Car Conversations

Griffin's car conversations, when they don't drive me absolutely crazy, are the best ever.

Today:

G - "Mommy, why don't I have six fingers?"
Me - "Because humans have five fingers."
G - "But why not six?"
Me - "Evolution. Apparently 5 fingers was the most evolutionary advantageous number of fingers."
G - "But six fingers would be cool."
Me - "Then you'd have to buy new gloves."
G - "Yeah, I guess five is ok."

A few days ago:

G - "Mommy, why is the air up and the street on the bottom?"
Me - "That's a complicated question with a complicated answer. Let's just say it has to do with mass."
G - "What's mass?"
Me - "(sigh) Mass is kinda like weight, the more mass an object has, the more it weighs. Objects that have greater mass attract other objects."
G - "Oh, you mean gravity."
Me - "Well if you knew the answer why did you ask the question?"
G - "Because." (pause) "Gravity keeps us down, right? That's why we don't float into outer space."
Me - "Yes. Exactly."
G - "Can you turn off the gravity?"
Me - "Me personally? No. And well, no one can actually. Gravity is a constant."
G - "(sigh) That's too bad."

Also a few days ago:

G - "Mommy, why didn't your borned a boy baby?"
Me - "Because your sister is a girl and she's the last baby mommy and daddy will have."
G - "But I want another baby."
Me - "Sorry dude, but until you have a partner & the two of you decide to have a child, this baby is the only one you're going to get."
G - "Well you should have had two, I want one to take care of."
Me - "You help me take care of baby sister already."
G - "Moooooom (sigh) that's not the same."
Me - "I know dude, I know."

The Conversationalist

A Few of Their Favorite Things

So we have about and hour and a half before our flight leaves to take us back to California (currently in Denver after a short trip up to Wyoming to visit Bryan's family).

I have a limited number of pictures of the trip, and I might have more time to post on the flight - provided the children find ways to keep themselves occupied that don't include my laptop.

But since I have some time and since the kids are currently busy reading (Penelope) and playing math games (Griffin), then I can recount this conversation we had in the car a few days ago.

Bryan was off playing golf with his dad and the kids and I were headed to Casper's Science Zone after having made a very essential pit stop at Starbucks (because altitude sickness sucks and Starbucks makes everything better... seriously about the altitude sickness though, I get it EVERY time we come up to visit and it makes me pretty miserable. I could deal with the nausea, but the headaches are crazy and are only dulled with pain meds).

So. In the car. Driving through Casper.

Penny: I love this day, it's my favorite! (she says this about every day though)
Griffin: No, it's not my favorite. (he was already homesick)
Me: So Bubby, what is your favorite?
G: (without pausing to think) Lego Batman!!!!!!!
M: Penny? What about you?
P: Art. I'm obsessed with art just like Bubby is obsessed with video games.
M: He sure is... so what do you guys think is Daddy's favorite thing?
P: Golf:
G: Hockey!
P: No, I don't think it's golf after all. I think his favorite thing is tickling us.
G: Yeah, that's his favorite.
M: So what do you guys think my favorite thing is?
P: Reading!
G: Snuggling.
P: Yeah, Mommy you like to snuggle a lot.
M: That I do... what about Grandpa, what's his favorite thing.
G: Watching us.
P: Yep.
M: Granny?
G: ummmm.....
P: Giving us kisses.
G: Yes, kisses and hugs.
M: What about Great Grandma Barbara?
G: It's when we visit her.
P: Yeah, she likes that a lot.
M: Harley-Quinn?
G: Seeing us. (which is partially true, but the dog's favorite this is really seeing our babysitter Alexis)
M: Granny & Grandpa's dogs?
G: Seeing us, they love to see us.
M: Really? My guess would be eating garbage.
P: Gross!

I was amused - mostly because everyone's favorite things seemed to revolve around them.

They had a good time in Wyoming though. And altitude sickness aside, it was a nice visit. Short though - but it's hard to find the time to get away and go out there. The plane ride to Denver isn't that bad, but the 4 hour car ride to Casper is exhausting. We might go out again this summer for Bryan's grandmother's 80th birthday.

We are all ready to be home though. Today was the Denver Museum of Natural History & Science with some friends that we haven't seen since we moved to Salinas (they used to live in Sac too, in fact Kim used to babysit the kids when they were little and we would often have playdates with them). It was really nice to see them - I miss so many of that group. We got to see some of the other regular play-daters when we were in Sacramento last weekend too. While I don't miss the city of Sacramento, I do miss the friends we had there.

 More later, I hope. I'm not teaching summer school this year so I'm hoping that I'll be able to blog more often than I have been. Hopefully we'll fill our summer with swimming lessons and trips to the beach. I'm looking forward to a real break.

Ladies man

Today the kids, Judit, & I had coffee with our good friend Patrice before she leaves us to go teach in China.

During the course of the conversation Patrice told us a hilarious anecdote about one of her children when he was Bubby's age. In response to said anecdote (about who children imagine marrying when they're three), Griffin said the following:

"I'm going to marry Patrice! I'm going to marry ALL the ladies! I'm going to marry Sissy, I'm going to marry Patrice, I'm going to marry Judit, I'm going to marry mama. ALL these ladies."

Never go to Costco with your children

At least, never go ALONE with your kids.

The other day I decided that I lived in Bizzaro-World where I was an octopus woman with 8 arms and thus could totally handle taking my children on a trip to Costco, Office Depot, and the gas station all by myself. At snack time.

This was my dialogue with the children every 5-ish minutes.

"Griffin, we are inside, indoor voice please."
"Penelope, please stop walking backwards, you're running into people and it's rude."
"Griffin please get up off the floor."
"Penelope, while I appreciate your desire to help and push the cart, it weighs 6x as much as you do and you keep running into things. Please let mommy push."
"Griffin, my darling, get off the floor. Now."
"Penny, my sweet love, I think your song is beautiful, but we are inside and you need to lower your voice."
"Griffin. Off. Floor. Now. 1... 2..."
"Sissy, Costco is not an appropriate place to play hug-tag"
"Bubs, please walk on the side of the cart, not in front of the cart."
"Pen, please watch where you are twirling, you almost ran into that person"
"For the love of Zeus, Griffin Walter Rodgers, my sweet boy child GET OFF THE FLOOR."
"Yes Sis, that's a lovely pas de cheval, but the people behind you are trying to get to the giant tubs of mayonnaise, please move."
"Griffin, if you're going to attempt to slide on the floors then you're bound to get hurt. Get up and walk it off dude."
"Delpi, now is not the appropriate venue to race your brother."

Now, repeat.

At Office Depot I was having the "indoor voice" conversation for the 1,000th time when an older lady in front of me turned around and smiled at the kids and said.

"Wow, I wish that trick worked for my grandkids. They haven't gotten the hang of indoor voice yet."

I smiled, because neither have mine. The reminder works for 30 seconds until their brains reset and then I have to remind my son yet again that his banshee-like powers need to be disguised from ordinary people or else the government will come and lock him up and study his mutant ability.

We got our errands done with only 1 potty trip, no blood, 1 jammed thumb, no lost cars, no crying, 1 sibling argument, and 6 million requests for water.

Not bad.

I am NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN.

That's not funny, that's just not good

When I put the kids to bed I usually sing them a lullaby. They've come to expect this, and I'm happy to oblige.

Bryan's musical talents lie outside of vocal music and so he doesn't sing to them at night. Except the other night, when he sang them "Row Row Row Your Boat." While I'm sure they expressed the appropriate amount of gratitude the night of, I heard a rather interesting review of his performance tonight while he was at hockey.

G: I want a nigh-night song.... please. (the "please" was a decided afterthought)

P: Yes, please sing us a song.

M: Which one?

G: Rock a Baby!

P: You know mom, daddy can't sing.

M: *laughing*

P: (very seriously) No mommy, it's not funny. It's just not good. Daddy just can't sing.

M: Well love, not everyone is good at singing. But daddy's good at a lot of other things.

P: Yeah. Like playing, but not singing.

An Audition, a Play, and Kinder

This has been an eventful week for Miss Sissy.

On Monday she auditioned for the Missoula Children's Theater's production of "The Secret Garden" and got a part as a plant in the garden. She has no lines, but the garden has a special song and is on stage during parts of the play. She was really, really, really excited about auditioning and it was pretty hilarious to watch.

It was a group audition, so all kids were onstage at one time. The directors had the kids act out lines in chorus, and then individually. Pen was really animated for the group portions, but less animated when it came to saying her line on her own. I was not surprised by this at all, especially since this is her first foray into theater. She was plenty dramatic when socializing with her new friends though, and as I told my mother, when she's a teen and is super dramatic, I will only have myself to blame.

Since she is my daughter, she's caught on to the songs rather quickly. This means that evenings post-rehearsal are filled with her sweet and yet slightly off key voice. She's off key in the way all pre-schoolers are off key (i.e. they're almost always flat), and I actually think that she'll have a really lovely voice when she's older.

The kids rehearse for one week and then they perform, so the shows will be this Saturday at 1 & 3:30. I'm not allowed to take pictures of the performance, but they will have pics taken, so those will be posted as soon as possible. If I can, I'll take video of her performance (not the whole thing, because - um, I don't care about the performances of the kids who aren't mine).

I think this will be great practice for her drama camp, which starts the 2nd week of June. There will be a performance for that as well, and then after her birthday she can start to audition for the full length productions our local children's theater puts on. She also wants to sign up for basketball next season, so we're going to have a full plate of extra curriculuar activties (also, she has a summer dance recital and probably a winter recital as well).

Speaking of curricular, we found out yesterday that our district transfer agreement has been approved and we can enroll her in KinderBloom (i.e. transitional kindergarten) for the 2013/2014 school year. She is, of course, SUPER excited about going to school and is already talking about all the new friends she's going to make.

We'll see after this year where we put her for Kinder, but the new district (Spreckles) has full day Kinder, while our local district does not. So odds are we'll keep her at that school as long as she's in Elementary or as long as we're still living in this area.

The 4-5 age is pretty exciting, yes?

Poor G-Man is still a little too young for all of these activities. We will try to sign him up for soccer and T-Ball, but he's 2 years away from Kinder (and he will not be eligible for transitional kinder due to his birthday, unless we hold him back a year -  but we'll probably just enroll him in full time kinder the school year after his 5th birthday). Oh yes, and probably swim lessons this summer if I ever get my act together.

Thinking about my kids in elementary school is bittersweet. I really do love this age - even though some people think 3 is the worst, I haven't found it to be anymore challenging than the ages before it. It has different challenges than 2 or 1 or the baby stage, but then a lot of the previous challenges resolve themselves. So I can be thankful that we don't have to deal with teething, and that potty training is over (although G does still wear a night diaper) - even while we deal with occasional tantrums (which are 90% predictable and thus can be anticipated/avoided/quickly dealt with).

And so I'll end this with some of the things the kids have said lately that I don't want to forget.

Penelope (as she's watching me clean the bathroom): Mommy, you are so good at cleaning the toilet. And you are so beautiful. I am SO proud of you.

Griffin (as he's falling asleep): *sigh* I love you bunches mama.

Penelope (watching me make dinner): Oh mommy, you are so good at cooking. I love the food you make.

Griffin (while we're all play wrestling): No mama, no tickles. Only snuggles.
(because apparently mama is made for snuggling and daddy is made for wrestling)

Penelope (to Bryan): You are my best daddy.

Griffin (at bedtime): You give me 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 more kisses and then nigh-night, ok?

Mommy, where did you get me?

A few days ago Penelope asked this very simple, yet very complex question.

"Mommy, where did you get me?"

"Well love, what do you mean? Where did I pick you up today?"

"No. I mean where did you get me. Where did you first get me."

"Oh, I see. Well, I gave birth to you. I made you in my uterus, which is in my belly, and then I pushed you out."

"But how did you push me out?"

"Once you were big enough, the muscles in my uterus helped to squeeze you out of my belly."

"Oh" long pause "But where from your belly?"

"Here, let's get your birth book and look at pictures from when you were born" (note: these pictures don't actually show the birth)

"Oooh! Ok!"

We then spent the next 10 minutes going through all the pictures in both her & Griffin's yearbooks (books I made chronicling their first year of life).

It was a conversation I hadn't expected, but overall I think it went well. I'm sure we'll have this conversation over and over again - in slightly more detail as she gets older.

Ah, my precious love.

Another conversation we had recently was about love and marriage...

Penelope: Daddy, who is your best friend?
Bryan: Mommy.
Penelope: (laughing) No, she's your wife!
Me: We can be married and be best friends.
Penelope: My best friend is Kayla, but she's not my husband.
Me: No, no she's not.
Penelope: But mommy, princess can marry princess.
Me: Yes, sometimes princesses do marry princesses. If they love each other.
Penelope: And princes can marry princes.
Me: Yes, if they love each other.
Bryan: You can marry whoever you want, when you're 40.

I wasn't kidding when I said they don't stop talking

The car. Today.

Bryan: The guys at BNI were giving me a hard time about shaving my beard. I told them how I had it when I dropped off Penelope at dance class last week, came home and shaved it, then went to pick her up and she didn't recognize me. She finally said "Dad, where'd your beard go?"
Penelope (from the back): Yeah Dad, you just shaved your beard.
B: Yeah, but I'm growing a little back, just for you. (he's growing a goatee)
P: Will it be rainbow colored? Or just black.
Me: (DYING)
B: Probably just black. Is that ok?
P: No, I prefer rainbow colored.

Last night she had a dream that she was a big girl and could read all by herself.

Today she insisted on taking her new library book (Little House in the Big Woods) with us to dinner. As in she brought it into the resturant and flipped through it.

I like this new stage. It is full of awesome.

Out of the mouth of babes

Today was a play day and I realized that:

1. 4 year olds don't ever stop talking
2. Since they never stop, much of what they say is utterly ridiculous
3. 2 year olds are also chatterboxes, but 2 year olds with older sisters have a hard time getting in a word edgewise
4. Thus 2 year olds must invent even more ridiculous sayings in order to be memorable.

Today, after we made alien/spaceship Valentine's Day crafts, the kids pretended to be astronauts "blasting off" to various planets in search for food. Just so you know, here's what you can find in our solar system.

The sun: popcorn
Mercury: pudding
Mars: juice
The Moon: cheese (ok, so this one was mine)
Venus: cupcakes
Jupiter: lemons/pineapple
Saturn: soup
Neptune: ice
Uranus: apples

Then we had the following conversation:

Penelope, having returned from Jupiter (which, by the way, is the bush at the end of the driveway): "Look at this giant pineapple. It can talk! And since it can talk we will, of course, not eat it."
Me: "You're right, that IS a very large pineapple. And I've never met a pineapple that could talk before. How wonderful."
Griffin: "I'm Buzz Lightyear! Take that pineapple!" (kicks the air where said pineapple is sitting) 
Me: "oh Bubby, we need to be nice to sentient beings."
Penelope: "Nevermind mom, it's a dragon pineapple and it's evil. Let's kill it!" (joins her brother in kicking the air).

Later.

P: "Mom, which planet should I go to?"
M: "I dunno Sissy, which planet do you want to go to?"
P: "The forest planet I think, they have lots of pine cones there."
M: "Yes, I imagine they would."
P: "But there are a lot of chipmunks in the forest (whispers) but you'd better watch out because they might eat you."
G: "I can eat squirrels, they're deeeeeelicious!"
P: (aghast) "No, Bubby, you can't eat squirrels, they're senchen!" (read: sentient)

After bath:
P: "Mommy, I'm a superhero."
M: "What's your super power?"
P: "I fight crime."
M: "Sweet."
G: "Sissy is the best sister in the whole world."
M: (melts)

An Impomptu Conversation about Gay Marriage

Today while Bryan and Griffin took the dog for a walk, Penelope and I stayed at home and played with her Horde of Dolls (HD). For her birthday she got a dozen Disney Princess dolls from my parents and has enjoyed changing their clothes and making them fight dragons.

While we were playing today, she wanted them all to get married. And since they're all Disney Princesses, they all have Princes... I'm not quite comfortable with that, for a variety of reasons.

I know that her obsession with Princesses is a stage. As is her obsession with marriage. Bryan and I are married, so are her Granny and Grandpa. Her daycare provider is married. A significant number of the adults in her life are married and it's natural that she would replicate the relationships she sees in her imaginary play.

And while I have a number of friends with same sex partners (some married, some not married), we don't see these people as often as I'd like. So I worry, because that's what I do.

I worry that the prevailing cultural attitudes towards women & LGBTQI2-S will be stronger than the message they get at home. I see this in her insistence that pink is "only for girls" and some things are "only for boys" - and while we work at home to change that, it's an uphill battle to fight against the message she gets a daycare, on TV, and even in books.

Bryan and I have had multiple conversations about our parental goals. We want our kids to be happy and healthy. College? Would be great, but it isn't necessary, our kids can be productive members of society without a BA/MA/PhD. Politics? They don't have to vote the same way we do, the just need to vote. Religion? While I do hope my children are Atheists (like we are) we will support them if they decide to join a religious or spiritual group.

But I will consider myself a failure of a parent if my children don't support equality for all people.

And so, when Penelope insists that all her Princesses marry Princes, I can't just let it be. Here's what that conversation look like:

Our conversation...

 And then, after we talk, Mulan and Snow White exchange their vows...

The Wedding

Love, Love, Love. Love is all you need.

Best.Conversation.Ever.

Bryan and I are talking and then...

Penelope: (interrupting) Daddy, that doesn't make any sense.
Bryan: What? What doesn't make sense?
Penelope: You, you're not making any sense.
Bryan: What?

Hilarious I tell you, hilarious.

Park Fun

Our weekend of adventure continued today with a trip to Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey. We love this park, there's a ton of stuff for the kids to do - various equipment, tunnels, maze, rock wall, swings, etc - and it's a half block from the ocean.

The park is even more fun now that the kids are a little older, because they can have conversations like this one with other kids at the park...

Boy: Hi, would you like to be the Mickey on my pirate ship?
Penelope: Yeah! (giggle)
Boy: (yells into one of those cone things)
P: (giggle) Mommy, he's cute
B: Come on, let's go!
(they run around for a bit)
P: Mommy, this is my friend. What's his name?
Me: I dunno, why don't you ask him?
P: Hi friend, what's your name?
B: Finnegan. F-I-N-N-E-G-A-N.
P: My name is PenELooooPEA
Finnegan: Come on, let's climb up. You ring the bell when I yell, ok?
P: Ok!
(a bit later - they've been playing for about a half an hour)
F: (twisting his shirt) You should come and visit me Penelope. You can come out to North Carolina. For like, three days. If your mommy says it's ok.
P: Ok! Mommy, can I?
M: Uh, we'll talk about it.
(even later, they've played on every piece of playground equipment - Poe is towing Griffin around and Finnegan is towing his younger sister around... they're swinging)
F's Mom: Time to go Finnegan...
F: Ok, bye Penelope. I'll miss you!
P: Ok, bye!

A conversation

P: Mama, I want a snack please.
M: Ok, what do you want? I have pretzels, nuts, apples, and bananas.
P: I want bats.
M: Bats? You mean the things that fly around at night?
P: Yeah, bats are spicy. (giggle)
M: What? Bats are spicy?!
P: (giggle) yeah, and they have claws like this (claw hands) and are like monsters. Bats are spicy monsters. (dissolves into a fit of giggles).
M: You are weird.

Conversations and Imagination

I've been having conversations with my children since they were in utero (respectively). These conversations have been mostly one-sided, and any response on their part was mostly babble or in pre-speak (which sounds a lot like gibberish). After awhile you get rather adept at translating toddler-speak, so Poe and I have had many conversations in the past few months that have been quite fulfilling and incredibly amusing. Lately her lexicon and enunciation has markedly improved and we can have quite lengthy conversations about everything she sees... which is a lot.

Here are snippets of today's conversations.

P: Mommy, sing "Dinosaur Train" song please.
M: Really?
P: Yes please.
M: *sigh* ok. *sings DT song*
P: Thank you Mommy, that was beautiful.

(As an aside, I have become (remain??) a jukebox for my children. Penelope regularly requests her favorites and Griffin's car wailing is only stopped by certain songs. Poe's current favorite are the Dinosaur Train song, B-I-N-G-O (she calls it "mango"), the Kipper song, and the Caillou song. We haven't watched Caillou in ages - I despise that cartoon - so I made up new lyrics: "I'm just a boy whose 4, each day I grow some more, I'm so obnoxious I'm Caillou! So many things to do, each day is something new, I'm quite annoying I'm Caillou!")

M: Ok, pick out a new diaper.
P: Hmmmm... I think I want the polka dot diaper
M: You sure?
P: Yes. Please.
M: Ok. You know, Mommy made this diaper.
P: Good job Mommy! It's soft!

Often times these conversations will revolve around her quite vivid imagination...

P: Mommy, I'm Tiny Pteranodon! You're Mommy Pteradnon! (From the Dinosaur Train series)
M: Ok, SQUAWK!
P: SQUAWK! What's Bubba? Hmmm. Bubba is...
M: Don? Buddy?
P: Yes, Buddy. Bubba is Buddy! Hahaha.
M: Who is Daddy?
P: Silly Mommy, Daddy is Daddy Pteranodon.
M: Of course he is. Are we riding the dinosaur train now?
P: Yes. Whoa! That's fun. Whee!
M: Time tunnel approaching!
P: No mama, that's Mr. Conductor. I'm Mr. Conductor.
M: Oh, I thought you were Tiny.
P: I'm Tiny too!
M: Got it.

She cracks.me.up.

Oh! Griffin's 8th tooth has officially arrived! I'm hoping we get a few days before the next round. Although I hope it's not longer than a week. While I hate teething, I'd really like for him to get in a set of molars already - he really wants to eat everything and I can't give him some foods w/o his molars.

And his "yearbook" is almost finished. Once I have it done I'll post a link so everyone can look it over. I'll have it printed like I did for Pen and at his 1st birthday party people can write him notes :) I love how P's turned out and I'm liking the look of G's so far.

I should probably work on it now that I have a few minutes. Tomorrow I'll be writing my Thesis so tonight I'll give myself a little time for the yearbook.

And... I've lost 17 lbs since New Years Eve. Woot!

Conversations with Penelope

Today while grocery shopping:

P: Mama, nanas? (nanas are food)
M: Ok, we'll get some food. Do you want salad?
P: Yes! Mmmm.
M: With tomatoes?
P: Yes, matoes. Salad yum.
M: Anything else on your salad?
P: (thinking) Um. Cookie! Yes! Cookies! Yum!
M: (laughing) Maybe you can have a cookie if you eat all your salad.
P: Yum cookies, mama, some cookie please. Clap for cookies! (she starts clapping)
M: Oh goodness child.

Later

P: Mama?
M: Yes my love?
P: Some cake?
M: (laughing) No, we're not going to have cake, we're shopping.
P: Cookies?
M: Well, you did eat your salad so I guess we can get a cookie.
P: Yea! Cookie! Penny some cookie! Mama, cookie!
M: Yes, yes, Mama will get you a cookie. Actually, you and mama will share a cookie.
P: Mama share. Share cookie. Some cookie! Clap for cookie! (she claps)

So apparently we're raising Cookie Monster Jr.

This morning's conversation with Penelope

This occurred while we were putting on her shoes.

Penny: Go?
Me: Yes, we're going to go after daddy gets ready.
P: Daddy ready? Go?
M: Soon, who do you want to go see today?
P: (thinking) Ummmm. Orson. Orson and Kim.
M: Well honey, I don't know if they're going to be at Gus' birthday party. You might not see them until Tuesday.
P: Gus? Yea Gus!
M: You want to go to Gus' birthday party?
P: Gus birthday? Yea Gus!
M: And some of your other friends will be there as well.
P: Maddox?
M: Yep, and Lucy and Ava and Sophia and maybe more!
P: Gus birthday. Yea Gus!

So I guess she's ready for Gus' party. Yea Gus!