Do you remember me....?

All kinds of tid-bits because I do not know if I can get my brain to organize to many coherent thoughts all at once. So here you are in no particular order-

Ella asked me at the breakfast table "Mommy when I am six how tall will I be" then she asked the question that she was really had a burning desire to know "mommy when I am six can I drink Coffee, coke and beer" Hmmmm, how about we talk about that when you are six.

Bobo called my bluff last night when I warned her that Santa was watching and she better be nicer to her sister, she turned and said "Santa doesn't know me"

Sometimes when I am rushing around frantically and the girls are asking for something every three seconds I will say are you going to explode if you don't get-insert frivolous request here- right this second? I then usually hear an exaggerated yes. But on this morning while running particularly late Ella asked me to fix her tights and then quickly added "Mommy I will not explode if you don't fix my tights right now" That's when I stop and laugh and realize that I will not explode if I stop and help once in awhile even if it seems frivolous to me. Those are the moments that my children touch my heart as crazy as it sounds. All of the day to day seemingly little moments and actions really do add up.

Every time I get out of the shower Bobo tells me that I look like Barbie, flattery will get you everywhere including a trip to the eye doctor.

In the next installment I will tell you all about "Mr. Meaty" I bet you can not wait. Here is a teaser it is a game and a character that the girls partly borrowed and partly created. Until then.....

Well the girls are getting bigger by the day but then Bobo still pronounces yesterday with no Y and it reminds me that she will still be little for just a little longer. Ella started school a few weeks ago and loves it! There were several children screaming when I dropped her off and she did not shed one tear or even look back she kissed me goodbye, she marched in and started to carefully and in a reserved manner which is so Ella check everything out. When I came three hours later to retrieve her she did not want to leave. Bobo also started "school" she brings her backpack to gymnastics every week because as she explained to me that is her school. Speaking of backpacks the first day of Ella's school I showed her how I had put an extra outfit in her backpack just in case and when Bobo saw this she started to panic and demanded to know where her backpack was and did it have a change of clothes inside. Luckily for once in my life I had allowed for a few extra minutes and I packed Bobo a backpack which she insisted on wearing in to Ella's school even though I explained that we were not staying. But Bobo loves her "school" and loves the new attire she acquired , all she wants to wear now are leotards no matter what the occasion or temperature. We went to the UPS store the other day in just a leotard (only she was in a leotard just for clarification I don't want to seem completely crazy) which is bad enough but it was also quite chilly out and I thought she might learn the hard way but no such luck she informed me several times that she was not at all cold. Bobo also loves her teacher so much in fact that she has taken to calling me by her teachers name, Deanna.
So Halloween is coming and when we asked the girls what they would like to be one idea was that myself, Ella and Bobo could be the Powerpuff girls and Nick could be The professor. That seemed like a good idea to everyone but then Ella raised a concern that Nick could not be The professor because as she pointed out he does not have a square face like The professor. I love the way her literal little mind works.

So much for Promises

I know I said in my last post that I was going to make an effort to write more even if I did not think I had anything of importance to write. Then what do I do but run off and not write for weeks. Well I guess life just keeps happening at a speed that I can not quite keep up with. I do this with so many things in my life, it's all or nothing. I will decide that I need to organize my pantry then that's not enough I can not stop until I have organized every closet and drawer in the entire house then I find something else to obsess about for awhile. I can not seem to do this for an hour and that for two. I have been keeping this blog going for a almost a year now which is pretty good for me, usually I start to lose interest in things fairly quickly. But I think the fact that it is preserving the memories of my children (who are growing to fast)and the encouragement and praise I get from those who read the blog keeps me going. I know I will love reading this when my children are older, you really think you will remember the things they say but you just don't. It is like reading an old note you passed in school and thinking was that really me, I don't remember being like that. But you were, you just can not put your mind back to that time, to that existence. Pictures and words can though and I want my kids to know who they were before they thought they had to be something or someone. So here are some pictures that capture a part of who they were and how their little minds functioned. A part of themselves that they may or may not recall years from now. While I can take pictures and write about the people I believe them to be only they know what's behind the often strange and endearing behaviors they exhibit. Hopefully when they look at these pictures and words it will transport them back to their childhoods, a time when they slept in beds like these as no adult would, surrounded by all kinds of strange comforts. As you can see Ella has grocery bags filled with all kinds of trinkets these not only accompany her to bed but everywhere else we go. She is like a bag lady in training and Molly is right behind her filling her bags as well. Oh to be a child again, but as children so many of us can not wait to grow up. What a shame since childhood is so short and so true in comparison to the time we all spend as adults.

So much to blog and no brain to blog with

I have so many things to write about and I keep putting it off which just creates more of a problem. I feel like I can not concentrate long enough to put together a thought anyone else would understand. I don't know why I am so scrambled lately I just do. I also have not been taking enough photographs lately and it is sort of the same problem. I feel like every photo and every thing I write has to be artistic, beautiful, thoughtful......the list goes on. I don't know why I do this to myself and I know that by classifying things (photo's and words) as not good enough I am risking missing out on these memories all together. I actually have a post that I wrote at least a month ago that I still have not published because I just could not put the photo's with the post because they were not that good and I did not want to post the post with no pictures. So to end the rambling I have made a pact with myself to just post even if I think it's not that "good" and not think about who is reading this and what they will think but to just write what is happening or what I am feeling without over analyzing every aspect of it.

So on to catch up, my little Bobo has turned THREE! Some days she is still so much my baby and other days she is a little girl just like her sister. She has just entered a new phase of development in the past few days and I don't know what to call this phase other than insanity. From moment to moment there is no rhyme or reason. She wants to go swimming, considering the temperature that is very reasonable. Then the crazy part, are you ready, her hair is wet oh my god the panic set's in "mama dry my hair" lots of tears "dry my hair". Then I want to wear underpants, great, terrific, oh wait 30 seconds later you want a diaper, then a minute late no you want underpants definitely underpants oh wait you do want diapers. You get the idea I won't numb your mind with the endless dialogue that follows the same pattern all day. At least only one of them is going through this manic behavior Ella is rewarding me with some very good big girl behavior, a display of behavior that makes me wonder how I could have ever yelled at her or punished her and if she is in fact really four.

Another big development is the low ratio of little girls to soothies. Anyone who has ever been in our house has seen the embarrassingly large collection of soothies which our girls coveted. Ella had at least 12 in her possession at all times and Bobo was not far behind. But the soothie hoarding is now a thing of the past as of Wednesday July 26th at exactly 12:00 noon when we packed the car except for the soothies and headed for grandma Ann's lake house in New Hampshire with only one soothie in each girls bag which will only be allowed contact with there lips at bedtime and naptime. O.K so the plan was to leave them all behind but I just could not stomach the idea of no soothies at bedtime. If any family member would like to volunteer for duty on the night that the last soothie leaves or house let me know ASAP and the soothies will be gone. I just break out in a cold sweat thinking about it, I need a little more time to prepare at least that's what I tell myself. But even though they are not all gone I feel like that was a giant step and I am proud of us all.

I would lastly like to thank everyone who sent such lovely gifts to Bobo on her big day. This is not your official thank you (you will receive them in the mail) but since some time has elapsed I just wanted everyone to know that Bobo received your gifts and loved them her mother is just slow with the Thank You's. (and she apologizes for this)

Then lastly but certainly not least we had a wonderful visit with Nana and Papa. We all had a great time (I have included some photo's from the visit) and it's a shame we don't get to do it more often! Nana and Papa took care of the girls on Sunday evening so mom and dad could get some always needed and always appreciated more than you know alone time. The report upon our arrival home was of two good girls and I hope this is true. I know what a handfull they can be and I hope they charmed there grandparents on there last night here so that Nana and Papa will want to visit again!

Is it O.K to lock the door?

Not that long ago I wrote about the magic words that made going to sleep a little less traumatic. While they have not completely lost their magic power a little person who shall remain nameless decided to test her boundaries a little bit. We did the routine the same way, I would lean in and whisper I love you Bobo I'll be back in an hour and the words prevented crying and arguing and trying to scramble back out of the bed. But there was a BIG but and that is she would con me in to thinking she was going to settle down and then as I ate my lunch downstairs I would hear little noises. I would mute the t.v and listen, nothing silence so the volume goes back on and then another little shuffling or thud. Hit mute, again nothing. Another noise no, the denial took over I did not actually want to go check that would lead to a confrontation, a tantrum, tears, guilt. So I just ignore the noises then I hear a little tiny giggle and it sounds very close. I mute the t.v again and look in the kitchen and I can see a little shadow peeking out from the side of the refridgerator. As I close in on the "shadow" the giggles increase. Then the escape artist was cornered her number was up. She thought it was fabulous. I thought oh great I have to break out the baby gates again and I hate those things they are a pain in the you know what. So here is the brilliant plan I hatched I will shut her bedroom door. Are you all impressed or what? You know I just never shut the door all the way because I assumed that would scare her because her sister has to sleep with the door all the way open ( which until she was 3 the doors had to be shut all the way or she would calls us back upstairs to properly shut it) and they are exactly the same right? I am always falling in to the trap of thinking they both see things the same way I always overlook the vast differences in their personalities. So I marched her back upstairs and put her to bed and shut the door. As I made my way downstairs I could hear her little flat feet pad to the door and then she shook the knob and twisted it but much to my surprise there were no tears. As an adult I would be horrified to realize I was in a room with no way out. Apparently Bobo did not see it this way she worked on the knob for about 15 minutes and then it was quiet. When I checked on her an hour later she was in bed sound asleep with her covers perfectly pulled up to her chin. When she woke up I asked her how her nap was and she said "mama you locked my door so I went to bed". So that has been the solution at nap time and for some reason at night even if her door is wide open she won't leave her room. In fact when she woke up yesterday morning she called downstairs to me "mama, mama, is my door locked" and when I looked up the stairs she was standing in the open door asking me if it was locked. So no need to worry I don't really lock my kids in their room they just think I do.

These are a few of my favorite things...

When the dog barks when the bee stings when I'm feeling bad I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad. That song actually sums up the two things my girls are most afraid of but the part about thinking nice thoughts and anxiety dissapearing does not apply to them. This applies to Bobo much more so than Ella who seems to be coming to the end of her I am absolutely terrified of everything stage. Seriously Ella would not even go near the library's pet hamster who I should point out is contained in a glass cage. So just in time Bobo will slide nicely in to the position of scardey cat. I guess watching Ella's fears all those months finally made a impact on her. We went to Fort Williams on Sunday for a picnic and the second Bobo heard the distant sound of a barking dog she wanted to "go home" we are familiar with this response these are the same words urgently sounded when we encounter a bee in the yard at home. Even though we are yards from the house Bobos response is always the same " I want to go home" shortened to "go home" in emergencies. Although she really wanted to leave at first with a group effort we convinced her to stay and she actually had fun and so did Ella who loves to point out that she was brave at all times. While the girls both have things that scare them they have things that with the same intensity please them. Ella's object of affection is a small oatmeal colored bear named Morris, named Morris because in her words he is a Morris too. Morris was actually left behind at toys-r-us last weekend when the lure of a new pool and sprinkler became too distracting. Not to worry he was back together with Ella in less than an hour. You can see Morris in both the photo of Ella and daddy holding hands and the shot of them standing up against the railing. Not to forget about Bobo's favorite friend she is a Mermaid named Nori and she (in my opinion) is not nearly as lovable as cute little Morris, she is hard and plastic with bright blue scraggly hair but Bobo adores her. She goes everywhere with Bobo. You can see how delighted she was when Nori was passed to her (it's the picture with her hand up on her check).

You'll come get me in an hour mama?

Bobo has never been a great sleeper, you know when you bring them home from the hospital that they won't sleep for a leisurely 8-10 hours but you hope that it won't be too terribly long until they give you a decent nights worth of sleep. I wasn't a first time mom so I knew that at least the first few months were going to be hard but... This child resisted sleep every step of the way. The first year of her life this girl got by on less sleep than I would think is humanly possible, I don't remember exactly how old she was but I clearly remember her slapping her little cheeks to keep herself awake. I couldn't believe it, I had never seen anything like it just how much could someone despise sleep. Which by the way I LOVE, I mean really I love love love to sleep, so clearly this little girl and I were going to have issues. Now that Bobo has grown a bit she seems to go through "sleep cycles" she will sleep like a angel for a few weeks until the devil takes her place and she will wake repeatedly or fight nap time and bedtime with determination that could break the best of us. At one point she was going to bed then right as I was drifting of to sleep around midnight I would hear her. I would lay in bed and try to convince myself that tonight would be different, that if I just ignored her she would settle back down. But that just didn't happen and so we would begin our nighttime ritual, from about 12:30 /1:00 a.m until about 4:00 a.m every night I would repeatedly put Bobo back to bed. I would let her cry but then I would start to panic I did not need two of them awake. So back to her room I would go, this routine got old really fast so in desperation one early morning (2:00 a.m) I brought her downstairs put on the lion king DVD and laid down on the couch. Now why would I think that someone as sleep deprived as I was would maybe possibly fall asleep, no I won't, I wouldn't do that. Well I woke up when I heard Nick say HONEY! I look down and on the hard wood floor her body half wedged under the couch was my little Bobo, finally exhausted. Now Bobo is by no means a great sleeper but I seem to have found a magical combination of words that has changed everything in regards to her sleep patterns. Now I am not sure if I should write this down, I may upset the God's of sleep, but the words are "I will come get you in an hour". This works at nap time and bed time as she has no real concept of time. She now asks me every time I put her into her bed "you come get me in a hour mama? For now this is working like a charm, except for the fact that big sister who is much more wise in the ways of time and keeps trying to explain to her at bedtime that I will in fact not be back in an hour, shaking her head at how silly her baby sister is as she talks.

Is spring springing?

We had a great Easter with the girls and our family. The Easter bunny showered the girls with treats as did family near and far, and the girls give many thanks to all who indulged them. How lucky they are, not to have gotten so many treats but to have so many who adore them. We decorated eggs the night before Easter and we all had a good laugh at Bobo's expense when she ate a big spoonful of vinegar and dye, I wish you all could have seen the look on her face. Unrelated to Easter bobo is doing very well potty training she goes back and forth between diapers and underpants but the process has been so much more pleasant than it was with Ella. Not that I am pinning that on Ella I will definitely take the blame for that, we tried too soon and Ella being a bit of a perfectionist had a hard time with anything but perfection which led to some problems. So I am just happy to spare Bobo the inexperienced potty training mommy ordeal. Another unrelated tid-bit Bobo has learned the word jerk and although I sort of cringe when I hear her say it the immature part of me just wants to giggle when I hear Bobo say "don't be a jerk Ella". It sounds so funny coming out of her mouth and it could be a much worse word.
The weather has been warming up and the bulbs are beginning to pop through the ground , I love this time of year all the anticipation of summer. When summer has truly begun it slips away so fast in Maine that I almost like this time of year better when all the promise of summer fun is still all ahead of us. The other great thing is that the girls get to spend so much more time outside and in doing so expend so much more energy. Which in my book leads to the ultimate parents reward, girls who fall asleep as soon as there head hits the pillow and stay that way until morning. I love my children but the night time games just kill me, at the end of the day I have no energy reserved for those antics. Ella has a master inventory of everything in this house and she knows exactly what will be hard to find and therefore what to ask for in order to stall for the most time.

Come on Honey

Yesterday at lunch we were listening to a 80's mix I made years ago, the girls love it, and they now know the words to quite a few of the songs. One of the song's is Manic Monday by the GoGo's and there is a lyric that goes as follows- He tells me in his bedroom voice come on honey lets go make some noise. Well Bobo and Ella find this part catchy for some reason and keep on repeating it over and over, come on honey let's go make some noise, come on honey lets go make some noise. Followed by fits of giggles, then Ella looks at me and says "Oh mommy Bobo just doesn't get it"

Things I will miss

Someday the girls will stop mispronouncing their words and I am really going to miss some of their adaptations and creations.
Sheepers=slippers
Brecko=waffles
Hostable=Hospital
pokey dots=polka dots
zert=dessert
magown=nightgown
As well as cute words I will miss the thought process of the pre-school & toddler set for example-

Ella has been reffering to Nick and I by our first names when she is talking to other people and when I asked her why she said she likes to use fancy talk.

Or

Ella will say to me Mommy if I ever fall into a river if I get thirsty I will just drink the water, then I asked her if she was sure that was a good idea I mean what about all the fish poop? She thinks for a minuet and said to me, Mommy fish don't poop they have tails. I just love those kind of original idea's.

Or

Bobo was looking through the curtains last night and when her father asked her what was out there she said " A old man", there was nobody outside that's just what she thought up.

Or

The fact that we all have "house names" Nick is Randy Popper, I have no Idea what the origin of that one is but it makes me laugh every time one of the girls say's it, my name is suzie, Ella's name is Allison which she has now added Ariel to so it's Allison Ariel, and Bobo's name is J.J.