Where a Grizz can be a Kid!

Grizz turned 61 on Friday. It's somehow less fun now that we know he's going to live forever, rather than best case scenario only making it to sixty.

He started his day by driving Sara to work, and also taking Ellie to school for me, since it was my first day back at MOPS. The day before at the YMCA, Adam had dictated a card to Ellie, which features all of his favorite things to do with Grizz:

They like to pick vegetables, and go to the park, and watch the trash trucks. And there are lots of hearts and love. I also cried when Ellie showed it to me. Her card had less illustrations, but just as much love.

They also like to help Grizz grill, which he had to do for his own birthday dinner. He made them some sliders to start, so they enjoyed their food while helping him feed the rest of us. Then we had brownies, and of course, sang twice because each kid had to be allowed to blow out his candle for him.

The big fun though, was that he asked them to see Chuck E. Cheese with him, in the style of Grandpa Howie having his grandkids come with him to Showbiz Pizza for his birthday celebration. I have never taken my children to Ratville, and was nervous going in, but it was nowhere near as bad as I feared. For one, they have actual lighting now instead of it being some weird, dark pit. Whether because of germaphobia or other litigation, there's no ball pit (which is good for Sara. A favorite family memory is her getting stuck in a ball pit, and Uncle John having to climb in and scoop her out because she couldn't get her feet under her, and David and I thought she was actually drowning) and there's very little climbing equipment. Most of the place is taken up with video games and carnival style games. I absolutely killed it in skeeball, and Grizz and Ellie did some good smashing of clowns.

The video games are oriented much more to small children - Adam did a great job at some fishing game because all he had to do was smash around. There were some incidences of weeping, but considering how easily my kids get overwhelmed, it was a very successful outing. Plus, who doesn't want to pay a bunch of money to then turn in a bunch of tickets for the grand prize of not one, not two, but THREE plastic rings! A spider, a butterfly, and an enormous purple jewel.

There was another pizza place in the shopping center, so we were able to go and get regular pizza instead of Chuck E Cheese food, and also they had beer! See, he didn't need to go to Germany last year - there's plenty of fun here.

High as a Kite!

Because Tim and I are terrible parents, our little girl ended up with a bunch of cavities this year - four in total, back in her molars where the teeth touch. Our dentist has been so nice about the whole thing, has avoided making me feel too much shame, but the thing I felt worst about was the fact that Ellie had been SO good at her dental appointment, so happy to be there, and I worried that one bad experience with a filling would put her off of it. I know too many people who hate the dentist or are scared of dental work, and I don't want that for her (especially because if she has her dad's teeth, she's going to basically live at the orthodontist and dentist in her teen years.)

Our dentist assured me that it would be a good experience, and recommended that we give her a dose of laughing gas to take off the edge. Ellie sauntered into the dentist on Tuesday, happy as a clam, ready to get her "sugar bugs" fixed. The doctor asked her if she'd like to listen to music, and she goes "oh yes, 9 to 5!" So, she got Dolly Parton up on the headphones and plugged Ellie in, while the assistant plugged her into the goofballs. And oh man, was Ellie a goofball. At one point she hollered out "ISLANDS IN THE STREAM! I LOVE THIS SONG!" and then waved her hands around, dancing. She didn't flinch during any of the injections (even though later she said she felt like it was a shot - please recall that I have to hold her down at the doctors for her boosters) and she was so happy to share random facts with the dentist, like saying out of nowhere "I WEIGH FIFTY POUNDS!" And when the dentist asked her to scoot up in the chair, Ellie goes "don't look at my underwear!" because she was in a skirt. Our dentist was so great with her, explaining everything in terms that she could understand, and making it fun. While she was putting on the bonding compound, she told Ellie that she was drawing on a tiny picture of a kitten, and her assistant goes "oh, don't forget the whiskers." They really played it up. At the end, Ellie sat up and goes "now it's time for the toybox!" and told them "this is the best day ever!"

Plus I got her a milkshake on the way home, because I figured dinner would be a bit of a mess with half of her mouth numb, and lo, it was. The filling itself was fine, but at some point in the late afternoon, she put one of her teeth deeply into her lip, and also really chewed up in the inside of it. So, she's had a huge fat lip for the past two days, despite promising the dentist that she wouldn't bite at it. I don't know if she did it in an absent minded way, or if she did it on purpose because her face was numb and she couldn't feel it, but hopefully this is the only time it'll happen. Because we have to go back next week and get the other side fixed up.

The poor thing then cried yesterday morning that she couldn't go to school, or to ballet "looking like this." Oh, my poor darling. No one will make fun of you, I told her, and if they do, tell them to worry about themselves. And also, this is probably not going to be the last time that something's wrong with your face and it makes you want to stay home. But whether it's a fat lip, or a fat zit in your teens, you're going!

School Aged Children.

I DID IT YOU GUYS! I survived long enough and raise my kids old enough to send them to school! I HAD TWO WHOLE HOURS TO MYSELF!

As expected, Adam was a dream boat about going to preschool. I did not make him a sign at home (because somehow it doesn't feel as real as regular school. I mean, I can keep him home or switch schools or do whatever I want, since I'm paying for it) but at preschool they had cute little chalk boards if you wanted them.

STARE RIGHT INTO THE SUN MY SON

He gave us a hug and a kiss, went into his classroom, and that was that. Put Lamby in his cubby, and apparently had a fun day! He made some art, his teacher said he was a good helper, and there were no tears at pick up either. During the three hours he was at school, Ellie and I went to the drugstore and bought some new mints, and then I dropped her off and went and got my hair cut, AND went to the grocery store, all by my lonesome. Cue very loud car sing alongs!

Labor Day Weekend.

A weekend of leisure, a weekend without sleep for our kids. Uff da. Friday night we went over to a neighbor's for a BBQ. Ellie and her friend Kayla are in the same class, so she was so excited to see each other TWO TIMES in one day. And Grayson had a really good toy dump truck that Adam basically adopted for the night. Ryan put in a great tree house over the summer, so the kids were climbing everywhere and chasing each other around while the parents ate and drank and had a good time. We didn't get home until 9:30, and the kids were covered in grass and grime, so we had to run them through the shower before we could plunk them in bed. And then of course, they were up early in the morning.

BUT! Not my problem, as Mimi had generously offered to take the kids overnight so that Tim and I could go and have a hot date (and lo, we did! We went out for dinner, some country line dancing, AND a night cap, because I refused to be home at 10pm if we didn't have to.) Meanwhile, at 10pm, the inmates had taken control of the asylum, and were not yet asleep at Mimi's house. Apparently, sometimes Adam needs to get up three times to go potty before bed. The excitement of a duffy boat ride could do that to anyone.

This is what it looked like fifteen minutes after we headed home. The lambs slept from before noon until after four pm. I finally woke them both up, and they were still tired and wonky. Sleep deprivation is like a hangover for babies. Just put them in front of the TV and offer them some greasy carbs.

We got them in bed early last night, and they slept in well enough today, but then we went over to our other neighbor's house for a Labor Day BBQ. Hot dogs, corn on the cob, and smores in their fire pit - what more could you want? The other parents were saying that they'd just skip nap that day, but we brought ours home at 3 and tucked them in for a little over an hour, and then it was a very quiet evening around here (more baby hangovers.) The good news is that we managed to get them showered, AND I trimmed and manicured all of their filthy little claws, plus trimmed the ends of Ellie's hair, so now everyone's fresh for a new week of school. Adam starts preschool in the morning! Four whole hours to myself every week - I don't even know what I'll do! (maybe nap! It's healthy for everyone!)

Nothing I Can See But You When You Dance Dance Dance Dance

...CAN'T STOP THE FEELING!

Dance classes have resumed around here. Ellie is back to doing ballet, because then she can do it with Lexi. Everything is more fun with your bestie!

Primary Ballet practicing tendu and port de bras at the barre. 😍😍 #lovewcmp #westcoastmovementproject

A video posted by WCMP (@westcoastmovementproject) on Aug 31, 2016 at 6:14pm PDT

Ellie is the one with regular hot pink tights instead of delicate ballerina tights. How cute are they all?!?!

And because dance fun is not just something for five year olds, I am achieving a life long (or recent) dream and taking adult tap dance classes through the YMCA with my friend Lisa. We went to the preview class last night, and it was AMAZING. I know nothing, so we went over all of the very basics and tried to figure it out, and then at the end the instructor played some music and we did a tiny routine (like, four easy steps in sequence.) It was so awesome! I sweat like a hog, I made a ton of noise, and I had so much fun. I even tried to practice in the garage after the kids went to bed, because it makes me crazy that I didn't instantly pick up on the time step. Teacher's pet, practicing after class!

JAZZ HANDS

Sweet Things Kids Say.

Just a random assortment of things I'd like to remember:

The other day we were outside and Adam picked me a couple of flowers from the side yard, and then very excitedly told me "you can go and put dese in your fwower vase inside!" He was so, so happy with his contribution.

Yesterday, on our stroll to the first day of school, I asked Ellie what the most important thing was about being at school (last year, her immediate answer was "no jewelry.") Yesterday, she said she didn't know, then hemmed and hawed for a moment and said "be helpful and nice to everyone?" Good answer, but not the correct quotation of the Thiel School-going Rules and Regulations - the correct answer is "always do your best and we will always be proud of you." Luckily, she always does her best, and only two days in, we're already very proud of her.

This afternoon before nap, we finished reading Little House on the Prairie. It ends with the family packing up their wagon to move away from their new plot of land in Kansas, because it turns out that they were three miles into "Indian Territory" and the government was going to force them to move out (and then later, force the Indians to go some place else, of course.) The book has a lot of statements about "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" and rather than skipping over those parts, we've been trying to use it as a teachable moment for Ellie. Sometimes society acts like children are colorblind, but they're not. They have to be taught prejudice, but small children notice how people look, and how people are the same or different (last week when our friends Mila and Rahim were here, Ellie talked about how I'm tanner than her, but how Mila and Rahim are darker than Parissa.) As she was getting into bed, Ellie said "in the book, Mr. Scott says the only good Indian is a dead Indian," and I asked her "do you think that's a nice thing to say?" and she said "no. Because we should be nice to everyone. We should treat people how we want to be treated."

And in less serious news, today she told me "Mommy! Adam called me pee-pee-poo-poo-pie!" and instead of scolding, I burst out laughing. So, in short, I'm the best mom.

Kindergarten!

My big girl is a kindergarten girl! She woke up so excited! And since we had until 10am, she had plenty of time to fart around the house (as did her lazy mom.) No more waking everyone up and hustling out the door, with me in my pajamas. Today, work out clothes, because we walked down to school. Both kids loved running along together, and we'll definitely try to keep that up. It's weird during pick up and drop off though, being a later gator, because the place is pretty quiet, other than the other thirty or so parents of later gators.

She wore her boots, because she's Ellie, her Hungry Caterpillar dress made by Grandma Rosie, and her new lemon barrette from her back to school shopping trip with Mimi - the lemon is so that the hungry caterpillar can have something to eat if he so desires.

She said she was a little nervous before she went in, but she introduced herself to her teacher (she's decided to go by Elizabeth this year) and then she walked in and hugged her friend Kayla, who is an early bird. Blew me a kiss, and that was it! Adam and I strolled home and then headed off to the Y, and I spent the rest of the morning doing some house cleaning. I was unsure how Ellie would feel at pick up - she usually eats lunch around 11:30, and is down for a nap around 1, and being a later gator means she has a snack at 10:15, lunch after school, and then today we didn't get down for nap until closer to 2. I know it'll be an adjustment, but she was happy to see me - she and Adam resumed their after school hugging like they'd been separated for years - and she said that she LOVED kindergarten. Did some coloring, read some books, had her snack, and immediately slammed the rest of the food in her lunch box while we walked to the car. Now, everyone is having a little snooze, and we'll get ourselves ready for another day. SCHOOL FOREVER!