A collection of our girls' stories and how they continue to keep us young at heart, yet make us gray in doing so.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Just Go, Ma Ma!

The other night, Jeff and I got to have a little date night ... alone ... without the girls! It was very exciting! No laughing - this was a big change for us. The girls come everywhere with us! Healthy or not ... it's just what works for us.

So I'm building it up with Hannah that afternoon about how she gets to go to Auntie Melanie and Uncle Burke's house and have dinner there ... all ... by ... herself! If she were older, I would add, "like OMG!" She immediately started picking out the dress she was going to wear, her necklaces that would adorn her neck, and instructing me on how she wanted her hair to be braided.

SOO not my child. :)

But a little bit of her girliness rubbed off on me, and while she was in quiet time and Addi was napping, I headed upstairs to fancy it up a bit myself. When Hannah came out of her room, she stopped and stared at me, mouth gaping open.

"What's on your eyes, Ma Ma? Why are you wearing earrings? Are you being ... fancy?"

I'm not sure mascara and a ponytail qualifies as fancy, but I didn't want to be even more of a disappointment to her, so I played along.

"It's just some make-up, Honey. I thought I'd get fancy, too!"
"But you're not going to Auntie Melanie's. Just Me and Adelaide. ALL ... BY ... OURSELVES. Not you."

Lest I should forget!

So the hour when Caleb and Melanie come to pick the girls up finally arrives and Hannah barely even turns around to wave goodbye to me. I tried to brush it off by finding the positive: she's getting to be such a big girl. We won't have any issues with nursery school in the fall. Look at her take charge - she'll be a strong leader someday!

But all through the movie, even walking past the storefronts after the movie, my arms felt awkward. They weren't carrying Addi or holding Hannah's hand. They were just ... empty! And they weren't doing anything! I tried putting my hands in my pockets in an effort to give them some sort of purpose. But then I thought if I tripped, the outcome would end very badly! Maybe the problem was that I was walking with a slight tilt as I didn't have Addi's weight holding one side of me down. But then I think I overcompensated and was leaning the other way. Nothing worked - it just felt dumb. Sad, I know! Especially when there are days when having empty arms is all I want!!

Somehow I managed to stumble to the restaurant without tripping over myself, and we sit down next to a table that has about 12-14 people sitting around it. Among them is a cute little girl who is prancing around on her tip toes, showing off a ring she borrowed from her mom on her tiny little finger. Her face was beaming!

She was Hannah with blond hair!

But one look at Jeff told me he didn't see the resemblance. Looking back on it, I think only a delirious mother who had just seen a very sappy movie and obviously needs to get out without her kids more would see any such resemblance! But then the little girl skips over to a little boy, leans over and starts whispering to him about the beautiful ring she is wearing. He looked to be about the same age as Addi.

That was it. I couldn't keep my eyes off of them for the rest of our meal! The mom must have noticed me ogling her children as she practically pulls her chair over to our table and starts chatting with us. Turns out both our kids were just a few weeks apart, and it was all I could do to keep from sweeping her two kids up in my arms!

Needless to say, the girls fared far better than I did on their adventure. Shocking, I know! :) While we were settling down for bed, Hannah and I were snuggling, and she turns to me and says,
"Ma Ma. I'm all done snugglin'. Just go."
Ouch. Two points for being blunt!
But I think that girl's on to something! If a little bling and make-up shocks her and I can't even make it a measly few hours without seeing my children in others ... I obviously need to just GO!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Deep Thoughts by Hannah

The girls and I were driving in the car the other day and Hannah decided that being a walking encyclopedia of strange facts would be the best way to entertain us all. Adelaide giggled with every animated gesture Hannah did, and I giggled at every little random factoid she spout out.
"Goats live on mountains, Ma Ma. When I'm bigger - like Marta - I can live on mountains, too."
Glad to see she was setting such lofty goals, but not sure living with goats was every mother's dream.
"Insects have six legs. Except spiders. They have eight. They're anakids."

"Arachnids?" I ask.

"Yes, that's what I said, Ma Ma."

"Hmm. OK"
She rattled off a few other facts from books we've read or discussions we've had, but then she surprised me with one:

"When garbage gets old, it turns into dirt."

It was one of those very proud mom moments that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Why yes, Hannah, you're right! How did you know that?"

"Mmmm. I don't know, I just did," she said. "But that's kinda silly!"

We hadn't talked about compost with her, so I wasn't sure where she picked that up, but was exceedingly proud of her comprehension nonetheless. Then she followed it up with:

"And when water gets old, it turns into trees. And the sky eats clouds when it gets hungry."

And ... there it went. Poof!
Well, it was good while it lasted!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Would this require a visit from Social Services?

The humidity is melting my brain. That's the only excuse I can come up with right now! We've had a few embarrassing mishaps in our house lately. Surprisingly, they all took place out of the kitchen - go figure!

Perhaps the most mortifying was when Hannah walks through the doors of the library for story time singing Aerosmith lyrics. It was a combination of Dude Looks Like a Lady, and Love In an Elevator. (Highly inappropriate, I know, but she loves Aerosmith, and thankfully most of their lyrics go right over her head at this point.) I was hopeful since Hannah sings rather off tune and it was a mixture of the two songs, it would throw anyone within earshot. But, since she has sung this beautiful medley in front of the same librarian twice now, I wasn't so lucky. All I could do was shrug and say, "I only have her father to blame." :)

The next mishap took place at the park. Hannah wanted to ride her trike to the park the other day, and since her steering was getting better (although it really couldn't get any worse!), I thought I could handle pushing Addi in a stroller and use myself and the stroller as a guard rail to keep Hannah's trike out of the middle of the road. My mistake was adding our lug of a dog to the mix - Penny pulls as if she's running the Iditarod, and all is lost if she spots a squirrel or rabbit! But hindsight is 20/20 ... at the beginning of the journey, none of these things were raising red flags. Afterall, how hard could it be - a walk in the park, right? So we set off and all was going smoothly. We made it to the park, and Hannah picked up speed in her excitement. Right before you get to this particular park, you have to make a 90 degree turn and the trail slopes downhill ever so slightly. So I'm coaching Hannah from a few feet behind and telling her to make sure to steer when the trail turns and to keep her eyes on the trail ... don't look at the dog ... look where you're going ... Hannah, don't look at the dog, yes she is cute ... Hannah, look where you're going, good job ... no, I don't know the dog's name ... focus on turning ... you got it ... Hannah you need to slow down now ... Hannah slow down ... Hannah ... HANNAH ... OH DEAR GOD ... STOP PEDALING ... NO, I mean keep your feet on your pedals, but SLOW DOWN! STOP MOVING YOUR FEET!! Oh nuts ... HAAAANNNNAAAAAHHHH!!!

Well, it was over quickly, I'll say that. She handled the turn beautifully, but then went into overdrive down the hill and in her panic (and mine!) lifted her feet up as she was going so fast and sped out of control. I swear she was nearing 20 mpr near the end! Meanwhile, I am sprinting after her while pushing Addi in the stroller (who is giggling, thinking this is the best ride ever!) and Penny is loaping along, but of course trying to go perpendicular to the way we are heading for some reason. It was at this point that I began wondering ... do I let go of the stroller so I may have a prayer of catching Hannah and prevent the nasty road rash that will surely be coming? There's a 5-point-harness on the stroller afterall. No. That would be bad. Dang ... Who's idea was this anyway?!

And then Hannah fell. By the time I got to her - the silent scream had turned ... well, not so silent. And those who hadn't already turned to see what all the commotion leading up to this point was about now turned to look at the deranged mother who had let her daughter go barreling downhill while running after her screaming like a crazy woman. Not our finest hour. But I am ever so thankful for the good samaritan and her dog. Turns out the dog's name at the top of the curve was Lucy, and she provided the best form of distraction we could have asked for. Without it, we still may be making our way home from the park.

The last mishap is the most shameful. We were at Target, and I had everything we needed wedged around Hannah who was sitting in the front seat while Addi was in her car seat in the main cart compartment. (In case you can't picture it, this leaves very little room for anything other than cute girls in the cart!) Things were going smoothly as Hannah hadn't started complaining about the frozen bag of broccoli making "her leggies cold" yet, so I thought I'd chance it and check out the plastic storage bin section. Thrilled that I not only found what I needed, but that it was also on sale, I pulled down the 30-gallon bin and stood there facing the girls wondering how I could get this out to the car without making a scene. Hannah could read my thoughts and was instantly worried. "What ya doing, Ma Ma?"

Truth be told, I was trying to figure out if I could balance the bin on top of her baby sister. I could, couldn't I? Granted, Addi would be entombed in blue plastic, but maybe if I upgraded to a clear plastic bin, that would be better. Maybe I wouldn't have to send her to therapy later in life as she would be able to see out. I got as far as lifting the bin up to eyeball the measurement when I noticed a little girl about 7 years old, stopping to stare, mouth gaping open. This was bad. If a 7-year-old knew it was wrong ... someone would surely call Social Services.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Feeling Greatly Outnumbered

When Jeff and I decided to have another baby, I kept asking him ... "what will I do when they run in opposite directions?! There will be two of them and only one of me?!"

Ha! That goes to show just how silly we were - running in opposite directions is the least of our worries at this point! Hannah and Adelaide have officially joined forces, and apparently Jeff and I didn't get the memo, so we are left in the only remaining spot ... the opposing team. While we may have the size advantage, we don't have speed, and we definitely don't have the skills necessary to keep up! Since Addi was born, our girls seem to have an inherent way of knowing what the other one is thinking, and at times it seems as if they use it just to see how gray their mother's hair can turn throughout the course of a day. Call it ESP, sisterly intuition or whatever you want ... whatever it is, Jeff and I are in the dark! Not a day goes by when the girls don't use this to their advantage - and I fear it will only get worse once Addi starts talking. They can conspire on a whole new level at that point!

Recently, however, it has all become rather absurd since the cat and dog have joined forces as well. We keep a box of dog treats on a shelf in the entryway, and I watched as Arthur jumped up on the shelf and Penny simultaneously sat down and started wagging her tail in anticipation. I nudged Jeff to look and said, "Silly dog. She thinks the cat is going to give her a treat!"

A minute later I ended up eating my words.

Arthur proceeded to meticulously open the flaps of the box with his paws, reach his head in and pull out a bone. Arthur is a rather strange cat, so I laughed thinking he was going to eat the dog treat he just helped himself to. Nope! He jumps down from the shelf, prances over to Penny and lays the treat by her feet. Jeff looked at me in amazement, and I looked at him in horror ... for I knew the treat was collateral for helping him escape out the screen door earlier that day, which means Arthur and Penny now have an understanding between them ... and I, am officially doomed.

So now that the furry ones are in cahoots, that makes the official count 4 to 2, or 4 to 1 for the majority of each day. And I was worried about TWO of them running in opposite directions! So if you see a crazed lady lugging a baby while chasing a runaway cat with a toddler and a half-brained coonhound running after her - I'd appreciate a kind thought or two to help even out the score until I catch the damn cat. You can still laugh - I know I would! - but a kind word or even a little prayer would be mighty helpful! It only seems fair!

I'm off to take a shower - worked up a sweat chasing the four of them around today!