The Mornings of Mommy

Every morning since Ethan has been able to say "Mommy," he has called it out over and over from his crib when he's ready to get out. Rodney teases me about how he has me wrapped around his finger and says I "shoot out of bed like a rocket ship" to meet him. My heart is so happy to hear him calling for me. I run into their room with a big smile on my face and they're standing there watching the doorway, wide-eyed and waiting. Emma smiles and raises her arms because she wants to start the day too. This may be the happiest part of my day. They need me. They want me. They know I will absolutely always come to get them without fail. And surely they can see and feel that I am more than happy to do so.

Now and then Rodney has questioned why Ethan always calls for me instead of him. There is a little envious tone in his voice, but I still say, "I can't help it if he's Mommy's baby." And I was happy to feel like he was.

"Come on!" Ethan says. Emma and I follow him to the kitchen. They take their seats on the bar stools and make their breakfast requests. Emma almost always wants a banana or yogurt with granola, and Ethan wants Cheerios or peanut butter waffles. Ethan says, "How 'bout...waffles!"
Meanwhile, Emma is on auto-repeat: "Anana? Anana? Anana?" I try to vary their breakfast from day to day. They also like eggs, oatmeal with fruit or honey, berries are always good, and they love the occasional biscuits or cinnamon rolls.

Rodney decided one morning that he would go into their bedroom instead of me...even though Ethan was saying Mommy. I ran right behind him though because I didn't want to disappoint. "You better call for your daddy from now on!" Rodney teased as he scooped Ethan out of the crib and then lifted Emma out too.

The next day, I let Rodney go in by himself because he wanted to and I thought...Yes, he should get to enjoy that first waking moment by himself. I heard shrieking laughter as I laid in my bed and I smiled. They love their daddy's playful way.

The morning after that, I was hearing the usual chatter back and forth on the monitor. I'm laying there soaking up the last few minutes of stillness and rest before that inevitable and sweet little voice calls out....

     "Da'y, Da'y, Da'y, Da'y"

What?

"He's saying Daddy!" Rodney said as he shot out of bed like a rocket ship.

Can this be true? Are the mornings of Mommy really over?? Oh, I'm sad. So sad. For three days in a row now it's been Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.

Sigh.

I have to admit it's nice to see that spring in Rodney's step and the sparkle in his eye when he hears that little calling voice. They need him. They want him. They know he'll absolutely come to get them without fail. And they can see that he's happy to do so.
I know how it feels...how sweet it is.

Sweeten the Pot

I thought I could potty train the kids real quick over Christmas Break. LOL!

I had done nothing in the potty training department before that. I must've known it was crazy to think I could tackle that in one month. That's probably why I hadn't even attempted it before then. Intimidated. It seemed like such hard work. And it was for those few days that I really pushed it. Too much work! I was taking them into the bathroom every 20-30 minutes: pants off, diaper off, on the potty...wait...wait...wait. Meanwhile the other one was going in their pants. Diaper back on, pants back on. Repeat for other child (even if it was too late).  We bought big boy underwear and big girl panties and wore them all day one day. They looked so cute and grown up! I've heard that you can just put those on them and suddenly the kids want to pee-pee in the potty. Our kids had no problem peeing in the big kid underwear and I didn't have the patience or the mental restraint to let them sit in them for long enough to get uncomfortable. How do people do that? Just let 'em dribble and soak through on the furniture and carpet until they've had enough? Yeah--no.

This is my vacation, I thought. I'm not going to ruin it with potty obsession, poop and pee all over our carpet, constant bathing, changing clothes and scrubbing floors. But I did introduce the concept. That's something.

So with my sanity and my vacation in mind, I just kind of gave up. Ethan was fighting it very hard, crying and saying, "Scared." So I am not going to force him on the potty and make it worse. You can lead a boy to the potty, but you can't make him go.

Emma did pee in the potty several times during our few days of hardcore training and she seemed excited about it. "O-KAY!!" she'd say as she sat there. The first time she ever peed in the potty, I screamed so suddenly that I scared her. She stopped the stream and smiled. I picked her up and hugged her, and she finished peeing in the floor. I didn't even care. I was so happy. And she was so proud of herself.

I bought peanut butter M&M's to sweeten the pot for Ethan, but he still says, "No pee-pee in the potty." After the bath is the best time for Emma, and while Emma is going, Ethan goes in the tub. He looks down and purposefully and defiantly goes in the tub. I ignore it, and I'm actually fine with it. At least he waits until Emma is out. And at least he is practicing a controlled pee-pee. I just pour on the celebration for Emma and give her a "potty candy" after she's done.

Potty candy really motivated Sugar Baby Emma even further. Now she asks, "Go pee-pee in the potty?" at least once a day. And I take her right away any time she says those words. She went three times today! I am so proud of my little big girl! Her favorite part (besides the candy) is playing with the toilet paper. She pulls the whole roll out or just rips tiny pieces off and drops them between her legs. "All done," she says. It won't be long and Skinny Bop will potty train herself.

She likes to follow me to the potty too, and the other day after I was finished, she pulled the toilet paper and tore it off for me. She poked the paper down into the toilet, puckered her lips and said, "Good job."

The Surprise Party Bandit

Rodney and I walked with the kids around the corner last night for my friend Katie's surprise birthday party. There were lots of other kids there. They were all so excited about the big surprise! They kept hiding and declaring false alarms, turning off the lights and saying, "She's coming!"

Emma and Ethan aren't usually out this time of night. The party started at about 7:00.

There was a new baby named Kate at the party, and I was so excited to hold her. I haven't held a little baby since my own were that small. Emma was very interested in Kate. I don't think my kids have ever been around a newborn baby before, and they definitely haven't seen me hold one. Emma started tugging at Kate's shirt, pulling at my arms. I think she thought baby Kate was a doll. She couldn't understand why I would not give her the baby doll. We let her look and even touch, but I still don't think she got that this was a real live baby.

When Katie finally did come home and we all yelled surprise, she didn't seem very surprised. Maybe she was. I'm not sure. But she just smiled and looked at everyone while all the kids surrounded her and blew their birthday horns right towards her face over and over. They had been waiting for so long to jump out from their hiding places and blow their horns. They gave it all they had, and then they gave it some more.

The horns must've triggered some sort of switch in Emma's brain. From that point on, she started acting very strangely. The food was being served. It was McDonald's for the kids and Buffalo Wild Wings for the adults. Emma and Ethan had eaten dinner before the party, but Emma was suddenly starving like mad, and I mean mad. She immediately climbed up to the table beside a little boy and started aggressively eating his chicken nuggets! I pulled her back and told her no, and she was still reaching for the kid's food. She bucked and screamed at the top of her lungs. So I fixed both of my kids a plate for their 2nd dinner. I can understand how watching other kids eat McDonald's could be pretty tough on a kid's psyche. So she and Ethan sat there eating their own nuggets and fries.

But then she got down and walked over to another table and took a nugget off of another child's plate. The victims of her burglary were very kind. They both just looked straight ahead and politely tried to ignore the offense.

"Emma, no! That's not yours. You have your own. Come back to your seat. I'm very sorry, Khloie, that Emma stole your nugget. She's only two." It was okay, she said. Why was Emma doing this? She wouldn't stay seated with her food. I turned my back for a second and another adult told me they saw her eat a fry out of the trash can. I covered my mouth. Well, there was nothing I could do about it now. I was getting embarrassed. At least it was discarded food and not another person's. These people probably think I don't feed her. She was acting like a starving child gone crazy, breaking free from her captors. She screamed every time I pulled her or carried her away from her devious mission.

The birthday cake with 31 lit candles was carried into the dining room and we all sang Happy Birthday. After the candles were blown out, the cake was taken back into the kitchen to be cut and served, but not before Emma could strike her fingers through the side of the cake in the blink of an eye. "Emma!" I gasped. I cannot believe this child! What has come over her? She followed the cake into the kitchen licking her fingers. Katie's son Brayd'n stood in the doorway eating his cheeseburger. I saw her eyeing the cheeseburger and getting ready to dive in for another uninvited bite. I felt paralyzed. Powerless. Everything was happening so fast, yet it felt like slow motion...like a bad dream where you can't move as fast as everyone else. She was on a rampage. Katie scooped her up before she could sink her teeth into the cheeseburger. She started cutting Emma a piece of cake. Thank God. I knew the cake would be enough to occupy her and satisfy her hungry eyes. I sat beside her at the table and tried to relax. I looked at my husband who was sitting across the table with Ethan. He just looked at me, and I could see that he was humiliated and he was probably annoyed with me for not assuming control, for not teaching her some manners. "She's only two," I said again. He rolled his eyes. I was just glad her rampage was over for the moment, but it wasn't. Just then she stuck her fork into the cake of the boy sitting beside her, Dakota.

This is not happening. This is just another one of my recent string of nightmares. I'm going to wake up any minute now and Emma will no longer be possessed by a maniacal, starving, thieving child. She will be the same sweet and friendly little girl from my waking life, and I will again have full control over my child and my life....

"Don't sit beside her," Dakota said with a smile. "She steals food."

Shopping Buzz

Taking them grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do. It really makes me so happy. I love talking to them, telling them the name of everything and reciting my shopping list to them. I can talk and talk to them just like I'm talking to myself, only no one thinks I'm crazy. They get especially excited in the produce section. They proudly point and shout, "BANANAS! GRAPES!" I love it! The grocery store makes them happy too. They get to ride in the big cart that looks like a car with two steering wheels! That's the only one that will work for two kids, so I'm very glad they have it although it is a little difficult to steer. At least it fits between all the aisles, unlike in department stores (see Fairy Clothes Mothers). They even get to see their dad who works in the pharmacy there. If we go and he's not working at that particular time, Emma will call out for him all over the store: "Daddy....wa ahh you???"

They're a lot like me in the grocery store, very chatty and happy. We're out of the house! We're out of the house! They talk to each other, say hello to people as they pass. It's like a social event, ha ha! If we're lucky, we sometimes get a bite from the sample trays in the produce section, or better, the bakery. They also like to give hugs and kisses to each other in the grocery store. Now and then someone catches them, and they get a sweet smile or someone may stop to chat along with them.

 It's funny how people will talk to your kids in the grocery store and never even glance up at you. And the funny faces and voices they do crack me up. I use a silly voice right back as I respond to their questions for the kids, lol! Sometimes a person may even reach out and poke one of the kids in the side playfully, even add a sound effect, or scruff their hair. Isn't that funny? No one would ever do that to an adult stranger. But they think it's fine with kids. I should do a grocery store video documentary. It would be hilarious.

 One time when the kids were just learning to say thank you and other Baby Graces, Ethan was thanking me for every thing I put in the cart. I loved that so much. That's what he kept saying: "Thank you so much, Mommy!" It was right around Thanksgiving time as I recall, so it seemed even more appropriate. People were looking at him with the most appreciative gazes as they overheard him, and I was so proud of my little thankful boy. He was spreading his little heart's joy all over the store. What is it about that place? It just brings out the best in all three of us.

Ethan has a little celebration chant for the checkout line: "Choc'-late, choc'-late, choc'-late, choc'-late!" He grips the handle bar and bobs his head.

But I have learned that not all people share our shopping sentiments. For instance, it's best to shop when their daddy is busy working or at home. He's a grocery shopping buzz-kill. Ha ha! He nickels and dimes every item, making sure we get the best deal, vetoes most of my whims and...just takes the fun out of shopping, honestly. God knows I love him, and he has good intentions, watching the budget, yadda yadda yadda. Not much fun if you ask me. I'm not a big shopper in other areas of my life. I watch my spending; I make sacrifices, but this is food. There is no way this is wasteful spending if we actually eat what we buy. I take care to make healthy choices with a few goodies in between....

So, I rest my case.

Shop and Be Merry!