Mommy Goes Missing

There are many days when I don't get around to taking a shower until late in the day, sometimes even after the kids go to bed. During the summer, there really isn't a point since it's hot out and I just end up sweating anyway. There are times we go to our neighbor's pool as well, and I don't want to be taking more than one shower a day, because that would just be wasting water. And who doesn't like wasting? Lana? "The earth."

Right. So. One day last week it was late in the afternoon and I decided to jump in the shower before getting the girls' dinner. I put something on for them to watch, because I don't want them trying to kill each other when I can't intervene. Unfortunately, the television is the best solution for that. After I turned on their show and they all became glassy eyed, I informed them, that mommy was going to take a shower and if they needed something that's where they could find me. They all just sorta nodded their eyes never leaving the TV. Hey, at least I knew they wouldn't fight.

I headed back to my bathroom to get myself clean when I realized I needed to make a potty pit stop first. Now, the light in our "toilet closet" is attached to a fan. When you turn on the light the fan automatically goes on and if the door is closed, you can hear NOTHING outside that little room. I closed the door for some peace, flipped on the switch and grabbed my latest book. About three minutes later I thought I could hear something going on down the hall. Great-TV didn't stop the fighting. I turned off the light and opened the door to find out what was going on. From the living room I could hear what sounded like all three girls crying, or more accurately wailing.

"MOOOOOMMMMMYYYY!!!!" Sob, sob, sob.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" I yelled from the bathroom.

Suddenly the crying stopped and Sonya said,

"MOM?!?"

"Yeah! What is going on, Sonya?!" I said again.

"Oh..... We didn't know where you were," she told me.

"WHAT? I told you I was going to take a shower, but I had to go to the bathroom first. I'm in my bathroom," I reminded her.

"Oh. Ok," she replied calmly.

"Are you ALL crying?" I asked.

"No," she said. "Just me and Lana. GG wasn't crying."

Let's review. I told them where I was going. Perhaps it was my fault for doing so AFTER I turned on the TV, but still. Then at some point they realized I wasn't around, called for me, but when I didn't respond instead of getting up and looking around, they just decided I was "gone", so they cried about it. I guess it was a pretty good episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. I'm sure they would have searched for me after it ended. And Georgia? Well, either she heard me when I said where I was going, or she just didn't care as much.

You know those stories you hear about with the little kids who call 911 because their mom fell, or had a heart attack and won't wake up? And they end up saving their mom because they found her and called 911? Yeah, I'm pretty sure we won't ever be one of those stories.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's....

This morning Lana lost one of baby bottles underneath our couch. Or should I call it the black hole? We used to have a couch that didn't have an opening underneath, but now that we have a different couch with an opening underneath, all kinds of things get lost under there. Toys, shoes, sippy cups, sometimes with milk that I don't find for DAYS. Yes, I know, ewwww. Anyway, Lana dropped her baby's bottle and it rolled under the couch this morning. She looked at me and said,

"Awwwww! The juice went under there!" Apparently the baby was drinking juice out of this particular bottle.

"Move over I'll get it," I told her.

Then she looked at me, held her finger in the air and said, "NO! I can get it out with the stick!"

She ran off to room to retrieve the "stick"-otherwise known as the mop handle from their play cleaning set. As she ran to the room she yelled,

"SUPERHERO LANA TO THE RESCUE!!"

Within a minute she used the stick to push the bottle out from underneath the couch. Lana saved the day! At least for her baby doll.

Oh Lana! You'll always be my little superhero.

Back To School!

Today is a bittersweet day for me. Usually, when I write I have the younger two down for a nap and Sonya next to me doing some kind of schoolwork. Now, however, Sonya won't be sitting next to me during writing time anymore, because today is the first day of 1st grade. The first day of ALL DAY school.

If you would have talked to me about a month ago, this day couldn't come fast enough. She was starting to drive me summer crazy. The kid really needed more scheduled activities then I provided for this summer, but live and learn. Then about a week and a half ago I got sad thinking about her being gone all day. I would no longer be making and having lunch with her. She would no longer sit next to me, trying to talk as I tried to write. Those thoughts left me a bit gloomy. Then fifteen minutes later she did something to make one of her sisters yell and I was back to hoping this day would quickly get here. Of course now that it is here, I am back to a bit gloomy. I guess it has something to do with how great she was yesterday afternoon and this morning. She was so excited to start 1st grade. She had gotten the teacher she wanted and her best friend, Lourdes is in her class. She was much less apprehensive than she was last year and just generally excited. I guess this excitement put her in a good mood because she decided to be extra pleasant for a while. Everything was,

"Yes, mommy. Okay Mommy, whatever you say mommy."

Then this morning I woke up about 6:45 to the sounds of her moving around a chair in the kitchen and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playing on the TV. I dragged myself out of bed, put my slippers on and headed down the hall. As I walked into the kitchen, I found Sonya fully dressed in her new first day of school clothes, standing on a chair about to pour milk into a cup for Lana. Lana, who Sonya had convinced to go potty and trade her pull-up for underwear already, was sitting watching Mickey. Usually it takes me at least ten minutes of begging Lana to change into underwear in the morning. Not for Sonya though, nope. Sonya got her to do it first thing. She had also gotten out the cereal she wanted and a bowl from the clean dishwasher. I peeked into her room to find her bed had already been made as well.

WOW!

Why can't EVERY day be the first day of school?? Or at least the first day of 1st grade. Something tells me the first day of 10th grade won't really go the same way. Something tells me the 10th DAY of first grade won't go the same way either. The only thing she hadn't done was get Georgia out of her crib, but I don't think I'd really want her attempting that anyway.

I commended her on what a great job she had done. She smiled with pride. Then she poured her own cereal and milk. I debated about going back to bed, letting her pack her own lunch, and taking herself to school, but since it was the first day I figured I should help out some.

She was ready to go in record time and asked me to curl her hair since we had an extra moment. I did as she asked, since she was being so great. She looked so much older to me now, as I watched her walk off to the bedroom to go check her hair out in the mirror. She is no longer a baby at all. She is a true little girl. I still say she is little, because until she hits 10 she is little as far as I'm concerned. Even then it's up for debate.

So here I sit all alone in a quiet house with two sleeping kids and one at school all day. I am more morose then I thought I would be.

Then again, here I am in a QUIET house with two SLEEPING kids and one at school ALL DAY! What the hell am I so sad about? Soaps and bon bons here I come!! Or perhaps a nap first. Oh decisions decisions! ( I'll just pretend I don't see that pile of dirty dishes in the sink. )

Happy first day of 1st grade Sonya. I know you are going to be a bright and shining star!

Sonya and Carter Sitting In a Tree...

This past Monday afternoon, my friend Stacy, her husband and son Carter were here for the afternoon. I've mentioned Carter before. He and Sonya have known each other since they were babies, but last year they moved an hour and a half away from us. Sonya was heartbroken, but we still see them sometimes. Stacy's husband's family still lives here in Burbank, so they come up every now and then. We have also been down to visit them. Since they were going to be here on Monday, we made plans to meet up so the kids could play, and Stacy and I could catch up. I really haven't found another good mom friend since she left. Kinda sucks. Anyway we decided to meet at Menchies, because what's better than seeing old friends while eating frozen yogurt in August? On our drive to see them Sonya told me,

"I'm not going to get crazy with Carter today."

Huh? She explained herself further,

"I mean, he doesn't like it when I kiss and hug him, so I'm not going to do that to him today."

"Okay, well that's a good idea," I told her. "Most little boys don't like to kiss girls."

"Why not?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," I told her. "They just don't, but when he gets older he will."

Ooops. Too much information. I forgot who I was talking to.

She proceeded to question me about if her father was like this. Did he not like to kiss girls when he was little and he does now? Yes, Sonya. How about Uncle David and Uncle Matt, were they like that too and now they liked kissing girls?

Ummmmm-ooookaaaayyyy.

We get to Menchies, she gets out of the car, walks over to Carter and very calmly says hello to him. They give each other a little hug, but that was it. We had our yogurt and then decided to take the kids to a nearby park to burn off their treat.

Sonya and Carter were having a great time playing together. They were in their own little world playing hide and seek, and climbing on the equipment. Stacy and I chatted while we pushed my little girls in the swings. We had been there for a while, the kids playing the whole time. Then during one of their hide and seek games, I watched as Carter walked up to Sonya, wrapped his arms around her, and planted a kiss on her left cheek.

"Uh-Oh," I said to Stacy, "Carter's done it now."

Sonya let out a squeal and yelled,

"CARTER! You DO like kisses!"

Then... he ran. Unfortunately for him it was too late, he had given her the opening. She ran after him trying to catch him to kiss him back. He eventually lost the race and she caught up to him. She played it cool though and only kissed him back once. They forgot about it after that and continued to play together until we decided to leave about twenty minutes later.

Great. So, it looks like Sonya is learning her boy lessons early. The more you try to leave them alone and just be friends, the more they want to kiss you. That's something that took me 23 years to figure out and my daughter mastered it by 5. Damn kids grow up fast these days!

The Simple Requests of a Two Year Old

I have worked hard with all of my girls to teach them compassion, sympathy, empathy, and just general all around being nice. Sonya has always been a pretty sweet kid and somewhat cuddly. Lana tends to be a bit more tough, and has never been one to hold on to a hug the longest. She does, however, have her moments of sweetness and won't go to sleep without a goodnight hug and kiss. Georgia, on the other hand, is my all around- I want to cuddle, hug and kiss everyone- girl. It's just her nature. She is always walking up to one of us and kissing us on our cheek or arm or hand. This morning she kissed me on my nose as I was getting her dressed, then she said to me,

"I kiss you nose!"

Then I gobbled up both of her cheeks before I finished dressing her.

She also shows a lot of concern for me and what I'm doing. Most days at breakfast I'm standing at the counter eating my cereal and drinking my coffee, as I get breakfast for everyone else while unloading the dishwaher. It's called multitasking and at this point I'm quite efficiant at it. Some days Georgia will look at me bent over the counter shoveling food into my mouth. Then she'll point to the chair next to her and say,

"Mama, come seet dow ova heea."

When she says that to me I have no choice to stop what I'm doing, and go sit next to her to finish my meal. It's actually good, because it reminds me to slloooowwww dooowwwnn and try to enjoy the time I have with my girls. She's also the first one to say to me, "You okay, mama?" when it appears that I have hurt myself.

It really hit me how sympathatic she is, this past weekend, when I was helping her put shoes on to go outside. I was standing bent at the waist, which I've been told a hundred times by my husband not to do. I know, I know bend at the knees. Georgia must have thought the same thing, or that I looked uncomfortable bending over her because she patted the space on the floor beside her and said,

"Mommy, seet you booty dow white heea."

I let out a little giggle partially because of her request, but mostly because of the use of the word "booty". I immediately did as I was told and sat down next to her to finish putting on her shoes.

Even though I believe all of my girls will grow up to be kind, compassionate woman, I think Georgia will be the most sensitive of the three. She's certainly sensitive to my needs to sit down, even if I don't think about it. I know I've had a hand somewhat in making her this way, but I have to say at two years old, I'm sure most of it is just her personality. I love that she gives me these simple requests to keep me in the moment. I love that it's coming from her, the youngest, because it is so much harder for me to take the time out now. She hasn't gotten as much of me as Sonya or even Lana did. I guess it's her way of saying to me-

"Hey lady! Sit down and eat a bowl of cereal with us for crying out loud. We're not going to be this young forever!"

The fact of the matter is, it is ONLY five minutes out of my time cleaning the kitchen, but to them it's having breakfast with their mom. The kitchen isn't going anywhere, but eventually they are. Thank you for reminding me Georgia. I love how sweet you are. It makes eating your cheeks that much tastier.

Bedazzled Boogers

I totally forgot about this story until two nights ago, when Lana woke up in the middle of the night screaming about something in her nose. I guess she woke up and couldn't breathe so well, so she proceeded to just try and blow her nose into the air, with no tissue. When it didn't work, she got frustrated and yelled for me, waking me from my deep slumber at the fun hour of 2am. I managed to get her calmed down and booger free, before climbing back into bed next to my dozing husband who didn't even stir once during the whole ordeal, I might add. Why can men do that? There have been nights were every one of the girls have been up half a dozen times crying, and in our bed. The next morning he'll turn to me and say,

"How was everyone last night? Good?"

REALLY?! You can tell from the luggage under my eyes that maybe, NO, last night wasn't so great? He hears NOTHING.

Sorry-tangent.

Back to Lana. A few weeks ago when the in-laws were here, Lana came to me blowing her nose in the air yelling,

"Get it out! GET IT OUT!"

"What's wrong Lana? Calm down," I told her.

"Somting (blow) in my nose!!" She yelled.

"What? Do you have a booger stuck in there?" I mean that can be annoying. We've all been there, when that one dried booger is stuck to the upper inner part of your nose and you just can't seem to blow it out. I totally understood, but she seemed to be getting unreasonably upset. That, however, is not usually a red flag with her. She's three, which means she is like that due to the age, and because well, she's Lana, and she's like that due to her personality.

I quickly grabbed a tissue and made her blow.

"How's that?" I asked inspecting the tissue and seeing nothing significant.

She sniffed then said, "Noohohoh!! STILL THERE!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. Which side is it on?" I asked. She pointed to the left nostril. I put the tissue up to her nose and plugged the right nostril with my finger. Then I instructed her to blow as hard as she could. When she did I could tell it came out. Whew!

"Better?" I asked, as I inspected the tissue again.

"Uh-huh," nodding her head and looking relieved.

Then I realized there was no booger in the tissue. What was in there was not something her body put in her nose, but something she had put in her nose herself. I stared down at a tiny blue bead that was surrounded by mucus in the tissue.

"LANA!" I yelled. "Did you put this in your nose?!" I held the tissue with the bead for her to see.

She just looked up at me and smiled. Then I gave her a small lecture on how it is dangerous to put anything up her nose. I pointed to the fact that she almost got the blue bead stuck up there, and did she really want to go to the hospital and have to get lots of shots?? She shook her head no. I stopped the lecture there and let her go, because I figured she had learned her lesson anyway. The tiny bead had gotten stuck up there for a bit which scared her, so she wouldn't soon forget it.

Why on earth she put it up there in the first place, I have no idea. I am fairly certain she won't do it again. But then, she is Lana, so I guess I shouldn't make statements like that. You could see a story on here that eats those words in less than a month.

Hearing What I Say

It's nice to know that some of the things I tell the girls do get through to them. A few days ago, Lana was washing her hands after going to the bathroom. Quick side note- when Lana and Georgia wash their hands, they like to wash for a REALLY LONG time. This keeps the water running for a REALLY LONG time. I'm always telling them to stop wasting water because "the earth doesn't like that." While Sonya is better with water conservation, she washes her hands so quickly, I'm not sure the water is on for ten seconds. So we've got two contributing to the on-going drought in Southern California, and one spreading germs around because her hands are never truly clean. I can't win.

Well, like a said, a few days ago Lana was washing her hands in the bathroom. I could hear the water running, and running and running. Just as I was about to say something, Georgia walked over to the bathroom and said,

"Yana! You wastin wata!"

Awwww! They DO listen when I speak.

Then Lana got down from the sink. Georgia got up on the chair to wash her own hands at which point SHE ran the water for a REALLY LONG time.

Never mind. I stand by my original statement.

I can't win.