Under a Spell

Nighttime always ends with silly stories, cuddles, and kisses before our loves go fast asleep.  Usually, it's Todd or myself trying to get them to laugh or giggle in order to hopefully send them off to good dreams.  This night, Sophia was the one to make us burst out in laughter...

 

As I lay at her bedside, snorting into her ear, tickling her toes, and kissing her forehead, Sophia pops out with, "Daddy saved you from a spell." 

 

"Oh yea, what spell was I under?"  assuming this was going to be pretty interesting.

 

"You see this tattoo here on my arm?  You were like this vampire and you had a vampire spell.  Daddy saved you with a kiss."

 

"Well, thank goodness for that."  Ha! I don't think daddy would have come within 5 feet of me, if I were a vampire, but ok.

 

I'm guessing I would have looked a little like this.  Kind of like a cute vampire...are there any of those? I kind of wonder where all of this came from.  I would especially worry about the two different eye colors, but I think I'd get over that pretty quickly.



 

An Unchangeable Vote

Being furloughed today brought about relaxation and an opportunity to put Gavin on the bus and meet him getting off the bus, something I never get to do. This afternoon, he got off the bus and others around him came off, wearing "I voted" stickers.  Driving along the road, an hour later, Gavin began to share how it was an important day today, because he got to vote.  Here is our hilarious conversation about his first voting experience.

"What did you vote on?" I asked.

"We voted on the president, vice president, and treasurer of the school. There were some girls and boys to vote for.  I voted for all the girls." he said.

"Why did you only vote for the girls?" I asked.

"They're prettier. I can't change my vote mom.  It's already done and I just had to vote on the girls, because they are prettier."  he stated matter of factly.

"Oh, I see." I said, chuckling to myself.

"Like I already said, I can't change my vote. It's done.  The girls were pretty." He repeats.

"Oh."...me.

"I mean Daddy's handsome, Papa's handsome, all guys in our family are handsome, but I still can't change my vote. The girls were prettier." declared by the new and enthused voting school citizen.

Apparently, we have our priorities off a little when it comes to elections.  I guess he has some of his own opinions though and he's persistent about his rationales for who is the best candidate for the job.  Perhaps we'll have a more meaningful conversation about the voting process before any major elections come around. 

 

The "Dokie" Dance

Showin' off her moves is her main priority.  Sophia does not hesitate to move and groove to her own music, which she has, as of today, officially named the "dokie dance."  Yes folks, this does not make sense to you or me, but the "dokie dance" does, indeed, exist.  It involves constant movement of your tooshie as you say, "do do do, doo-doo do do, do do do...."  It can go on to infinity.  The whole while the "do dos" are mixed with laughter and arms waving.  The image below can help bring this dance to reality.  I guess Sophia is not the only one who can do it so naturally.

 

As you can see, this is a mind-boggling dance that only professionals attempt.  I have no idea how one doesn't shake out brain cells in the mean time! What fun having a girl can be! I really love it and I love watching the "dokie dance!" And, yes, we will be enrolling her in dance classes soon to give her a few other options.

 

The Tooth Fairy

Giggling, I hear it and I walk into her room wondering what she could possibly be up to.  I go in to snuggle up and love on her and she is all smiles.  Sophia is such a joy to be with, love on, laugh with.  I'm seriously in love with her.

Curled up next to her, she smiles her biggest smile and mentions that her teeth are extra sparkly tonight.  We chat about how Luna, "The Tooth Fairy" will be so proud of her sparkly teeth as that is what she uses to help the moon so bright...just in case you didn't know. She was introduced to this idea at the Y when they actually brought a REAL tooth fairy in to talk to the kids about how to care for your teeth.

I shared how proud I am of her many sparkling teeth and beautiful smile and she busts out with, "there was a banana and a strawberry and monkey who wanted a cup of water."  Ok, that was messed up and pretty funny! How does she make me laugh SO much?

I leave, smiling from ear to ear, wondering how I am so lucky to have such a girl in my life and I walk into Gavin's room to say goodnight. He, of course, was wondering why I was smiling so much.  I tell him Sophia's story and he says, "it's a true story."  Of course, now I'm curious what in the world he is talking about and then HE busts out with, "yeah, when we were at splish splash camp.  The Tooth Fairy was in a room with a man and a monkey."  Ok, is this for real?! I begin to laugh so hard that I'm crying.  He then says, "they gave the monkey a banana and squished it in his teeth."  I'm guessing they used this as a flossing opportunity!

Hilarious! Here's the vision I have and it's soooooo funny! 

First Day Mama

So, I officially have a son who is in kindergarten.  There are days when it just doesn't seem real and others when I look at him and I see a college student, like a fast forward screen-shot of a man, not a boy.

On his first day, he woke up and got dressed in his motorcycle shorts and green shirt as excited as I've ever seen him.  His backpack looked as big as him as he trotted off to the bus stop.  The grandparents came along and everyone was teary-eyed as we watched his little head, barely seeing his eyes, drive away on the bus.  Why is it that the whole world seems to stop at that moment?  A realization that nothing will be the same.  Ever again.  And, well, it hasn't.  It's been chaos, learning new rules, new teachers, new schedules. Amazingly enough, we've survived the first couple of weeks and we're on the educational road, but it all seems like such a blur.

I'm so thankful that God gave me such an opportunity to be a part of it all.  I'm a stronger mama for the experience and anxious for the journeys to come.  So, for now, I'll keep my chin up and I'll keep looking forward, hoping that each day will go a little slower than the day before so that I can cherish each second.

The Balancing Act

As with most children and as you've probably realized from my last post, "lavender perfume," my lovelies are a little obsesses with the toilet these days.  This includes the functions, the look, the general idea of it.  We've always had a few issues in the #2 department at our house.  We've seen doctors, taken meds, and we generally spend long amounts of time in the bathroom in order to "take care of business," if you know what I mean.

For the past year, it seems as though Sophia has turned into a copycat version of Gavin in almost every way.  He says something, she mimics it like a parrot.  It seems never-ending...right down to the toilet. He takes a long time, she takes a long time.  We praise him for going #2, we'd better praise her, because she'll make it a point to tell you she deserves it. 

More recently, Sophia has taken up to checking out her "product."  She'll analyze it and give you the run down on shape, color and density.  Sometimes I think she might be a nurse or on an ER clean up crew or something.  Nothing phases her and she wants the world to know her talent as she'll yell it across the house, well...maybe even the neighbors can hear all the details at this point. 

Obviously I'm not going to put a picture of the real deal, but here is her latest and greatest...snowman poo.  She believes herself to be an toilet acrobat of sorts as she is able to balance poo in order to create a snowman-like effect and be very proud. 

After learning this about our family, do you wonder what kind of craziness happens that I don't post about?  There isn't much, but it does make me a little worried at times.  Should I consider this a talent?  Is she a budding artist waiting to break through?  Or is she just a little silly?  Maybe all three.  This kind of stuff keeps us laughing though and it's another memory I just don't want to forget.



 

Lavender Perfume

Recently, I purchased a Lysol urinal cake contraption that goes in our toilet bowl to keep it a little cleaner than it has been, which by the way, doesn't seem to do any good.  It seems to be the "talk of the town" for our house as it is so fun, interesting and unique to our children.  In fact, it has become somewhat of a toy...who can pee on it?  who can touch it?  who can put their face up to it and smell it?  Gross.

Gavin is especially in love with it as he tries to create craters with his forceful pees.  One of which splattered on me while I was giving a bath to Sophia. Needless to say, I almost threw up.  I had pee splattered all over me, while he laughed.  We had a convo after that.

Not even 10 minutes later, I go downstairs (after baths) and see Sophia at the bottom of the stairs.  She is smiling at me, all clean and cute.  I should have suspected something was weird at this moment, but I didn't, I'm a doofus.  I sit down at the last step and snuggle with her for a moment and she says all the right words, "Mama, I love you so much, etc."  She gives me a hug, runs her hands through my hair, clutches my face with affection. 

"What is that smell?" I ask her, knowing it smelled familiar, but not linking it to something specific.  She smiles.  "Did you just spray perfume or something?" I ask.  "No," she replies with a smirk.  "Well what is it?" I ask again, wondering why the odor was so strong.  Then, it hit me.  Like a ton of bricks to the face.  It was the Lysol urinal cake and its lavender aroma. All. Over. Me.

My hair, my face, my clothes, everything smelled like it now.  What's wrong with my children?! Why are they touching things in the toilet?! For real, do we need to see a counselor about this?  I walk into the bathroom to find that a scoopful has been dug out of the cake, by a little finger.  Yuck.

The picture doesn't do it justice as you can just barely see the finger gouge running across it.  So, if I walk by you and you sniff a little lavender, think to yourself, "I bet she's been attacked by the urinal cake monster again."  Lesson learned.  Don't trust a little smirking girl at the bottom of the stairs...she's probably guilty.