Mountain Rain, a Flat Tire, and Apple Pie

Sometimes what we need most is to blow off any of the "normal" routine and just go. Get in the car...and GO.

I actually need this far more often than I am able to do, what with nap needs and pickup schedules and homework requirements and making dinner. But today The Papa and I looked at each other and knew: it was time.

It didn't matter that it was dumping rain. Fewer people on the roads, we thought. We'll go to the top of Palomar Mountain and grab apple pie at Dudley's on the way down. We'll bring some sandwiches and not care if the kids eat the rest of their hungry in pie. We are going to have FUN.

About 25 minutes in, we had a flat. The rain was slightly lighter, and we dug around the boot in hopes that we actually had a spare tire. Yes! We did! As well as a jenky jack that barely worked. Still, we called AAA which was fortuitous because the spare tire needed air.

Brent got the tire changed, the AAA guy filled it with air, and the entire interruption lasted less than an hour. Not bad. We gave the kids all their snacks to keep them happy while they waited. Smart move, I say.

But then we were left with the question: should we attempt to drive up the mountain in the rain on a spare tire? Um...YES! We were seeking adventure and not about to turn back now!

So we drove. Turn after turn up some 4,000 foot elevation, through the clouds. It was misty and mystical.

For The Papa and I, anyway.

Sadie (in the whiny voice): When are we going to get to the apple pie shop? (Every 4 minutes.)

Benji: AUGH. My tummy hurts.

Bella: AAAH!!! AAHHHH!!!!

Oliver: Sop it, Beya! Sop skweeming!!!

Mama: Look how beautiful it is!  Look for the outlines of trees in the mist! It's so lovely!

Bella:  UUUUUUUHHH!!!! (Plus some banging of her head on her seat.)

But persevered we did, stopping briefly at the top to stretch our legs in the pouring rain, and on our way down the mountain we saw wild turkeys in the road. By the time we crept close enough to take a picture, they were in the bushes. Find four turkeys in the photo below:

And of course we stopped for the pie. Sadie wolfed it down. Benji ate it slowly, appreciating every bite. Bella screamed and spit it out, then screamed that Papa ate it for her. (Because...two years old.) And Oliver picked pieces out of it and left the crust. But Mama can't take photos in a crowded hectic place (because...stress), so you'll have to imagine that part.

We put on Wild Kratts for the rest of the ride home (hooray for DVD players in vans - we resist the temptation most of the time, but man, it's handy for the last bit of a long drive) - bought eggs at the egg farm, and honeycomb from the beekeepers on the side of the road.  We made mental notes to look into cabin camping at Lake Henshaw and to come back to one of the pumpkin patches at a roadside farm.

Then we pulled into the garage and put the kids to bed for late afternoon naps, and they actually fell asleep.

Lovely, lovely day.

Sharing vs. Caring

One of Sadie Lou's favorite sayings is, "Sharing is caring!" She especially likes to use this in situations when someone else is not sharing with her. Never is it employed when SHE is hording toys. Anyway, the other day a conversation went something like this.

Oli is playing quietly with a car of some sort.

Sadie Lou:    Oli, can I please have that car?

Oli:   No. I paying wiff it.

Sadie Lou:    Oli!!! You need to share with me!

Oli:   NO, Sadie!!

Sadie Lou:    But Oli! SHARING IS CARING!!!!! If you don't share, you don't care!

Oli:    I NOT caring!!!

Sadie, Squeak Monsters, and Breakfast

In this first video, Sadie is nearly three. We had stopped at the grocery store on the way home from somewhere, and while Papa ran inside for a few items, I was having trouble keeping Sadie occupied. Can you imagine why? Little Miss Bright Eyes does not sit still...pretty much EVER.



And here, at three and a half, she is helping Papa make breakfast - part of the morning routine - in a princess dress, of course.

Video Flashbacks from 2013!

Playing around at the park - Sadie, age 2, and Benji, age 5.



Wanna know how to stop a tantrum? (Sometimes...) Repeat what they said so they feel heard. (Until they figure out what you are doing and it doesn't work anymore.)



When Sadie was two, what happened when Papa left for work? Oh, just a little hanging from the front door knob...this video doesn't even capture how long she could pull herself up - she could hang for 30 seconds at a time, and she would climb all the way up to the knob.



And...it's a powerful dance until you land on a tiny toy...



The following sequence is classic Sadie and Benjamin. Though the years pass, their interactions have not changed much. In the first, Benji's dance is upstaged by Sadie's happy feet. (She still walks that fast and bouncy.) In the second, she's all belly and britches and boots.





Near the top of the cuteness scale is a big brother who is learning to read teaching his little sister to read. Throw in eating some chicken-veggie stirfry and all is right with the world.

Little Rascals? Bonnie and Clyde? Thing 1 and Thing 2?

This is the work of one Sadie Eloise and a boy sometimes called "Oli Bug."

I was down the hall in my bathroom doing, I don't recall what...plucking stray eyebrows? Brushing my teeth for the first time that day (somewhere's around 4PM in preparation for The Papa's return from work?  It happens...), or perhaps applying another round of deodorant on that sweltering afternoon?

I was only out of sight of these two rabble-rousers for less than 10 minutes. Truth. I heard them cheerfully chattering, sounding sweetly happy, getting along...that last one was the tell-tale sign, the sign that should have had me bolting down the hall to see what was going on.

As it was, I sauntered through the house happily, thinking of how I had a chicken roasting in the oven and did not need to run around, a sweaty mess, before The Papa would return to a Really Nice Meal. And then I saw this. Only when I saw it, the toilet was still overflowing.

They did a sweet job, these two, of unwrapping an entire BRAND NEW roll of toilet paper and getting it all to fit into the bowl. They even tore up the cardboard tube and put it in for good measure. And then they attempted to flush the evidence.

So, yes, you are looking at a layer of water that covered the entire bathroom floor and extended out into the living area. It does have some nice reflective qualities. (Don't mind the water damaged wall behind the toilet. The folks who lived here before us also had a house full of kids and no doubt dealt with these types of events. That drywall is going to need replacing even if my kids are perfect angels for the rest of their time here.)

But the trouble with the mayhem caused by two and three-year-olds is that logical consequences just don't work. They can't exactly clean up a mess of this magnitude. So...Bonnie and Clyde got to sit on chairs for a Really Long Time and watch me as I cleaned it up, heh, heh.

Anyway, if counting my blessings I would say it was wonderfully fortuitous that dinner was basically done and I had the space in my afternoon to pull wads of paper out of the toilet and to wipe up oodles of water with half a dozen towels.

Those two do make an effective team, don't they?

Let's just hope we have sufficiently hidden the diaper cream: Vaseline, Mama?

And if you like stories like this, check out THIS blog.

Excuse me, I was sleeping here...

This was the scene at 6:45 one morning recently:

Isabella's little face poking out of a deep pile of Oli's clothes and toys.

See, Oli likes to get up long before anyone else is awake. And he likes to find others to hang out with at, say, 5:30 in the morning. And since he started getting in trouble for going into the older kids' rooms and waking them up (oh yeah, one night at about 3:00AM, he got Sadie to join him in exploring the garage...but that's another tale), he has decided to entertain himself by dumping every available resource into his roommate's bed.

Here's the adorable little perpetrator. Notice the stash he has worked up? Caught in the act!

Her Castle

When she first settled into this patch of ice plant on the hillside, Sadie called it "The Quietest Place in the World."

She has since become fascinated with castles. Yesterday she declared this place her castle, her house, and she invited me to come up and join her there.

She does a lot of sitting and thinking. A bit of looking out over the valley. Sometimes she picks flowers or sings. She often chatters.

Boots are required for climbing up and down the hill.

But sometimes when she walks across the bottom, shoes are less necessary.

She's my little wood nymph or forest fairy or something.

Nature girl.

Vaseline, Mama?

This morning I made the grave mistake of sleeping in until 7:45AM. Brent had gone biking; the house was quiet. The boys were apparently occupying themselves in their room, and Tati is old enough to find something to read. Sadie woke up several times throughout the night, one of which resulted in replacing her diaper...so I knew that would not be needing attention.

Finally, I rolled out of bed thinking how lovely it was to get an hour extra sleep. And then I saw this:

Yes, those are clumps of Vaseline on the wall and in her hair, and yes, she is trying to poke a thermometer in her eye.

I could cry. Not out of concern for her, mind you, but out of pure, unadulterated self-pity. Let's look at the mess while using a flash. (The natural light photos showed the clumps on the wall better, but the flash shows you just how shiny she became...)

Everything that has been safely stowed on the wall shelf was pulled down. Wipes were removed and thrown everywhere. Drawers, emptied. Vaseline clung to toys, shoes, and clothes.

Not to mention to her. She kept rubbing her face as I do when I put moisturizer on in the morning. She is an attentive, if overly exuberant, student.

Oh, Sadie Lou. I don't even know what to say.

She has now had three hair washings with dish soap and cornstarch (look it up on the internet), but she still looks like a greaser. I managed to adequately clean up the mess, but I still need to remove anything that she could possibly get into trouble with. Yes, that cute, colorful pennant might need to go, along with the piggy bank, and the flower vase on the shelf, and the painting by my grandma. It's going to be a while before she can be trusted with anything!

How about them apples?

Last night, while walking through Target, Benjamin and I passed the lingerie section. In the front, bellied-up to the aisle, were rows upon rows of brightly colored brassieres. They came in extra large sizes with inch-thick padding stiff enough to withstand the poke of a small finger. They swayed on their slight hangers.

Benjamin was enthralled. Poking at them as I turned around to hurry him on his way, he announced in the most amazed voice as if this were the coolest discovery ever:

"Whoa, Mama!  Look at deez apples!  Whoa!" (gleeful giggles followed)

Overheard

THIS MORNING

LP:  Papa's like a snail.

Mama:  Why?

LP: Because I don't like snails.

Mama: ???

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THANKFULNESS

Teacher:  What are you thankful for?

LP: I thankful for the sun!

Teacher:  Are you thankful for Mommy and Daddy?

LP:  Yeah. And RACE CARS!

Teacher: What else are you thankful for?

LP:  I thankful for rice. And clouds.

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VISITING THE PHOTO LAB WHERE PAPA WORKS

LP:  Oh, wow!  We're in the factory! This is a cool factory. Look at it!

Safety First

Little P is riding his bike around the house. (The benefits of having too much space and lame wood laminate floors.)  Suddenly...

LP: Reeaaahhhhh!  Schreeeeeaaahhh! Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

Mama:  You sound very upset. What's wrong?

LP:  I have a problem!

Mama:  You do?  What's your problem?

LP: It's a problem of keeping me safe.

Mama:  What's making you not safe?

LP:  I goed into the baffroom!

Mama: Why is the bathroom not safe?

LP:  It's not safe for me!

Mama: Oh. What happened in the bathroom?

LP: It's just not safe!

Mama: I'm sorry. Are you OK?

LP: Yeah. I'll be all right in a minute.

Mama:  Do you need some help?

LP:   I got it. 

Rides his bike over by Mama.

LP:  There. I parked it.


.

BenTV 018: Passive Resistance

Charming, isn't it?

Mess Around

Right now, Benjamin is riding around the house on his plasma car and singing, "Everybody's doin' the mess around," a Ray Charles song. Too funny.

A Typical Conversation - #3

LP:  Mama, I want MILK!

Mama:  Can you ask for it politely?

LP: Mama, please have milk?

Mama:  Sure.  (starts to pour some milk)

LP:  NO! I DON'T WANT IT!!  I DON'T WANT MILK!!!

Mama:  OK. (stops pouring and begins to put milk jug back in the fridge)

LP: WAAAAA!!!  MILK, MAMA, WAAA BLAHMAAA (continued unintelligible wailing and garbled words)

Mama: I'm sorry, I don't understand screaming. You'll have to use your words.

LP:  I want it, Mama.

Mama:  Oh, you want some milk?

LP:  Yeah.

Mama:  OK. Are you sure?

LP: Yeah.

Mama:  (pours milk and goes to set it on the table)

LP: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I don't want it!!!!

Mama:  (puts cup in fridge and leaves the room)

LP:  (wailing and gnashing of teeth) Mama! Mama!  I want mi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ilk!

Life with Little P Right Now

Art with fingerpaints and sponge shapes

FAVORITES:

Question 1:  What ___________ dooz?  (insert: oven mitts, shoelaces, fire hydrant, Papa, etc.)

Question 2:  Why not?

Statement: I do it mySELF!

Show:  The Wiggles (In fact, when Mama asks him if he wants to watch a video, he gets jazz hands and says in his best Beat Poet voice, "It's wiggle ti-i-i-ime.")

Food:  homemade smoothie popsicles or fig bars from Trader Joe's

Chores:  feeding the dog and watering the plants

Activities:  Exploring drawers, shelves, and closets. Opening tubes of chapstick or Neosporin. Playing with matches (now relocated to the top of the fridge.) Dragging the toilet paper down the hall. Squirting The Good Reverend Buckley with the squirt bottle. Peeing outside. Also, going to tumbling class with Gramma and talking on the phone.

Things to take in his bed during naptime:  Lambie, two matchbox cars, and fishie.

OTHER FUN FACTS:

He always brings home a stick - from any walk, visit to the park, or other outside adventure.

When he gets in trouble for something, particularly when he has been sat on a stool for a time out, he looks up with his big, blue eyes and says, "I love you, Mama."  Mama is not sure if this is supposed to be an intentional distraction or if he associates discipline with love - whenever we are done with a form of discipline, we snuggle and remind him that he is loved. What's your best guess, reader?

He's almost potty trained - now getting himself up at night to go potty and waking in the morning with a dry diaper.

His love for music has prompted us to sign him up for violin lessons using the Suzuki method.  He starts on Sept. 11th. More info on that once he has a few lessons.

Imaginative play is fun!  He makes chamomile tea for his teddy bear, serves Mama scrambled eggs, has sword fights with imaginary pirates.

He is finally using a pillow, but still prefers to sleep without a blanket.

He can freak out over a spider just as dramatically as Mama. (Note:  Mama only freaks out over Black Widows. She knows the difference between a dangerous spider and a benign one.)

Potty Training in The Pod

We're getting there. We started getting "serious" (if what we do qualifies as serious) a few months ago when Little P began a several-weeks-long campaign of bare bottomed-ness. He is now (mostly) in underwear. If you care to read about our journey, here it is.  If you have better things to do than to dwell upon the waste removal habits of a two-and-a-half-year-old, just skip this post.

To start off, some mamas are very good at setting goals and, with laser-like focus, meeting them.  Others are very good at doing things the way they are "supposed" to, as described by an expert or in a book.  I am neither of these. I can take those approaches, on occasion, when motivated to, but mostly I read up on my options and then see how things go once I jump into it. I'm the intuitive sort. (A total NF on the personality scale.) So it went with potty training.

I have heard of mamas who take a week to focus intensely on potty training. Some books claim that a child can be fully trained in that amount of time. (I question how "fully trained" would be defined...#1 and #2? Able to take naps in their undies? Trustworthy at the grocery store in undies? In a week?!)

I did not even attempt this method because I know myself well enough to see that this would be a dangerous way to go about it in The P-Pod. Here's why: I don't like to fail. I don't like doing things that I'm failing at. I am trying to get over this, but even the consciousness I have of my neurosis is not enough to prevent the feelings of frustration from arising.  I also have the habit of resenting the people or things that did not perform as expected.  By this I mean that, if I work hard and do everything I'm supposed to do and the result is not the one we were seeking, I feel annoyed and cheated and very, very irritable. (This will go away eventually, but still...)

I knew that if I set a deadline (one week, two weeks, by the end of the month) for Little P to be fully potty trained, I would be frustrated with him if we didn't make it. He doesn't need that kind of pressure. He doesn't need Mama's neurosis weighing him down like that.

I also knew that I did not feel like putting that much effort into it. Seriously...do you know how annoying it is to pull pants and undies and shoes off every thirty minutes, only to find that nothing comes out? That's nearly 30 trips to the toilet every day! Egads. Props to you mothers who actually did it that way. 

there's lots more...to keep reading, click the link

Nature Walk - Lake Hodges

This is what we do, every week or two; head out to some wooded area where we can smell the California brush and take a walk.  We call it hiking, though that's only because a quarter mile feels like a legitimate hike to two-year-old legs. This little jaunt started near a tire swing, took us through a eucalyptus grove and out into the open.  We found sticks and bird feathers and surprisingly pink flowers that popped up randomly amidst a lot of dead golden grass.

A few notable things:

1. Benjamin climbed a tree for the first time.

2. The striped legwarmers were all his idea.  It was actually quite warm that day.

Oh, lovely apples! Hanging on a potted tree. Apples that the boy doth water, sustaining life so fervently!



Ack! Lovely apples! What happened to thy perfect flesh? Perhaps a little elf passed by who thought thou looked too fresh?



Dear, lovely apple! I must apologize. The boy who acted as your tender took another guise.



Oh, my innocent boy! Tempted there to bite. Surely the sweetness of the fruit brought you much delight!

This Week's Fort

Mama was feeling a little out of ideas this week, and then she remembered...it had been WEEKS since The P-Pod's last fort!


Thus, one was constructed. Little P took his books inside, and his Lambie, and a Matchbox car or two, and happily stayed busy without getting into any lotions or soaps of any sort.


Any kids want to come play?

Uh-Oh

We've been out in the sun lately, and Little P is obsessed with applying his own sunblock.


This would not be a problem, except that he's two. He has no concept of enough.


Mama came across this lovely scene after a migraine had descended, and she had spent 20 minutes talking to Grandma. Little P was quietly, and busily, occupying himself in the next room.



It's a good thing Grandma was taking him home that night. Mama is not sure she could have handled much more of this.


One whole tube - emptied.