Waiting

Yesterday, Katie and Bethie packed up their school bags full of toys, grabbed their lunch boxes, and sat at the end of our driveway. I asked them what they were doing. Katie said, "Waiting". I asked them what they were waiting for. Bethie said, "The school bus". I felt badly. I knew they were excited, but there was nothing I could do. I said to them, "Ooooh. That's going to be a bit of a wait. The school bus doesn't come for another 8 days!" Katie was very annoyed with me by this point. She replied, "That's fine. We're waiting!". I sighed and went back inside.

Wild Weekend

We have been very busy.

On Friday, the twins "graduated" from Emilie's daycare. She threw a 12 hour long celebration. Be sure to check out those photos!

Saturday was the twins "Birthday Eve". I took some snaps.

Sunday was the twins 5th birthday. First thing in the morning, Dan and I sent all three girls on a treasure hunt. Then the five of us rushed to get ready for their party. By 10:30am, we were at the Midway having a wonderful time!

We weren't done yet! Emilie and Sam came over for some cake after dinner.

On Monday, I stayed in my PJs until 6pm!

Five

The twins turned 5 yesterday. It broke my heart.

I remember when they were just a couple of weeks old. Dan and I talked excitedly about when they would turn 5 and how wonderful it would be. They would be more independent. They wouldn't have constant demands on our time and energy. We would have space to breathe.

That same "space" that we craved is killing me. In a week, they start school. The two of them will climb up the steps of a big, yellow school bus and disappear down the road. And I won't be with them. I won't be "in charge". I won't be there to protect them.

The gates to their future have been opened. I am excited for them. I also wish I could turn back time. Just a little bit.

Our Peter Pan

Sarah loves Peter Pan. If we are not watching the movie, we are reading the book. Sometimes, we have to act out the scenes. Sarah will run up to either me or Dan, give us a sword, and demand a sword fight. She always gets to be Peter Pan. We are stuck being Captain Hook, the pirates, or the Lost Boys.

She also is quite fond of the scene where Wendy sews Peter Pan's shadow back on.

Like Peter Pan, Sarah often loses her shadow, and demands that one of us sew it back on. Dan and I humour her because she is our child. Katie and Bethie humour her because...well... Sarah doesn't give them much choice.

Sometimes, she reciprocates.

And this cracks me up.

Tools For School

The twins are starting kindergarten on September 1. I went to their school today to pay our school fees (the equivalent of one week's worth of groceries!). I signed them up for daycare, got busing information (the bus stop is our driveway!), and picked up the school supplies distributed by the school.

The school also gave me a list of items that I have to buy for my children. It reads as follows:

• 4 tennis balls (Why? I don't know)
• 1 lunchbox
• 1 schoolbag
• 1 big pencil case
• 1 pair of indoor running shoes
• 1 complete change of clothing in a labelled bag
• 1 pair of headphones

Headphones? I realise that it has been 25 years since I went to elementary school, but have things really changed that much? When I was a kid, headphones were forbidden. In fact, if we were caught with headphones, the school would call our parents! Now, the school is requesting that parents send their children to school with headphones. I feel old and out of touch.

Then I thought, headphones! What a brilliant idea! My house is so noisy. Sometimes, I feel like I am losing my mind. All I crave is some peace and quiet. Things have gotten so bad that I have set up a TV and a DVD player in Sarah's bedroom so the kids can watch their movies out of earshot. It never occurred to me to get headphones. I wonder if there is a way to connect three pairs of headphones to the same TV? I would need three cordless headphones. That way, the children won't be sitting next to each other (if I hear "She kicked me!" one more time I am going to run away from home!) and no one will "accidentally" trip over their sister's cord thereby dislodging the headphones from either her head or the TV.

Do such wonderful things exist????

The Boss

Saturday evening, I went to bed right after dinner because I had a really bad headache. My plan was to lie down for an hour, and then get up and help Dan put the children to bed. Dan decided to let me sleep instead.

After a while, the girls noticed that I wasn't around. Bethie asked Dan if I had gone out. Dan replied that I was sick and had gone to bed. This confused Bethie. I was physically in the house, but obviously, I was too sick to take care of the children.

Bethie pondered this for a moment and then asked Dan, "Are you the boss now?". Dan replied that he was. Bethie followed up with, "Then can we stay up late tonight?". Dan, giddy with power, delighted the girls by allowing them to stay up for an additional hour.

Lesson learned? I need to share my "power" with Dan. He is very capable, and the children need to start seeing him as an authority figure. I shall do this be going out a minimum of three evenings a week. Alone. Sans enfant. Dan and the girls may be upset at first. Dan will most definately grumble. But I will do this for my family. Dan will (surely) thank me for this later!

P.S. Kidding! First of all, Dan is quite pleased with the status quo. I am the Enforcer and he is the Hero. Secondly, Dan gets a wee bit panicky everytime I go out. Three nights a week alone with the kids would kill him.

Covert Operation

Here are my girls. Sweet, aren't they?

What you can't tell is that I have told the girls to stay by the window and let me know when the moving truck (that is across the street) opens it's back door. I wanted to have a peek inside! They were delighted, and kept reporting "updates". I am pleased to say that I have my own built in spy network!

Hard Work

Today, I kept the children home from daycare because the twins had to have their eyes checked. After the examination, the doctor was quite pleased with himself. This was slightly irritating. What did he do, besides come up with the right prescription? Dan and I are the ones who have to constantly clean the glasses, find the glasses, and bend the glasses back into shape. If it weren't for us, the twins would still have googly eyes. The doctor should be telling us what a fantastic job we have done! In the end, all I cared about was that the twins didn't need new glasses and, therefore, I wouldn't have to spend an extra $400 today!

After the appointment, we went to Dad's office. The twins wanted to hand-deliver to Dad an invitation to their birthday party. We had fun, Dad had fun, and the entire office seem to have fun. My children just love being the center of attention, and everyone at Dad's office is more than happy to dote on them!

Later in the afternoon, Bethie and I were sitting around chatting. She wanted to know what Dad did at his office, other than spinning 'round and 'round in his chair all day, only breaking to look at pictures of my daughters. I explained to Bethie that Zaida (Dad) is a lawyer. This evolved into a very in-depth conversation about laws and lawyers and judges and the legal system as a whole. She kept asking so many good questions. The conversation was exhausting!

I was in the middle of explaining to Bethie that Zaida stands in court and argues on behalf of his clients when Bethie interrupted me. She said, "What I really want to know is how does Santa get back up the chimney?".

Where did this come from? At what point did I lose her?

I, being an Authority of All Things, explained to Bethie how Santa got back up the chimney. We then discussed all the things that Santa has to do on Christmas Eve. She said, "That's too much work for me. I don't think I am going to grow up to be Santa". Connecting the dots, I gave her a squeeze and said that she could be whatever she would like to be when she grows up. She could be a lawyer, she could be Santa, or she could be something else altogether. It was up to her. Bethie said, "I think I'll be a nun". I said, "Nuns do a lot of work, too". She replied, "Oh. I'll have to do something else then!". I laughed. My 4 year old child is already looking for a cushy job where she doesn't have to work too hard.

Innocence Lost

I have sweet little girls. They are delicate, and kind, and practically perfect in every way. They are also innocent. This innocence is endearing. People have commented to me on how lovely it is to meet little girls who are unaffected by the modern world. Right or wrong, I have worked hard to keep the "harsh realities of Life" at bay. I have protected them from violence on TV, rough games, and the commercialization of seemingly everything in our society (with the exception of Disney which has infiltrated our home like a poisonous gas!). With no exposure to Bratz or other shows/toys that have the effect of pushing little girls closer and closer to the adult world, my daughters seem as though they would be more at home in a historic English novel than here in the 21st century. Or so I thought.

Dan and I were having dinner with the children. After discussing our "favourite bits" of the day, I complained to Dan that I was tired. In fact, I felt that I was too tired to give the girls a bath. Since I had bathed them the night before, I figured that the world would not end if I skipped a bath. Dan, who had been working the evening before and had not been home for bath time, said that he didn't believe that I had bathed the girls the previous night. I was dumbstruck. Really? He didn't believe me? Why would I lie? Why wouldn't I have bathed my children? He baffles me!

Instead of arguing with Dan, I said to Bethie, "Daddy doesn't think I gave you a bath last night!". My little angel said "What the f***?". Dan gasped, and my jaw dropped. We didn't know what to do! This was horrifying! I asked her to repeat herself, hoping that she had said a rhyming word instead. Bethie complied, and clearly said, "What. The. F***". Dan was able to keep his composure. I was not. I turned my head, covered my mouth, and tried to hide my laughter. I laughed because I was absolutely shocked, not because I thought she was funny.
I quickly calmed down and told Bethie that she had said something that was inappropriate, and that we do not talk like that in our home. Bethie was cool with that, and didn't seem fazed. Katie, who had been discussing the finer points of being a princess to Sarah and had missed our entire conversation, demanded to know what the naughty word was. I refused to tell her. Why? Because Katie would have filed it away somewhere in her brain, and saved it for a special occasion, like entertaining the teacher at school or (worse) impressing my father.

After the children and I were in bed, Dan and I wondered where Bethie could have picked up the offensive language. We finally agreed that she must have picked it up in the 'hood because we (and by "we" I mean "Dan") would never, ever speak like that!

Kites and Rainbows

Sunday morning, Dan woke up and suggested to the three children that they should all paint pictures. This surprised me, especially because he had spent a good deal of time on Saturday making the house spotless. I left him "in charge", and went to have a shower. After my shower, I came downstairs and was shocked. There was paint on the floor, on the table, on the walls, on the doors, on the counter, and on the cabinets. I then walked into the washroom and saw paint on the toilet, on the sink, on the mirror, on the floor, and on the walls. I looked at the children. There was paint on the faces, on their bodies, in their hair, and even under their clothes. Did the paint explode? Nope, the more accurate explanation is that the girls sent their father into a tailspin. He has not mastered the fine art of Confine and Conquer.

The paintings were, however, magnificent. I was so pleased! All three of them would look lovely on my kitchen wall. My excitement was squashed when Bethie announced that she was "so sorry" (really, she wasn't!) but the paintings were going to be used as kites. I was hugely disappointed.

Later that day, Dan tied a string to Bethie's "kite" and she stood in the backyard waiting for the wind to pick up her kite and dance it around the sky. Instead, the kite lay lifeless on the ground. Bethie was mad. This was not how she had envisioned it. I suggested that she run around holding the kite above her head. After giving it a go, she realised that this was less than ideal.

She came up to me and said, "Did you know that God has a little sister? Her name is Little God. Little God bought a new dress. It looks like a rainbow. After the rain, she puts on her new dress and that's how rainbows come". Wow. Weird! Where did that come from?!

Wisdom for Bethie

The children and I were in my little red car driving home. The twins were in the back having a discussion about what new colours are created when colours are mixed together. I had a headache and didn't feel like participating in the conversation. When I was asked, "Mummy, what colour do you get when you mix yellow with purple?", I responded with, "I don't know. Ask your father.".

Out of the blue, Bethie asked me, "Who was the woman that had no Mummy?". I explained to her that everybody had a Mummy. She insisted on knowing who was the very first person on Earth. After some questioning, I realised that she was asking me about Adam and Eve. I paused. I could either explain evolution or creationism. I decided that creationism would involve fewer questions about things that I did not want to explain to my young children.

I gave Bethie a very general description of Eve and talked about her home in Eden. Bethie was enthralled with Eden. She asked me if there were any bad animals there. I said, "Funny you should ask! There was a snake. He tried to get Eve to take a bite of his magical apple.". The girls gasped. The only magical apple they knew of was the one that was offered to Snow White, and that apple had some pretty nasty side-effects. I reassured the twins that the snake's apple was not poisonous. In fact, if Eve took a bite she would become really, really smart.

Bethie was sold! She wanted to eat that apple. She told me that if a snake ever offered her an apple, she would definitely eat it! I told her to calm down. I explained that Snow White's wicked step-mother could disguise herself as a snake and offer her a poisonous apple instead of one that would make her smart. I reassured my daughter that I can tell which apples are poisonous and which ones make people smart. Ask me before eating apples given to you by animals! Bethie seemed pleased with this conversation, and we moved on to an enthralling debate about whether the windows in the back should be up or down.

Time passes, and I forget about the conversation. Bethie did not. One day, we went to Mum's house. Bethie ran up to Mum and said, "Granny! Do you have a big, shiny apple I can eat? You know, one that will make me smart like the snake has!".

So, the hunt is on because the twins start school for the very first time on August 30th. Bethie has a checklist: new shoes, new headband, new crayons, and an apple that will make her super duper smart!

They Danced Like No One Was Watching

Dan was late coming home from work. Really late. About three and a half hours late. I was very eager for him to come home. After dinner, I gave each of the girls an ice cream cone and took them out front to wait for their father to arrive.

It started to rain. It was a light rain for about 2 minutes, and then it really poured. Instead of rushing for cover, my babies danced.

I was pleased. Some of the neighbours were less than thrilled (and even expressed their distaste). Too bad. These are my kids. They were happy. And too soon they will run from the rain instead of towards it.  So, I grabbed my camera and let them dance.

Little Treasures

Ever since Sam had his Pirate Birthday Party, my girls have been obsessed with treasure hunts. I'm all for them having fun, but after my debit card was hidden (yup, it was Katie), I started to get tense. They are allowed to make treasure maps, and they are allowed to hide their "treasures". As long as they don't hide my things and they don't fight, they can be pirate princesses.

One pirate princess got a little bit carried away. I walked into the bathroom and saw:

Did you catch it? Here's a close-up:

Classy, eh?