Injured in the Line of Motherhood Duty

I know I only posted once last week, and I apologize for that.  There was something going on that I will explain later on in the week, perhaps.  Nothing terrible, I promise.  In the meantime, let me tell you how I punched myself in the face this weekend.  


Thanks to a few of you who responded to my Help Wanted post, I decided to try, once again, to night potty train Lana.  What I've been doing is putting her to bed in underwear and waking her up around 11pm, then I put her on the toilet to pee.  It's so cute, because she's completely asleep and out of it when I do it, but she always goes.  Unfortunately, this doesn't help her for the whole night.  Every time I do this she usually wakes up around 5ish calling for me, letting me know that she has peed the bed.  On the plus side this is an improvement, because before when I put her in bed with just underwear on, she would pee and then lay in it for who knows how long, without waking up.  


Saturday night we tried the underwear again.  I put her on the potty around 11 and she went.  Then Andy and I went to bed around midnight.  About 5:30 I got the call from her that she had peed.  Not only had I been in a dead sleep, but I was in the middle of a dream.  Anytime I get woken up in the middle of a dream, I'm more groggy and out of it than usual.  I stumbled down the hall, where the light popped on, and into her room.  I took her out of bed and pulled off the towel and "pee pee pad".  (Sidenote-best invention ever for the night time training!  It's a pad that goes over top of the sheet so that when they have an accident, you take it off and don't have to change the sheets in the middle of the night.  Saves precious sleep time.  A friend of mine gave me hers because she didn't need it anymore. )  I started to take off her pajamas and figured I should get a wipee to wipe her down since she had pee all over her backside.  At this point the light in the hallway had gone off again. Because I was still really groggy and it seemed more dark than usual, I couldn't really see where I was going.  However, I THOUGHT the bedroom door was open all the way.  It was not.  I walked at full pace toward the doorway and ran, left cheek first, SMACK! into the side of the door.  The door shook and the pain shot up my face.  I stood there  for at least two minutes clutching my cheek saying as quietly as possible,


"OW! AH! DAMN! AHHH!!"


Lana kept asking,


"What happen mommy? What's wong??"


I couldn't answer her I was in so much pain.   I had made so much noise that I woke Andy up and he came to see what was going on.  I asked him to get me a wipee, and finished getting Lana cleaned up, changed and back to bed.  Then I went to the kitchen to get an ice pack to put on my poor cheek.  All I could think of was how I had to take the girls to a birthday party at 10am the next day.  How the hell was I going to explain the huge bruise on my cheek??  Isn't that the excuse abuse victims use when people ask about their black and blue marks? "Um, I ran into a door."  Yeah right!  Like anyone believes that, but I really did!  Poor Andy would start getting questionable looks from the other moms now.   


When I came back to bed, Andy asked me what happened.  I started laughing, because I'm sure I looked hysterical running into the door and if someone would have recorded it, I could be famous on YouTube right now.  I told him what happened.  He started laughing too.  I knew he would find it amusing, because he loves the kind of stuff when people fall down, or run into things and hurt themselves, as long as it's not a bad hurt.  Then he asked which part of my body I ran into the door with. When I told him my cheek, I thought HE was going to pee the bed.  He assumed I ran into it with my leg or body.  He said I shook the whole house when I did it, and that is why he got out of bed to see what was going on.  We laughed about it for a while and then went back to sleep, me with an ice pack on my cheek.  


When I woke up a couple hours later I went to the mirror to see how bad the damage was.  Fortunately, for me there was nothing there but a red mark, easily covered by makeup.  Unlike almost everyone I know, I do not bruise easily at all.  It hurt a lot and it still tender even now, but no bruise.  At least that means no nasty rumors getting started about me and the beatings I might be getting at home.  


Lana is still not quite getting through the whole night without an accident.  Although, now when I go in her room in the middle of the night I make sure to open the door ALL the way.  I'm not so sure my poor cheek wouldn't bruise if I hit it a second time.  Not really interested in finding out. 

Boiling With Fear

I know there are people and especially kids, who have irrational fears.  I know when I was little I thought I was going to go down the drain at the pool if I got to close to it.  Even as an adult, I'm not crazy about the dark.  Especially dark garages.  Who knows what kind of monster is lurking in the dark waiting to get me?  If you know this blog and my kids, you know Sonya is also a bit scared of  things like the dark and some movies.  However, she's recently developed a fear in the past month and a half that came from out of nowhere.  It has gotten a bit out of control.  A fear of something that is really harmless.  A fear that no matter how much Andy and I try to talk about it and rationalize with her, she still freaks out every time.  That fear is the teapot. 

I know, already right there you said WTF? right?  That's what we said when it started.  We use our teapot to boil water for tea quite a few times a week.  Andy loves ice tea so I end up making it throughout the week.  We don't really have hot tea that often, unless we're sick, but at least 2-3 times a week the teapot gets used.  A while back when I boiled tea one day, it started to boil and whistle.  Sonya started telling me to turn it off.  I did, but then decided I should show her how to turn a burner off on the stove.  I think  it's always good to teach them things like that, when they're old enough, in case of emergencies.  She did and she was fine with it.  Then one day I boiled the water and she ran to turn it off and turned in the wrong direction.  This turned it on low and quieted the whistle, but didn't turn it off completely.  It freaked her out a bit, but I helped her, so no big deal.  After that she didn't want to turn it off anymore.  Then she started to cover her ears when it whistled.  Still not that crazy.  Until...

A few weeks ago when Andy was home he started to boil water for hot tea.  When it started to whistle, Sonya-who was in the living room at the time-started to FLIP OUT.  I mean full on, screaming, crying, hysterics, wanting someone to turn it off.  I was in the bedroom at the time and came running out in time to see Andy flip off the burner and say,

"Um, Sonya...this is a problem.  We need to talk about this."

He's usually really good at getting her to see things logically and talking her out of most of her fears.  Not this one though.  He did manage to find out that her fear is that the house is going to burn down from the teapot, or something like that.  It's a fire fear, basically.  Then  Andy tried turning on the teapot and having her turn it off, giving her control, but she just cried about it. Later that day I turned it on again to make iced tea this time.  As soon as she walked in the kitchen and saw the burner going, you would have thought she'd walked in on a man with a knife to my throat.  She stood staring in horror at the  flame under the pot and said,

"Mommy, I don't want to turn it off, I don't want to turn it off!"

"Okay, Sonya.  Don't worry about it," I told her, trying not to make a big deal about it.  For the next few minutes before it boiled she kept telling me she didn't want to turn it off.  

Then it boiled.

We were both in the kitchen and she grabbed at my leg to pull me away from the horrible stove.  When it was clear I was headed in the direction of the teapot she let go and ran SCREAMING to her room.  There she cried with her hands over her ears for about ten minutes.  Andy and I were trying so hard not to laugh, but it was hard not to.  We did feel bad, but she was being bat shit CA-RA-ZY about this.  About a TEAPOT!  A teapot that has never hurt her, I might add.

Andy calmed her down and tried to talk to her again.  No dice.  She calmed down, but wouldn't go near the stove for the rest of the day.  Since then we have to give her fair warning if we're making tea.  If she all of a sudden hears the teapot, she gets really upset.  At least if she knows before it's happening she can prepare herself, but still she gets upset and covers her ears when it starts to whistle.  We are at a loss for what to do about it.  

Then over this past weekend, I had to make ice tea again.  Oh horror of horrors!  Sonya sat in her chair anxiety ridden.  At one point I had to run back to my bedroom to do something and the water started to boil.  Oops.  Bad timing on my part.  Sonya started to scream for someone to turn it off and I ran out, in time, but just then Lana hopped down from her seat, ran over to the stove and turned it off herself.  (I had taught her to turn off the stove too).  Even though her sister freaked out, she stayed calm, proving her to be the one less difficult in some situations.  So again we tried talking to Sonya about it.  She did seem a bit less upset about it this time then she has been in the past.  It wasn't quite the screaming and crying that we've had before.  Just crying mostly.  

"Sonya remember that song, I'm a little teapot short and stout..." I started to sing.  She stood there looking at me as I went through the whole song.  Then I got to the end,

"When I get all steamed up hear me shout, Tip me over and pour me out!"  Perfect!  The teapot shouts, nobody gets burned or hurt, she should totally get it and be fine.   

Instead she looked at me with a deadpanned expression and said,

"Yeah, but that doesn't tell me how to turn it off," then she turned and walked out of the kitchen. 

Looks like  have a smartass kid with a completely irrational fear.  Where the hell do I go from here?

It's Not Just Me

I have always subscribed to the notion that my life is a movie.  Well since high school I've thought that way.  Most of you just said "huh?" and realized how crazy I am.  (Really, it took you this long?)  I'm sure there are some of you out there who totally get what I'm saying.  I know there is at least one.  My friend Trista and I have had this discussion about our lives being movies many times.  I always just thought it was me, until one of us brought up the idea when we were in college.  Since then anytime something crazy or funny happens to one of us we'll say, "See!?  Movie!"  I suppose this concept isn't completely far fetched, especially nowadays with all the reality shows.  Half of the country is a movie, or at least a TV show.   I see no reason why The Dadekians wouldn't be just as entertaining at The Kardashians.  Well, except my girls aren't old enough to be sluttin' around with sports stars and celebrities.  Let's hope they don't get there.  Plus they're already smarter than those girls, at least from what I've seen.  I guess growing up watching so many movies and watching TV, not to mention wanting to act, probably helped the idea along.  Then the other day Sonya said something that made me realize that idea ISN'T completely crazy.  Unless I've just passed down my crazy gene to her. Also entirely possible.  


Georgia wasn't feeling well one evening last week.  Well, okay, there's more to the story than that.  Here's the short version.  Basically I think she either had a minor concussion or a migraine.  Not sure which, but she's all better now!  She fell out of the van trying to get out by HERSELF! which she insisted on.  She landed face first and hit the side of her forehead on the driveway.  It was a pretty bad hit, although she bonks her head quite often.  My sister, Megan who is the nurse in the family, gets calls from me from time to time asking about signs of a concussion.  For the rest of the evening she was cranky, wouldn't eat dinner and just generally miserable.  Possible concussion signs.  She was also extremely pale which is a sign of a migraine, and she kept saying she was going throw up.  Also a migraine sign, but also concussion.  I finally just decided to put her to bed.  Her pupils were fine and I was leaning more toward the migraine side of things, which meant she needed sleep.  




I was putting her and Lana to bed, but it was early, so I told Sonya she could stay up a bit.  She hung out in the girls room as I was tucking them in.  Then Georgia started again with,


"I gonna frow up, I gonna frow up!"


I could see this time she meant it.  I went to grab her to take her to the bathroom, but it was too late.  She puked all over the rug in her bedroom and, not to be completely gross, but it splattered EVERYWHERE.


Good times.  


I sent Sonya to get me some things to help clean up the mess, changed Georgia, and threw away the rug (which was in bad shape anyway.  No way in hell I was cleaning puke out of that thing.)  The smell lingered which it always does with throw up.  Oh well, so much for not being completely gross.    I sprayed some air freshener and lit a candle.  Sonya helped out some, but mostly she and Lana observed as I cleaned up the mess GG had left in her wake.  Then as I was settling everyone back down to bed Sonya said, kind of under her breath,


"I think this chapter would be called..."


She stopped when she saw me looking at her.  I thought she was talking to me, but apparently she had said something out loud that she hadn't meant to.  She told me as much when she saw me looking at her.  


"Well, why did you say that?  What are you talking about?" I asked.


Then she told me, "Well, I might as well tell you.  I have this idea that there is a man sitting and reading a book about this in front of a fire."


"You mean he's reading a book about us?" I said.


"Yeah.  About everything that happens to us." She replied.


"Huh," I said and immediately knew what she was talking about.  My life may be a movie, but apparently hers is a book.  


"That's interesting, Sonya.  Where did you get that idea from?"  I was curious as hell.  I mean she's only six.  How does a six year old think of things in that way?


"I don't know, I just did," was her reply.  I asked if it came from Andy or somebody else, but no.  It was a concept she came up with all on her own.


This made me feel better because first of all, it gives us something in common that I can completely relate to.  Secondly it means if I am crazy with my, "my life is a movie" notion, at least I know I have two people on my side now.  Even if I did have a hand in creating the second one.  

Spontanity-SO Overrated

I am a planner.  I am the type of person who thrives on routine and a planned outing.  I like to pretend I'm not that way.  In fact, after having a bunch of days in a row with something going on, you will often hear me complaining about how I want a day with nothing to do.  However, a day with nothing to do tends to make me a little crazy.  Because when you have three kids there is always SOMETHING to do and if you don't have anything planned to do, your day gets a shot to hell.  Much like it did yesterday.


Yesterday morning, after letting the kids get up and take care of themselves while we slept in a bit, Andy said we should go and do something for the day.  I suppressed my urge to say "WHAT?  But we didn't plan anything!  We can't just GO somewhere!" Instead I decided it was a good idea to try and be spontaneous. I do need to explore that side more.  So yes!  Let's do something fun.  After all it was a gorgeous 80 degree January day in Los Angeles, so might as well take advantage.  (Sorry for you poor people on the other side of the country freezing your asses off.  Don't worry!  April is just around the corner.)  We started brainstorming things to do that weren't too expensive, outside and fun for the kids. The zoo was the best thing that came to mind.  We have a pass there so it would be free.  Sure it was gorgeous and some people had the day off, but there were a lot of people who still had to work so it might not be too crowded.  These are things I might have known for sure if I had planned.


Okay, don't get me wrong, I'm not a crazy planner.  I'm not the type of person who has every minute planned.  However, when we go to the beach I get ready the night before, with clothes, toys, swimsuits etc.  Same thing with going to the snow.  My Type A personality and the genes that my mom handed down  make it so I need at least an outline of what's going on.  I'm not so good at getting up and deciding the day of to do something, but Andy is more inclined and always throws it out there.  I usually turn it down, but I was trying to be more fun.   He's more willing to get in the car and go wherever, but  I know where that can lead us with three kids.  Especially when two of them still nap.  Before kids it was easy to do that kind of thing.  Now...not so much. 


Well, we got to Griffith Park, where the zoo is here in L.A., and  saw a HUGE line of cars headed in the same direction as the zoo.  Immediately, Andy turned the other way and said,


"Oh forget it!  We're not going to the zoo if it's that crowded.  Where can we go instead?"


I don't know!  THIS wasn't planned, so I certainly don't have a back up plan!


We ended up a little ways down the road at Travel Town, which is also in Griffith Park. It's basically an outdoor old train museum.  We had been once at Christmas years ago, but I hadn't been since.  The girls, however, had their hearts set on the zoo and there was no parking in the Travel Town parking lot.  So we turned around again and headed back to the line toward the zoo.  We figured that road led to other things in Griffith Park, so perhaps something else was going on.  It couldn't be that EVERYONE was going to the zoo, right?


 Oh, but they were. From how crowded it was I would have thought MLK Jr himself was there to see the animals.  The parking lot was packed.  We turned around yet again and headed back to...TRAVEL TOWN KIDS!  How exciting!  We're going to see trains instead and maybe ride on one!  YAY!!!  


I actually managed to convince them that this would be better than the stinky zoo.  That is until we got there and they saw what it was.  I thought it was cool because  I love old trains.  We even got to go in a couple and walk around.  Sonya was enjoying herself too.  Georgia was starting to get sick, so I don't think she cared either way.  Lana....well Lana had this to say 10 minutes into walking around Travel Town,


"I wanna go home now."


In her defense she was starting to not feel well either.  Courtesy of Sonya who stayed home from school on Thursday and Friday with a fever.  Once one goes down, you can guarantee the others aren't far behind.  


We walked around some more with Lana whining to go home the whole time.  I asked if she wanted to ride the train to which she at first said no.  Then I showed her it was a little train to ride and not the big ones we'd been looking at.  Suddenly she was interested.  That would have been all find and good except when we got to the line, it was obvious we would be there for a while before getting to ride the train ourselves.  Lana was really started to break down and Georgia wasn't far behind.  It was at this point I decided to call it quits and we started to leave.  This not only upset Lana further, because she wasn't going to ride the train, but Sonya decided to add her unhappiness to the party and the two of them cried and screamed the entire walk out of Travel Town.  Don't you love when your kids become THOSE kids?  Don't worry, I've learned to ignore the judgmental stares.  


We got to the car and loaded everyone in.  The two older ones continued to cry and scream the ENTIRE WAY HOME.  Well, Sonya stopped at one pointed but started up again when we pulled into the driveway.  Lana was a trooper though, and kept it up.  She only stopped when we got into the house where I threatened a time out.  I guess the idea of sitting alone in the bathroom for 3 1/2  minutes was enough to get her to calm down after crying for at least twenty minutes.  





Needless to say it was one of the least fun times we've had as a family.  We wasted our entire morning doing something that ended up not being fun for anyone.  We at least made it back in time to put Lana and G down for naps, so I was able to go back to my schedule anyway.  The rest of the day was just kind of blah from there.  


So would I like to be a more spontaneous, less anal about planning kind of person?  Sometimes.  But  most of the time that part of my Type A personality, is what lets us have the most fun and get the most done.  Really, it's what helps makes me a good mom, most of the time anyway. 

Help Wanted

Usually, I tell you all stories about the girls and what's going on in our household.  Today I was hoping to get a bit of advice from those of you out there who may have gone through a similar situation, either with your kids or when you were a kid.  Here it is.


Lana has been potty trained for a year now.  However, at night she is not.  She wears a pull-up every night and every morning it is soaked.  We have never had a night where she's woken up dry.  On more than one occasion she has asked to wear "unders" to bed and not her pull up.  I usually allow this and then I always end up changing her and the sheets in the middle of the night. This is always a fun fifteen minute exercise at two in the morning.  The problem is, she doesn't even wake up when she pees the bed.  I only know she's peed, because I check on her in the middle of the night, and if there is no pull up then she is laying in wet, cold sheets and pajamas.  I've been letting it go, figuring she'll just grow out of it and eventually she'll learn to hold it at night.  She managed to figure it out for nap time a few months back.  Every once in a while she still wets the bed at nap time, but not on a regular basis.  I always make her pee right before bed, and I've tried not giving her a drink for at least an hour before, but neither of those things seems to make a difference.  On the one hand, I'd still be willing to just let this go and try to let her work it out for herself.  She's not yet four, so this is not that unheard of, I've been told.  However, the situation has recently become a bit more complicated since Georgia has potty trained.  


Georgia has been successfully potty trained for about two weeks now, which is so awesome.  Life without diapers is so sweet.  I still put a pull up on her for naps and at night, but for the past week she has kept those completely dry.  This is fantastic for her, not so fantastic for Lana.   Now her little sister is just about to give up wearing pull ups to bed after JUST learning to potty train, when she has been out of diapers for much longer, but still needs the nighttime help.  So what the hell do I do??  I don't want to leave GG in a pull up at night if she doesn't need it, but I don't want Lana feeling bad for still wearing one.  Plus I know when she realizes that Georgia is not wearing a pull up at night, she is going to want to do the same thing.


That leads me to you, Internet friends!  How on earth do you get a kid to stop peeing the bed at night?  Especially if they don't even wake up when they do go?  Anyone out there have any advice in this area, OTHER than withhold drinks and pee before bed?  Again, I'm not even sure it's something I should even push at this point, I'm just worried that it's going to cause some issues soon, so I just want to have a game plan in place.  If you have something that worked for you or someone else let me know.  Leave it in the comments section.  


Ah the Internet!  The place to get solicited mom advice at the push of a button.  Well, and the writing of a blog.  I will keep you updated on what happens!

Getting Nothing Past Her

Every Tuesday I take Georgia to a Mommy and Me class through the Adult school down the street.  It's a great class and we both look forward to going every week.  Last Tuesday was our first time back since the holidays.  We were outside playing with the other kids when someone pointed out the there was a mini hot air balloon experiment.  It was going on in the middle school field next to where the adult school is.  They were sending the balloon up in the air where it would hang out for a few minutes and then it would come back down again.  Most of the class was outside watching along with our kids.  At one point when it was up in the sky, I pointed it out to Georgia hyping it up.  


"Look at the balloon Georgia!  Do you see it?" I said pointing toward it.


She shook her head yes, seemingly unimpressed.  I was still trying to pump it up and make it exciting.  


"Look GG!  SEE IT!  Say hi balloon!  HI!" I said waving furiously up in the sky.


Then she turned and looked at me with all seriousness that her two year old little face could hold and said,


"Mommy. (and this is where  I swear she  could have rolled her eyes and sighed) Balloons don't talk."


Alrighty then!  Yup, I got schooled by my two year old.  Nice.

Time Keeps on Slippin' Into the Future

So far in the past week and a half my girls decided to speed up their growing and milestones.  Sonya has lost her second tooth, Lana is about thisclose to completely giving up her naps (somebody save me!) and little Georgia is potty trained.  She picked it up pretty quickly actually.  Her being potty trained is probably the best and the worst of all of this.  


On the one hand I don't have to buy or wash another diaper EVER AGAIN!  It's so exciting.  However, it means she really isn't a baby anymore.  At least when they're still in diapers you can kinda pretend they're still in the baby phase.  Nope.  All done.  All these things together have made feel nostalgic for having a baby.  I do miss those first couple years of their development.  As  difficult as it is, it is also fun and rewarding.  But we don't want another baby.  I mean we can't really afford it for the most part.  I suppose if we were rich I'd have another one, because then I'd have a much bigger house, a full time maid and a part time nanny.  Things being as they are though, it's just not a good idea.  The good news is one of my very best friends, Melissa, is due with her first baby any day now.  This will be perfect for me.  I get to hold a tiny baby again and get that new baby smell, without all the sleepless nights and sore boobs!  It'll be good for Melissa too, because she gets someone who wants to help with the baby who also has an awesome baby resume.  


 Even though I'm sad to be out of the baby era, it does bring on a new freedom having kids who are more self sufficient, which is fun.  No more diapers, only one nap to really worry about, and sippy cups starting to make an exit.  Although, if they keep spilling at the dinner table the way they do, I may enforce sippy cups until high school.  At this rate we may actually be able to take a real vacation sometime in the next couple of years!  So, from now on whenever I get that "I'm sad I don't have a baby anymore" feeling, I'll just head to Melissa's, where I can get a dose of screaming infant reality and remember why it's good to be past that stage.  

The Simple Joys

My Mom requested the retelling of this story on my blog, so I thought I would oblige her.  She and my father spent Christmas with us this year.  They take turns with me and my sisters, and this year was our year.  It was great having them here, especially since Andy and I got to sleep in every day until at least 8am.  They take full control of the girls in the morning. Getting the breakfast and dressed.  The whole thing, which is great for me.  My parents have always been morning people.  Great when you have kids, not so great when you're a teenager and all you want to do is sleep until 10am, and they WON'T LET YOU.  Anyway-we had a fun time, and I always love having them see their grandchildren, especially at Christmas.  Because of the Christmas rotation they do with us, this was the first Christmas they got to spend with Georgia, and really the first one where Lana was fun, and not just an unaware baby blob.


Christmas morning the girls got up fairly early, and were  excited to see what Santa brought.  No surprise there.  We all went to the living room and started to sort out the presents.  Before we got to far the girls began opening some of the ones they had found with their names.  Sonya was excited for her new camera, Lana squealed in excitement over her, paint your own jewelery box.  That's all she had been asking for since Sonya had received one for her birthday the month before.  Then amidst the tearing of paper and squeals of delight, I turned around to see Georgia unwrap a present.  After tearing off the paper, she yelled out with as much excitement and happiness as her sisters,


"A NEW BOX!!"


We all laughed for about a minute.  Then my father turned the box over to show her that it wasn't just a box, but a remote control car made just for toddlers.  She was even more ecstatic to see an actual toy inside.  I have to say it was one of the most innocent and sweetest things ever when she got so excited at seeing just a present box.  She was so cute about it.  Plus,  it's so nice to know that Andy and I spent all that money on fun toys for them, when really, Georgia would have been just as happy with a new box.  Looks like we'll get out of her birthday cheap this year anyway.  We still have plenty of empty boxes in the garage from Christmas.  All I need now is birthday wrapping paper.  

A New Hope

Andy decided one day last week, while he was off work and Sonya was off school, that he really wanted to watch Star Wars with her.  The REAL Star Wars that is.  Not those other three "movies" Lucas made a few years back. You know, the ones everyone was so excited for and then became so disappointed about.  No, I'm talking about the GOOD ones with Luke, Leia and Han.  The ones that we grew up on.  Three of my favorite movies of all time.  Of course I wanted Sonya to watch these too, but when he suggested this I  gave him that "have you met our daughter" look.  Granted I was about her age when I watched the first Star Wars.  However, Sonya is the kid who STILL won't watch Aladdin, because she's scared of the Cave of Wonders.  ALADDIN!  A Disney cartoon.  A rated G movie. I had no idea how he was going to get her to watch Star Wars.  Especially since a couple years back she had already formed her own opinion of the movies before watching them.  Still, I figured if anyone could convince her to watch it, it would be Daddy.


So, this past Sunday was a very rainy day here in Los Angeles.  As it has been a lot for the past two months.  (When did L.A. become Seattle??) I had been out running errands and came home to find Andy getting Star Wars out of the DVD closet.  He announced to Sonya that we were going to watch it, since the little girls were sleeping.  Except only Georgia was sleeping and Lana was protesting her nap, which she's been doing more of lately.  Sonya immediately started to cry.  She said she didn't want to watch it and she was scared.  Andy and I tried to convince her that it wasn't scary and she was going to love it.  There was a princess in it!  She didn't care.  She just continued to cry for about ten minutes.  Andy even tried the guilt trip on her saying how he would be going back to work soon and wouldn't be able to spend this time with her.  He wanted to watch it together before he couldn't anymore.  No dice.  Still crying.  This went on for about five more minutes.  Finally we called it quits.  There was no convincing her.  Except then when we told her forget it, and she didn't have to watch it, she cried harder.  She did want to watch it.  Or more likely she didn't want to disappoint us.  We tried telling her it was fine, we weren't mad, and maybe we could do it some other time, but nope.  Still crying.  Damn!  Girls are EMOTIONAL!  Why on earth do I have THREE??  I wasn't possibly this bad was I?  Please don't answer that mom and dad.


Meanwhile, in Sonya's bedroom, I had Lana who was crying as well, because she did not want to nap. The only quiet one was GG, fast asleep in her room.  Thank goodness.  I went to calm Lana down, while Andy continued to work on Sonya.  I managed to get Lana to stop crying and told her to rest in the bed until she was all done with her tantrum.  I was hoping if I left her there calm, she would quickly fall asleep, even though I did tell her she could come out of the bedroom when she was done.


I walked back out to the living room to find Star Wars playing and Sonya post tears sitting next to Andy.


"So we're watching it now?" I kinda asked Andy out of the side of my mouth.


He just shrugged his shoulders, eyes on the screen.  I left it alone and  sat down next to Sonya. I silently prayed nothing scared her to much so that we would have to turn it off.  She might never try and watch it again.  About three minutes into the movie, Lana came out of the bedroom, blankie in her mouth staring at the screen.  It was almost 2:30 at this point so there was no way I was going to try and make her take a nap.  I also saw no way that SHE was going to watch Star Wars.  Even though Sonya is still scared of some movies, Lana is far worse right now.  We couldn't even get through the Rudolf special this year, because she freaked out when the Abominable Snowman came on the screen.  How on earth would she handle Chewbacca?  We even tried watching Despicable Me earlier in the week and she got off the couch and ran to the kitchen during parts of that movie.  That one was not scary at all.


I let her watch for a few minutes to see what she was going to do.  Then I asked her to come sit with me, figuring she would say  no and want to go play.  To my surprise she hopped up on the couch.  She and Sonya sat there mesmerized and watched the ENTIRE movie.  They didn't try to leave, they didn't get scared.  Sonya asked questions about the characters and who everyone was.  At one point she said to me,


"Is that Luke Skywalker?"


"Yup."


Then with all seriousness said, "Why isn't he walking on the sky?"  They just take things so literally at this age.





About twenty minutes before it was over, I noticed Sonya sitting on the edge of the couch, holding herself, doing a little dance.


"Um...Sonya, what are you doing?" I asked.


"I have to pee real bad, but I don't want to stop the movie," she replied.


"You know, we can pause it and finish it when you get back if you want," I told her.


She agreed and ran off to the bathroom.  I couldn't let her watch the most critical part in having to pee pain.  I've been there for MANY a movie myself.  Not fun.  I was just so happy that she didn't want to leave and wanted to watch it that badly.  She came back from the bathroom and we all watched as Luke blew up the Death Star, then went off to celebrate his victory with his friends.  Well, his friend and his sister, but we haven't quite gotten there yet, have we.  


The movie ended.  I seriously felt like I was going to cry.  I had just watched Star Wars for the first time with my kids.  See that's where the emotional thing comes from. My genes.  Who cries over stuff like that?  Andy and I proceeded to ask them  how they liked it.  They both loved it.  I asked Sonya who were her favorite in the movie.


"Princess Liea (duh) and R2D2," she replied.


I don't think any little girl can watch that movie and NOT want to be Princess Liea.  I went as her for Halloween at least once, maybe twice when I was a kid.  I also used to make my mom do my hair in the braid buns on the side of my head for school.  I was always a little upset that my hair was blond though.  I wanted to be a brunette like her so badly.  Well because of her and Daisy Duke.  Not sure SHE she was the best role model, but oh well.


Yup, we managed to show Sonya (and Lana) Star Wars and further pique her interest.  She was so excited to go to school the next day to tell her friend Gwen, who has already seen most of the movies, that she had watched it.  I'm so happy she finally let go of her fear a little and trusted us to show her something she might really like.  I've seen these movies so many times in my life, but watching them with my kids is a whole new fun experience.  I can't wait to watch the next two!  And if she asks about the "others", they don't exist.  Okay, maybe when she's a teenager and knows the first three forwards and backwards.  Then she can be disappointed by the prequels like the rest of us, and appreciate the originals even more.  

Adding To The Holes In Her Head

Hello loyal readers!  After a two week sorta hiatus, I'm back to the routine.  Well, kind of.  Andy is here for the next week before he starts his new job, which will throw my routine off just a bit, but I'm determined to get back to my normal writing.  I'm just thinking of all of you who need something to do when you decide to procrastinate from work/the kids/the housework!


I teased you last week about Sonya deciding to get her ears pierced out of nowhere, so I think I'll start there.  First let me give you the back story on the ear piercing subject.  


For some reason, I never gave it much thought about when to get Sonya's ears pierced when she was a baby.  I figured we would get them done at some point.  Most little girls get their ears pierced these days.  I had mind done when I was five.  It wasn't until my sister, Beth had her daughter's ears done when she was just a baby, that I started to think about when to have my girls' done.  Sonya was close to four at that point and I thought it would be a good time to do it.  She, however, did not.  I asked her if she would like to wear earrings like mommy, and of course she wanted to.  That is until she found out how they were going make it so she could wear earring like mommy.  She asked me if it hurt. Since I didn't want to lie and be proven to be a liar later, I told her it would.  Immediately she was out.  She had no interest in getting something that felt like a shot in her ear just to get earrings.  No way.  So I left it alone.  I told her if there was a time she changed her mind let me know and we'd get it done.  I was pretty certain it would be high school before she changed her mind, and then it would be because every other girl had them, or at least the "cool" ones.  


Over the past couple of years I've asked her every now and then if she wanted them done. She always asks if it will hurt and since my answer never changed neither did hers.  


Fast forward to December 2010.  The girls and I went to pick up my parents from LAX a couple weeks ago before Christmas.  My mother loves Christmas.  That combined with being a first grade teacher has given her all opportunity to wear every Christmas shirt and piece of Christmas jewelry ever made. Tacky or not.   This particular day she was wearing a pair of Rudolf earrings that Sonya took a liking too.  Then she informed my mom that she was going to get her ears pierced while she was visiting us.  This was all unbeknownst to me.  I was in the front of the van driving and had not heard any of this conversation.  That is why when we got back to my house and my mom asked me,


"So when are you getting Sonya's ears pierced?" I looked at her like her Rudolf earring had just taken flight over my head.  


"What are you talking about?" I asked.


"Sonya said she was getting her ears pierced while I was here," she told me.


"News to me!" I said.  Then she told me what had transpired on the ride back from the airport.  I called Sonya over to ask her if she wanted to do this.  I was sure my mom was missing something somewhere.


"Sonya, Nona said you told her you wanted to get your ears pierced.  Is that true?"


"Yeah," she said, like it was something I'd heard before.  


"Are you sure?   Because if you are I will make an appointment to go get it done." I told her.


"Yes," then she paused and asked once again, "Is it going to hurt?"


"Yup," I said.  My mom quickly interjected with, "But only for a second and then you'll have pretty earrings!"


"Okay," she responded.


"Sooooo you want to do it then?" I asked to be sure.


"Yeeeessss!!" She said in her best teenage "I told you already mom!  GEEZ!" voice.


I told her we would have to check with Daddy first, but I would call to make an appointment at the Doctor's office.  I had seen that they pierced ears there.  When Andy came home that night I had her check with him to make sure he approved and he was fine with it.  Originally, I had made an appointment at the Doctor's for Thursday before Christmas, but Andy was still as work.  When I told him that we were doing it that day he was disappointed and asked if we could move it so he could be there.  He likes to be as involved in the girls lives as he can.  Especially when other people are poking holes in their bodies.  I knew changing the appointment would not go over well with Sonya, but I understood how Andy felt, so I had to.  Besides, it wasn't like we said she wasn't getting it done at all.  But the thing with Sonya is  once she gets an idea in her head, if it doesn't go according to that plan the whole world may as well be collapsing.  This is the reason I never tell her about play dates or other fun things we might do until I am for sure for sure we are doing them.  There have been way too many occasions when I have an inconsolable child on my hands, because we can't get ice cream since her baby sister is THROWING UP.  Or other such instances.

I told her we weren't getting her ears done that day because Daddy couldn't be there, but we would do it the next day, Christmas Eve.  I tried to move the appointment at the Doctor's but they didn't have any openings until the next week.  I knew there was no way she would wait that long.  Now that she wanted her ear pierced finally, she wanted them done now.  Truth be told, I wanted to do them sooner than later because I was worried she'd lose the desire and courage.  I'm not so sure that would have happened though.  She was determined.   She had a bit of a breakdown when I told her we were moving the appointment.  I might as well have told her Santa wasn't coming this year the way she reacted.  It was only one day.  But again, she does not deal well when things change like that.  Not when she wants something.   

So on Christmas Eve afternoon we went to Claire's at the mall.  This was a better choice anyway, because they had two piercing guns to do both ears at the same time.  A good way to ensure Sonya ended up with BOTH ears pierced.  She talked about wanting blue earrings and found some pretty blue flowers.  Then they marked both her ears. I could tell she was very nervous, but still wanted to go through with it.  No turning back now! My mom and I tried to take pictures, but were then told that was big no-no in there.  So Andy may or may not have used his phone to maybe or maybe not record her getting them pierced.  Who knows?  I do know that even though I was standing behind her when she had it done, the look on her face when she realized what happened was priceless.  The two girls punched the earrings in and she looked stunned for about two seconds followed by tears.  Then they distracted her by giving her a mirror to see how she looked, and a lollipop to make her forget about the pain.  Because isn't that what lollipops are for?  They give them out at the Doctor's after shots too.  


It was done.  We ooohed and aaahhed over her new pretty ears for the rest of the night.  Lucky for her since Christmas was the next day, we had a few people coming to visit for her to show off to.  She's been good about reminding me to clean them and they are healing really well.  She is even more excited to take this pair out and try out different ones, but there is another 4 1/2 weeks until she can do that.  So in her kid world, almost a year.  


I'm still not entirely sure why she decided to do this all of a sudden.  I did ask her one night at dinner about which friends of hers had their ears pierced, thinking maybe she had been influenced, but she told us none of her friends had them.  Then she said,


"Oh except Ryan."


To which I said, "But....um.... isn't Ryan a boy's name?"


"Yeah, but he has his ears pierced," she told me.


So I guess there you have it.  She figured if some BOY could get his ears pierced than she could certainly do it.  I was taken aback at first by the whole boy in first grade having his ears pierced, but so many guys do it and if they have sons I suppose they would want it done too.  Plus- I know I do live in Los Angeles, and we do do things differently out here, but I'm okay with that.  


Up next-Lana!  Although she seems pretty adamant about not getting it done right now.  We'll just have to wait and see which boy changes her mind....