tears welled in her eyes.  She grabbed my hand tight and started to cry more.  I kept reassuring her that it was going to be okay and they were going to look beautiful.  The woman pierced the first earring in Lana's lobe and she cried a bit harder from the pain, but just for a second.  By the time she went for the second ear, Lana had stopped crying.  She realized it wasn't as bad as she anticipated and when she was shown her reflection in the mirror she grinned from lobe to lobe.  She took her lollipop and jumped down from the chair, happy with her new look.  She had been afraid all this time for nothing.  She will always build something up in  her head and make it worse than it ever actually is.  Wish I could say she doesn't come by that naturally, but....

So Georgia's turn!!  The woman had actually recommended that GG not watch Lana get hers done, but she really wanted to.  In fact she said,

"I want to watch you Lana and you tell me how bad it hurts!"

I knew Lana's pain would not deter Georgia from doing it.  Again, this is why I made Lana go first, because if it would have been reversed, Georgia's tears would have sent Lana running for the escalators.  Georgia is the kid who at  three years old, watched both her sisters get flu shots and cry loudly.  Then when it was her turn to go she hopped up on the table and yelled, "MY TURN!"  True story.  Georgia does not anticipate or worry like the other two do.  At least not for things like this. Things she has no idea about.

She sat in the chair with a big smile on her face as the woman marked her ear.  She smiled when she took out the piercing gun and put it to her lobe.  I held Georgia's hand, but she did not crush it the way Lana had tried to.  Then the woman pulled the trigger.  You could almost seen the pain receptors receive the information in Georgia's head.  She went from excited and smiling and within fifteen seconds she dissolved to a puddle of tears.  I had to hold her still from her sobs so the woman could get the other ear pierced.  She cried longer than Lana and had to be comforted a bit more, but upon seeing the new bling in her ears, she calmed down, and even managed a little smile.  She picked out her lollipop and our mission was complete.

My in-laws very generously paid for the girls new ears. (Thank you Robert and Julia!)  I was happy my mother-in-law could be there to see it.  She never had any girls of her own and she is probably one of the girliest ladies I know, so this was a treat for her.  My mom got to be there for Sonya's piercing, so I was happy to share the fun of doing this with the little two.  

The two of them were so excited to head to school this morning to show off their new earrings to everyone.  I had to make sure their hair was away from their ears so the ears could be prominently displayed.  I'm sure they will be a big hit.  Well, with the girls anyway.

Now comes the fun part.  Let's clean and twist them every day!  I remember this from Sonya.  They want to do it at first, but once the novelty for the new ears wears off I will be chasing then with a cotton ball around the house.  And I get to do it with two of them.  Yay.  Yes, I like to make more work for myself.  Oh well.  At least it's only for 8 weeks.

Before...

After!

Before...

After!