The decorations of Christmas passed

Are finally down. And I literally mean down. They are littered and stacked all over the bathroom floor, waiting to be up again.

The living room seems so funny. The girls walked in last night from church and looked around. They could tell something was funny, but couldn't quite place what had changed.

Melody seems content to let Christmas go, as she knows that birthday can't come until Christmas has gone. In fact, each day this week she has volunteered a little extra cleaning to be ready for her guests. Dixie is still holding out. She grabbed one fake poinsettia sprig and returned it to the centerpiece on the dining room table. It sits among the candles and yellow roses 'so that it can always be at least a little bit Christmas.'

Thank you, Backyardigans

For singing this morning about someone who is ugly, mean and doesn't change her underwear. That is EXACTLY the kind of positive influence my children need in their lives.

I expected slightly more of you than, say, Cartoon Network or the Disney shows on after noon. I was clearly asking to much. My 'No Nickelodeon' policy is now back in full-force.

Only two more pounds to lose

Until I'm down to the weight I was at when I started a diet this time last year. Encouraging, isn't it?

I have this neat Auntie

Who sends the kids birthday and Christmas money. I usually stick it away for their future, but the last two times it has come (the August birthdays and Christmas) I decided to use it for supercool stuff we don't ordinarily do.

So, in August, we went on a family adventure to Natural Bridge Caverns.


I thought I was the Coolest Mommy in the world for planning this adventure, until we actually got inside. Charlie likes to run and the path is slippery, wet, steep and can land you in some really fancy rocks that they don't want you touching. And I kind of forgot that Dixie is deathly afraid of heights. Except for the screeching, clinging big-child, and the tantrum-having, wild-running tiny-child, things were great up until the point where middle-child had a fit over a deer in a gift shop.

So, no adventures with Christmas money. This time I thought I'd play it safe and do some shopping. I have this little spot in my kitchen that is supposed to be a tall counter that you stick bar stools under, but I have no desire to have my children drag bar stools around the house, climbing on them, falling over and getting into things. So I thought it would be the neatest place to put in a little play kitchen. That way they could play cook right next to me while I really cook and we could have this fabulous family togetherness thing going on. The play kitchen can fit right under the little countertop and have it's own cozy spot, out of the way of the real kitchen space and not invading the living room.

This was a fabulous idea with only one small problem. All toy kitchens I scoped out were either too tall or to wide for the space. I have looked for years, because I think I first had this idea when Melody was about eighteen months old. I did get some little wooden preschool kitchen pieces off ebay, but they became storage cabinets and junk holders because they didnt closely enough resemble actual kitchen components for the kids to figure out what to do with them.

I was again googling my little heart out, trying to find a kitchen when my imaginary friend Christi stumbled upon this:



It fits, perfectly. And it looks cool. And, despite being quite small, actually has enough components to it to be fun. Added bonus: imaginary friend's imaginary husband is a real-life Costco employee willing to buy it with his discount and free shipping.

I bought a huge set off food to go with it. I couldn't get a picture of the actual set, but it is something like this:

Melody is in heaven. Each night, she arranges all 120 pieces of her food, her dishes and utensils neatly in her kitchen before going to bed. She arranges each french fry so that the zig zags align.

And because Santa Claus is incredibly brilliant and brought them a tea cart and breakfast set, they like to play 'cooker.' One girl asks your order and writes it down, then tells it to the other girl. She is the cooker, wearing the apron. Then the waitress elaborately arranges it on the tea cart and wheels it to you. The tray is removable, so you can dine luxuriously on your plastic foods.

Tea cart (with tea set) and breakfast set:

As an added bonus, Charlie loves nothing more than to remove the removable tray and race the car around the house, making vrrooooming sounds and shrieking with maniacal laughter. The girls LOVE it when he does that.

Charlie Speaks

This morning, he requested his breakfast foods: Cheese! Mac! Diet Coke!

This afternoon, Melody got a new toy. It is a Sleeping Beauty royal bed that converts into a throne. Charlie finally got his turn with it and begins to examine it top to bottom, searching for the button. Disappointed, he asks Melody, "Button?" She tries to explain that their is none. Unsatisfied, he takes it to Dixie. "Button?" and finds himself no more satisfied with her answer. He picks it up again, takes it across the room, stomping. He is asserting, "Button! Dadd-e Fined!"

When not even his hero can find the button to the toy, his interest is lost and he goes back to his new favorite standby, the construction backhoe that an auntie got him for Christmas. It has six buttons and is therefore clearly superior.

Temporal Displacement

Dowlan left town Thursday to do a job interview in another city, so I sat the girls down that day to explain to them that Daddy would be gone before they went to bed, but would be back tomorrow. By Friday, Melody is sorely missing him.

Melody: I miss Daddy and it isn't fair that he won't be back until tomorrow.
Gretchen: He'll be back today! It won't be that long at all.
M: But you said he'd be back tomorrow.
G: But I said that yesterday. It IS tomorrow.
M: It is not Tomorrow. Today is Today.
G: True, but yesterday's tomorrow is today.
M: So you mean that Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow? That's Impossible! It doesn't make any sense! You can't change days like that!
G: Fine. I lied. Daddy won't be home tomorrow. He'll be home today.
M: You shouldn't lie to me. That is really mean.
G: Do you want me to call him to tell him to not come home until tomorrow?
M: But it IS tomorrow today from yesterday.
G: Now you're making sense!

Charlieman

Has finally decided that he has something to say. I was just about to start the process to have him evaluated when, on Saturday, he started talking. He has put together 3-5 word sentences, asked for things, and named things. He said at least a hundred words on Saturday that I never even knew he knew.

This is a blessing and a curse. He now makes food requests, has television preferences and insists on picking his own clothes. It has come in handy, though. This morning, I learned 1) Dowlan keeps a stash of doughnuts in the house, 2) where they are, and 3) Charlie knows where they are.

Oh, and my new scale has come in handy. I lost 120 pounds by buying it.

I had to go buy another scale

because my old one kept telling me I weighed too much.

Maybe it's something about the name?

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bar/981221306.html

Philosophy

A journey of a thousand miles ends in a very large pile of laundry.

We are home, eleven days after we left.