Good Mama

This was couple of weeks ago when I was home with the kids because Daytime Mama was sick. It was early, and I had been up late doing my consignment stuff. I made the living room into a giant Ace-proof play pen, put on Cinderella, got my pillow and fell asleep on the couch. It was one of those naps that I would come almost to the surface every few minutes as something shifted in the room, and then get sucked back down when no crisis followed.

What was shifting in the room most often, was that Moolah was checking on me. She would come over, adjust my blanket, and give me a sweet little kiss. She brought me a baby, too, and made sure the baby was tucked in. She would pat my shoulder, or my head, and make sure all was well in my world, before returning to her movie.

Yukky & Yummy

Moolah played the picture game again the other day and she was making cookies with various family members. She was making "Yukky cookies that I don't like. Also yummy ones." I said this in a comment, but I know not everyone reads them...

Oosje asks what kind of cookies are yukky to a 3-year-old? What is best/worst?

I tried to find out about the yukky cookies. She wasn't able to be very descriptive. These days a favorite is grasshoppers, which is Keebler's version of thin mints. Oosje would think those are yukky and that it is just plain wrong to mess chocolate up with mint. However, Moolah did very much enjoy peppermint hot chocolate in utero.

On Sunday we went to the zoo. Moolah wanted to see the elephants. I told her that we would have lunch first, and that if she ate a good lunch, I would get her a big treat called an "elephant ear." I told her it was a giant donut bigger "this big" and it was covered with cinnamon. She likes cinnamon because in one of her favorite songs, they "fill our mouths with cinnamon". She ate lunch. Daddy and Moolah played on the grass while Ace and I stood in a short, but very slow line for the promised fried sugar food.

Moolah took one look and said "I don't like that. It's yukky." Daddy and I ate some with greatly exaggerated relish. We gave some to Ace, who wanted to crawl right into the middle of it. We offered her brown parts from the edges and soft parts from the middle. We told her it was a giant donut. We told her it had yummy cinnamon. She rebuffed every effort, while we were wondering why we were trying so hard to get junk food into our child. But, I had stood in line and promised a treat and I was being thwarted. She finally agreed to take "small bites" which meant, literally, crumbs. I would not believe that it was possible to tear crumb-sized bits off an elephant ear before I saw it. After 2 or 3 crumbs, she had enough. We went to see the real elephants.

So, I'm sure that a "child of 3" who refuses a zoo elephant ear must have some kind of yukky cookie in mind.

Truth

Sunday evening. Kids were full of energy, Mama and Daddy were not. I put them in the tub. Moolah sang a very high, screechy, loud song.

"Moolah, that's a little bit loud. Can you sing your song using a nice, inside voice?"

"No, I have a loud mouth."

It made me laugh and I didn't argue. She got to keep screeching away.

Playing with words

Moolah had gotten out of the bath. Her hair was dry, her nails were clipped, and I had managed some cuticle maintenance. It was bedtime -- PJs, book, teeth, song. She said

"Can we read the book naked? That would be cool. That would be awesome."

She got to stay naked during the reading. I opted to stay in my clothes, though.

Moolah's Mind: Hold on to your seats

The morning started out like every other morning in recent memory. Moolah woke up this morning and piled onto the bed, giving out giggles and cuddles. After some tickling and some burrowing under the covers,. Moolah ended up high on my pillow, and I ended up down the bed looking up at her.

"Look Mama, upper case (pointing to herself); lower case (pointing to me)."

Spoon-Fed Boy

In the past few days, Ace has gotten very interested in operating his own spoon. Dip in the bowl, go to the mouth. After a few attempts where he doesn't get food, he grabs my spoon and gets it to his mouth. He appears to be right-handed, not an addition to the southpaw team from Mama's family tree.

He also got his first haircut last week, but hasn't cooperated with my efforts to get a picture. I'm not sure if anyone can tell from this picture. It's not much shorter in the front, but it isn't curling over his ears anymore, which was making Daddy kind of twitchy.

Sayonara, Wasabi-San

My truck was the first (and so far only) brand new vehicle I ever had. I got to choose everything about it. I got everything I wanted. I really love her.

Daddy has been working to sell her. It is a part of the financial strategy for me to launch my business. He got calls from several people. He worked hardest with a Kathy from the Rainier State because she sounded like she would treat Sabi with respect. It was awfully nice of Daddy to pay attention to my emotional attachment to the truck, and do his best to assure me she would be with a good family, when what really we really needed was to get the equity out of it.

Thank you, Daddy. I love you.

Imagination

Moolah was looking at a book on Daddy's bedside table this morning. We discussed that it had a lot of words and no pictures.

"Mama, can we pretend it has pictures?"

"Yes. You tell me what the pictures look like."

"This one is of me and Oosje."

"What are you doing?"

"Swimming. I'm wearing my pink bathing suit , with water things (wings).

This one I'm not wearing water things. Oosje took them off.

In this picture I'm crying because I went under water.

Here is Oosje making me feel better.

I'm swimming with Bampa now.

I'm crying again.

Here is a picture of me drawing a D for Dima.

Your turn, Mama, what is the next picture?"

Speaking Truth to Power

Mama had a Grace Van Owen day. I used to think of every day as a Grace Van Owen day. Any day I didn't fight about politics or justice with at least one teacher and a few students was a waste. Over the course of a couple of decades, Grace faded from my daily life. Recent events have awakened the sleeping rabble-rouser. Today Grace was in full force (minus her trademark shoulder pads). It felt good, and scary, all at the same time.

Rainy State???

This is supposed to be the Rainy State. The Snowy State is to the east, the Sunny State to the South. In the Rainy State, we get snow maybe once every 2 or 3 years, during the first two weeks of January. Maybe every 5 - 8 years in December or February (these statistics based on 12 years of citizenship, not an almanac).

It's late April. We are having multiple flurries on a daily basis. Things are not right with the weatherman.

Songs

Moolah wrote her first legitimate song -- with appropriate rhythm and a beginning, middle & end.

(To Mary had a Little Lamb)

I'm gonna leave my PJ's on;
PJ's on;
PJ's on.

I'm gonna leave my PJ's on;
All day long

Sleeping Beauty

"Silly Mama," Moolah would say if she knew that I used that title, "I'm Snow White, not Sleeping Beauty."

"True," I would say, "but no one else would argue with me"

Oh, and when we got to the store to buy the promised Cinderella dress, she saw Snow White and insisted she wanted that one instead. I checked with her several times to make sure she understood she only got one. She did. She likes it. It wasn't until several hours later that she approached the subject of Cinderella again,

"Mama, can I get a Cinderella dress tomorrow?"

Ace Loves Peek-A-Boo

Click the triangle to play the video...

14,172 Words

Three days of full-time-Mamahood has left me very tired! Daytime Mama is back on the job tomorrow. What a relief. I took a few pictures to post and when I downloaded them, I found a bunch of others from past events... so here's a little scrapbook of the last month or so.

Best Friends:

Zoey & Dima at Zoey's Birthday Party

Struttin' My Stuff

At the Park with Auntie BSU & Lil Eleven

Matching Coats Courtesy of Oosje

Auntie BSU's Second First Visit

Hanging Out with the BSU's

Easter Dinner

I asked Auntie BSU whether there was anything she wanted for Easter Dinner. She said she wished that we had Oosje's old Jell-O molds ... the original Oosje (Opa Hans's Mama). I said "I do have those." A sheep and a butterfly, originally pudding molds. We learned afterwards that these have been around since Opa Hans was a small child. We were happy to continue the tradition with our brood). Each girl got half a butterfly.

Baking Cookies w/ Nanna

....and Enjoying Nanna's Cookies

Meet Tulip the Tiger

Moolah makes sure everyone gets buckled in.

For Oosje

It is supposed to be warm and sunny today. I expect we will see our first lilac blooms open.

Yesterday's Adventure to OMSI

Choo Choo

Daytime Mama is sick today. We came to play with the Family Princess

Wrap-Ups

Girls Adventure was an overall success. Here are a few more tidbits:

• We swam 3 times. Without a big kid to keep up with, she was very insistent about staying on the steps -- and really just the top 2 steps. I also had to stay right there on the steps with her. On Friday morning, I did finally get her and her water wings out in the middle of the pool. She liked it, but was still nervous.
• I have told the "2 Big Beds, AND a shower, AND a potty" story in front of Moolah several times, and each time she has chimed in with what I forgot "AND toilet paper, Mama!" Pretty high class joint ...
• On the way home, we stopped for a treat, the last of MANY over the trip (and only because Mama needed some caffeine and pronto). Moolah got a cookie. She asked "Mama, is it called a cookie because it's a "Cook" and a "Key"?"
• From Cook-key, we moved on to "Cinda" and "rella" -- which was on the portable DVD player at the time. I explained that it wasn't "Cinda" and "rella" it was "Cinder" and "Ella" because her name was Ella but her mean stepsisters made her sleep in the fireplace with the cinders. Since Moolah has an "Ella" in her life, she has now connected Cinderella with that person. We have also discussed (several times, as is her way these days) the fact that she is a nice sister, unlike Cinderella's sisters, but that if she had mean sisters who made her sleep in the fireplace, she would be Cindermoolah. Which, according to her, is "so silly."

Ace got his 7th tooth last week. Lower left. He might have gotten it on Nanna and Papa's watch. I noticed it on Tuesday, and it was already pretty well through.

The consignment sale didn't go as well as I had hoped. I'm taking my leftovers, with new and improved prices, to a different sale in two weeks.

Taxes are done. Moolah was promised a Cinderella dress if she cooperated with us while we did them. She napped almost the whole time and earned her dress with very little effort, but she did earn it.

Girl's Adventure: Day 2

We did better for dinner tonight. Pizza, beer, and am enclosed climbing, bouncing, tumbling, Sliding room. There is even a rock climbing walk (about 6 feet high). I wish we had a place like this... Daddy will, Too when if hears you can get a Chicken Fried Steak Pizza. Cowboy Up, as they say here in the dry part of the rainy state.

2 Beds!! 2 Beds!!!

Moolah got to come with Mama on a business trip to the middle of the Rainy State. The plan was that we would leave at naptime, she would sleep during most of the 3 hour drive, then we would play in the pool to get some energy out before dinner and bed. The pool was supposed to be the big highlight of the day.

Exercising her ability to change my plans, she napped for approximately 10 minutes of the drive, then sat on the pool steps and didn't want to go in the water. The energy hit her as soon as we got back in our room, where jumping on both beds was the highlight. It continued through dinner, jumping in our booth. I thought she was asleep during a post-dinner Dora, but now she's wide awake and I think she won't close her eyes til I get in bed.

The actual highlight of the trip so far: 2 Beds!!! 2 Beds!!! And, Mama... look!!! Our room has a potty and a bathtub!!!

Off Duty

Strider is watching Nanna, Papa and the kids. Daddy and I are on our way to the coast for our Valentine's Day trip. We have our coffee and a long drive ahead of us with no forecast of even a single verse of "The Wheels on the Bus."

Sweating in Oz

I love springtime in the rainy state. One day you wake up and the grey world has turned technicolor, as though you were Dorothy stepping out of the black-and-white kansas farmhouse into Oz.

Spring has been slow in coming this year. It snowed several times last week. In a place where snow is rare, but shows up once every couple of years in early January... flurries in late March are very weird.

This week the sun is shining and the colors are glorious. It's still cold, but I've got my moonroof open just the same.

Yesterday was our first outside Boot Camp of the season. I was so excited to be out in the park instead of running around a little gymnasium. It was beautiful. I had my two favorite teachers there and no one else. We worked hard and laughed hard. And, I learned that pushing 50 pounds of kids plus 30 pounds of stroller up a hill is WAY HARDER than pushing them around a polished floor.

Tales from the Family BSU Visit

I keep forgetting to bring my camera card to work with the pictures to tell the stories about Auntie BSU and Lil Eleven's visit. During the evenings, my time has been taken preparing for a kids consignment sale (417 items logged... whew!) Now, we're just days from Nanna and Papa's visit... which means I'll be even farther behind. So, some pictureless stories.

Things I didn't know about Lil Eleven
She is bilingual. She speaks both English and Dog. Although, apparently Belle speaks a different dialect than Strider, because he didn't respond appropriately when she said she was sorry to him (head down, butt up... kind of a yoga 'downward dog', which made me wonder whether that's where the yoga term came from).

Nocturnal adventures

Night 1
Lil and Moolah slept on camping mats in Moolah's room. The plan was someone in the bed and someone on the mat. Clearly that plan was developed by grown-ups and ignored toddler law: what one kid has the other one needs (reiterated many times over the visit), so two mats it was. Lil slept closest to Moolah's bed. Auntie BSU had warned me that she often cries in her sleep, and that she probably would not need comforting, she would go back to sleep soon. At about 2 am she started crying, and then it died down a little. Then it ramped up and seemed far more urgent. I went in to check. I looked around. No Lil. I heard her crying. It was dark, I wasn't wearing my glasses. Maybe she got up and was in a corner and didn't know where she was. Quick corner check. No Lil.

"Lil?" I asked
"She's just crying," Moolah said sleepily, and completely without judgment.
"Lil?" I said again
"Stuck," said Lil

She had somehow worked her way under the bed. There's only 4 - 6 inches to get through, but she had gotten all the way in and couldn't get out. I pulled her out and cuddled her, then stuffed some pillows under the bed. I thought of the story of me in the frying pan (Oosje, that's your cue...)

Night 2
We put the girls down together on their camping mats. I turned on the music and the birds, which project on the ceiling, as usual for Moolah. Lil had been asking about the birds all day. It turns out she wanted to know where they were because they were very scary. Who knew? Auntie BSU took her to sleep downstairs. Moolah cried and cried.

"I need something."
"What do you need?"
"I need a cousin!!"

Moolah went downstairs and slept in the guest bed with Lil, relegating Auntie BSU to the futon until sometime in the middle of the night when she decided that she needed the futon and Auntie BSU needed to leave.

Night 3
We tried to "clean" the birds out of the room. We sang "birds, birds, go away, come again another day." We sprayed bird cleaner out of the ironing squirt bottle. The girls lay down.

"Nat nat?" asked Lil. Auntie BSU showed her where her blanet was.
"Where's my nat nat?" asked Moolah. I went and got her one. (Follow-up.. she is still insisting on her nat nat almost every night).
"Sleep," Lil said to her Mama (code for lie down and cuddle with me)
"Sleep," Moolah said to me.

The cleaning didn't take. Auntie BSU and Lil went downstairs.

"Where's my nat nat?" asked Moolah again.
"Sleep." She said to me.

Easter
Mama saved a few books from childhood. Santa Mouse, Free to be You & Me, some personalized "read about me" books, and The Easter Bunny that Overslept. Auntie BSU didn't remember the Easter Bunny book. She did remember "The Little Lamb", which Nanna sent to Moolah. So, we read about the tardy bunny and the misplaced lamb all weekend.

On Sunday morning the bunny made it to our house. There were baskets and eggs for everyone. The bunny was at Edgefield again, where we sawhim last year. Moolah had said that "I used to be scary of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny but now they are my friends". So, we were going to go to brunch and egg hunt and meet the big furry one. It rained. Lil spiked a temperature of 103. We all stayed in and played.

Keeping Mr. Eisner straight...

Moolah and Daddy watched Disney movies this weekend. This was the first time she actually sat through a whole movie. She sat on Daddy's lap because Disney movies are really a little bit scary.

They watched Beauty and the Beast. Moolah's summary: "There is a scary beast who is scary but he turns into a nice prince." The first time through, as the beast was transforming, Daddy said "See, he's turning into the prince." Moolah said "He's not a prince, Daddy. Prince's have crowns. He doesn't have a crown."

They watched Snow White. Moolah's summary: "There is a scary witch and she has an apple that makes Snow White sick but the prince comes and gives her a kiss to make it all better." During the first viewing, the witch comes in disguise with the poisoned apple and has to try several times to get Show White to take a bite. At some point the witch pretends to faint and the apple rolls onto the floor. Moolah says "But, we don't eat food off the floor. It's dirty." Yes, Moolah. In addition to being poisoned with the potion of the sleep of death, it is also dirty.

Keeping me straight

"Sweetheart..." I said to Moolah, with some instruction that has been lost.

"I'm not 'sweetheart', Mama, I'm 'sweetie'. You're so silly."