Running Weekend

It's a running weekend for the Long Family. To start it off, I ran 6 miles (!) this morning. I just told myself I was going to do it and I did. Michael had suggested I try 4 or 5, but I knew I would go twice around the lake or once...nothing in between. I was pretty damn proud of myself as was Michael.

Then we drove Michael up to Napa Valley today for a marathon tomorrow. He didn't want to have to drive after running tomorrow, so we'll head back up tomorrow to cheer him at mile 20 and at the finish line. There are only 2500 people in this race, so I'm hoping spotting him won't be as tough as it was in Los Angeles in 2005. I still can't even imagine running 26 miles, but I never imagined running 6 either, so who knows.

He's at a hotel now, hopefully sleeping, which is what the kids are doing now after a day of a lot of driving and waiting and no napping. They were quite annoying in the car, but I suppose they actually did quite well considering.

Send Michael good thoughts!

Message from Miranda

Miranda just came into the kitchen to tell me NOT to call her downstairs. Since she wasn't upstairs, I was confused. She continued on, holding one finger up as if she is saying something incredibly important, that she is going to go upstairs to get in bed to go to sleep and I should not bother her. I told her that was OK, but she couldn't touch Parker's computer or jump on the bed. She confirmed she would do no such thing and then showed me what it looked like to close her eyes. She added that she couldn't sleep in her bed because her baby and elephant (new pillow from Aunt Monica) were already sleeping there.

About a minute later, she came downstairs and said, "I did it!" She said she did it without screaming and crying.

I think she is getting ready for tomorrow when, hopefully, she receives her long awaited reward for sleeping through the night 10 times.

Cross your fingers for her. And us.

Rotten Bananas

Our family has been eating a lot of bananas these days. We probably go through 15-20 each week (and that is without Miranda having any.) But still, I always end up with one or two mushy ones. I usually do banana bread, but this time did banana cake (who knew?) I even made the cream cheese frosting to go with it. Parker saw the cake and told me it was Lion's birthday (her twelfth this year I think) so we made the cake into her birthday cake with an 8 candle and all.

Cluck and other news

This morning, Parker was reading his new favorite book "Cluck O'Clock" to the girls. It's a story about a bunch of chickens that live on a farm and what they do all day long. Parker, of course, likes it because it tells the time of day throughout. At the end the chickens foil the fox with some feather waving and Miranda really likes that part.

After that, I told them to each get a new library book and I would read it to them before gymnastics class. Parker got this cluck book. Elizabeth grabbed some other book and ran back. Miranda was no where to be seen. I told her to hurry up. I asked her what she was doing. I told her again to get back with the book so we could start, but she didn't come. A few pages into Parker's book, she returns with "Five Little Ducks" and a big smile. This book was at the bottom of the stack so she obviously really wanted that specific book.

In other Parker news, he told me that when I'm 100 years old, I'll float up into the clouds. I asked him lots of questions about that statement, but got nothing more out of him.

He also said this morning that he wanted shoes with wheels on them so he could roll across the floor. I have no idea where he saw the shoes. I hope I never get them for him since they scare the crap out of me.

Trying to spell.

Parker brought this over to me tonight to show me. I asked him what it was. He said a picture of Parker, Miranda and Elizabeth on December 14th.

Not bad, eh?

Grandpa Tony stands up for Miranda

While running with my dad this weekend (which by the way I have never done and did for 4 miles on Saturday morning), he mentioned that although he enjoys the blog and reads it daily that he does not think I should criticize Miranda on it. He was quite passionate about telling me all the reasons why it wasn't a good idea to point our her deficiencies (ie she might read the blog one day, that it just isn't necessary even if it is true, etc). I kept telling him that I was just reporting the truth of our life and that it would be skewed if I didn't tell it all. He said that I don't have to print all the news that is fit. I wasn't really buying any of it until he said that some of the things that I (and others) might think of as "smart", "advanced", or perhaps "good" might not be and those behaviors or activities that I think of as "dumb" or "slow" might not be either. His examples included Miranda reading books differently than Parker or Elizabeth (who memorize the text) might infact be more impressive since she is making up stories based on the pictures without really knowing what is going on. Parker and Elizabeth never do this. Or Miranda coloring the eyes in the coloring book. It just seemed odd to me, but to my mother, the early childhood development pro who has been observing children ranging from 2-5 for years, it was extraordinary.

So...I'm not sure I'll follow my dad's request to the T, but I'll think about the posts a bit more before clicking "publish".

And Miranda, if you are reading this, my apologies.

Our trip home.

Our trip home from LA wasn't as great as our trip there. Parker was grumpy from the get go. Probably a combination of being tired, not wanting to leave, hunger and just a long weekend. We addressed the hunger after we found out our flight was postponed an hour. The earlier flight was full so we plopped down on the floor and Parker watched a video. On the flight, Parker did a color by numbers (very well, I might add) and then promptly fell asleep. Getting a sleeping kid and luggage off the plane was pretty hard, but luckily someone helped. Carrying him to the car one handed was another story.

But, we got home safe and sound and he crashed upstairs with Daddy, who had he not been half asleep and incredibly cranky, would have been very happy to see.

Fun with almost nothing.

Yesterday Amy, being the creative sister, brought out some planks of wood, some tubes and other pieces of wood and made some play things for the kids. They all like running up and down them or bouncing on them, but what Amy really liked was jumping on one end of the board while a child was standing on the other end which caused them to fly off. The first time she did it with Peter he flew up with legs apart and we all cracked up. Then she did it with Parker, while I held his hands. He went so high up in the air, we cracked up again. I have memories of Amy doing this at Venice Beach doing flips and other tricks on her way up and down when she was younger than Peter.






Then this morning, she brought out flour, salt, water with food coloring in it, scoopers, muffin tins, and other fun baking stuff and let Parker, Oliver, and Julia all just play with it. That lasted a good long while and each kid had fun in their own way.

A swinging good time.

After a morning with Grammy and Ginny playing at the playplace, getting a new letter/number toy, getting his yearly new shoes, and generally have a grand old time, Parker and the kids spent the rest of the day playing inside and out. The front yard has this amazing swing that Parker just loves. He goes very, very high and can't get enough of it. I, of course, get enough of it after just a few minutes, so mostly Eran and Amy pushed him, but Peter helped out for a bit. And then we did some swinging together.

Can I have more broccoli, please?

Miranda said this at dinner tonight, three big helpings worth. No interest in her rice pilaf, but keep that broccoli coming!

Trip to LA

After a short night's sleep Parker woke up asking if today was the 20th. I confirmed it was indeed and he practically started singing. Since it was only 5:30, waiting until 8:30 when we planned to leave was going to be hard for him. But we got through it and right at 8:30, we headed out.



We got a good parking spot, checked our one bag, and even got to skip the line at security by going in the Family entrance (who knew?) We picked up some gum, some jelly bellies for him and a trashy magazine for me. Then I went in search of coffee,but found Coco Crispies for him instead. We went back to the gate and got in our space (A 57 and 58). Parker was so excited walking down the ramp after handing his ticket to the guy at the gate.






Parker got a window seat. And even figured out the seat belt. Ted and Lion, of course, were there.





After our flight we went to get our baggage and find the shuttle to the city bus. Amy had offered to get us, but I figured a bus ride would extend the adventure.







It was a bunch of waiting and riding and walking, but Parker was fine with all of it and we arrived at Amy's house just before 1pm. Other than asking me every five minutes if we were in Los Angeles yet, he did great all day.

Poor tired Parker.

It's 10 o'clock and what is more bizarre than me being awake this late is that Parker is awake. I put him down at 7:30pm and he just can't fall asleep. Why? He is just so excited about his trip tomorrow. He talked about it all day. This is more exciting than his birthday. More than Christmas. More than anything I can remember. He is talking about things Oliver (his cousin) said months ago. He is asking when Peter's birthday is. He is talking about pictures in Amy's room (the last place we slept). He is wondering Peter will read Bread and Jam for Frances to him. He wants to play with Oliver's maze game. He is just besides himself.

If I wasn't so worried about him being a tired wreck tomorrow, I'd think the whole thing was terribly sweet.

Elizabeth likes books.

At some point in the last few weeks, Elizabeth has decided that she can read books. She sits down with a big stack of books and read them almost verbatim. It isn't quite perfect, but pretty close (not at all like Miranda who does some sing songy thing that describes the picture or something else completely while turning the pages.) When she gets to a page she can't remember or doesn't know, she holds it up to me and says, "I don't know this page" and waits for me to remind her. She goes off to do this by herself and can sit there for 20-30 minutes reading out loud. Sometimes she reads to her baby, but mostly she just reads to herself. On occasion I've asked if she wanted me to read to her and she says (as she says with almost everything these days), "NO. I do it myself."

A good morning.

I was incredibly productive this morning. Before we left the house at 9:30am, I

1.) Packed for our trip to LA
2.) Gave the girls baths
3.) Made Chocolate Chip cookies
4.) Made lunches
5.) Straightened up the house
6.) Did (and folded) two loads of laundry
7.) Loaded the car up with bikes, trikes and strollers
8.) Took a shower
9.) Gave the kids breakfast and had some myself.

Not bad for someone playing single mom as Michael is out of town.

Change of Plans

Months ago, we had arranged that I would watch Ava today since Allison had to work at the preschool. With the girls in their own school this morning, I thought it would be a bit tricky. I was looking forward to a nice morning with just one child, but when I saw all of them playing together and so happy to see each other, I called the daycare and told them, The girls won't be coming today. Then we all went to the zoo. It was like I had triplets. Everyone did exceptionally well, walking most of the way. We even got a private show from the otters who are rarely out. Ava wasn't as happy about the merry go round as my girls were, but everyone loved lunch and we got back just minutes before Parker, Beatriz and Ava drove up.

The day made me wonder whether triplets might be easier since the balance of power would be off. Right now we have bully and victim, but with Ava there, everyone got along great. Would we have bully, bully, victim if they were all mine? Or bully, victim, victim? Or friends, friends, friends?

Thank god I'll never find out the answer to that one.

swimming progress

Parker is doing incredibly well in swim class. Today they started teaching him to swim across the pool taking a breath every 5 seconds. They first practiced just going under water for 5 seconds and then popping out and going back under quickly. He was great at that. Then she had him start swimming, telling him to count and then breathe. He had a little trouble since he sort of stopped kicking when he came up to breathe, but it was still damn impressive. He can also swim on this back and then flip over to his stomach with a little assistance from the coach. He can also dive to the bottom of the pool by himself to get a ring. That's 4 feet down!

I think by summer, he will be able to swim very well in a pool. Now...I just need to get to work on the girls...

uh oh.

After dinner tonight I was discussing our day with Michael. He asked how swim class was meaning did the girls drive me up a wall like always (it's hard to sit still being quite for 25 minutes, I realize.) I told him that I used a new secret weapon tonight called the L-o-l-l-y P-o-p. (Spelling it out.) We then discussed how it kept them occupied, seated and with the mouths otherwise busy. A win, win, win.

Then Parker, who was sitting on the floor nearby playing with numbers, said, "Does P-O-P spell Pop?"

Michael answered, Yup and it took us a few seconds to realize what just happened.

In other letter news and I'm sure I don't have the first kid that has asked this, but today Parker said, "Why is the w written with two v's and not two u's?"

I told him I had no idea.

Drawings.

It's been raining a lot up here. All the kids were off school today for the holiday and I wasn't in the mood to deal with the rain. So we just stayed home today. We did some bouncing around on the balls Mom gave them, then some swinging from the doorway and then some drawing on the ground. Parker continues to do some nice drawings and Miranda continues to draw on herself.

I still can't believe it.

We took the kids to Cal Academy on Saturday morning. It was a mob scene, but since Michael was there too (his first time) we were able to see the penguins, fish, and the kids play area.

On leaving the kids play area, the docent asked if the kids wanted a stamp (stamping hands is incredibly fun for children for some reason that I have yet to figure out.) All three love stamps so I walked them over to the stamp area and the lady said, "Would you like a butterfly or turtle?" to Elizabeth. I was all set to jump in and either ask the question again to Elizabeth or just tell the lady "it doesn't matter" or "butterfly" when Elizabeth did something that Parker has never done. She actually answered her. She said, "Butterfly please." I was shocked. I turned to Michael and said, "Oh My God did you hear that? She answered her!" And before I could regain my composure, she asked Miranda what she wanted. I assumed she would want exactly what Elizabeth wanted. But noooo, she too answered her and said, "I would like a Turtle please." Holy Shit! Are these my children?

Parker true to form did not respond to her and got a turtle stamp.

Pineapple!

Ebba invited us to a Iron Chef Pineapple Party. As she said she invited people who like to cook and me. We had to bring a dish made with pineapple. There was suppose to be some kind of judging, but it either happened after we left or didn't happen. In thinking about what to make, I consulted my favorite recipe source...Amy. She recommended a pineapple, bacon, shrimp skewer since it was easy and delicious. Then I searched on the "internets" for sprimp, bacon, and pineapple skewers and only 84,000 entries came up. I decided on a combo of a couple, got the ingredients, and then Michael and I rolled and skewered them. We did the first batch on the grill, but some of the bacon got stuck so we tried the broiler the next round and voila! They turned out great and people at the party seemed to like them, but then again what is not to like about shrimp and bacon?

New toy

Happiness is...

Miranda colors eyes

Not the happy lion.

I've been looking for this book called The Happy Lion at the library for the kids, but they don't seem to carry it. It's about a lion that gets out of a french zoo and freaks everyone (even those people that come to say bonjour to him every day in the zoo) out. He doesn't understand and it takes a little boy to calmly walk him back to his cage. We have it on DVD but not book.



Today, Elizabeth and Miranda were looking at a Madeline book and they started to "read it". I've never read them Madeline books before, so they just made up whatever words they wanted. The first thing they said was "Bonjour Happy Lion". Which I thought was quite clever.

Then Miranda came over to me and said, "This is not Happy Lion" and looked very sad. I confirmed the truth and told her to get another book. Which she did.

the Long Bribe-a-thon

The girls have been fighting over this one stupid pink baby for weeks. (Yes, they have others.) It was the baby I got for Parker when the girls were born. He gave it a bottle and played with it for a few days. Now it is the prized possession. I finally got sick of it and rather than taking it away, I said to Miranda, if you sleep 5 days in a row without screaming and crying, I will get you a new better pink baby. She was immediately intrigued. Michael, as usual, was skeptical. Miranda isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he thought there was no way she would be able to comprehend or even remember or be able to modify her behavior even if she did. But...

After the first night with no screaming and crying, she woke up and wanted the new pink baby. We explained the rules again.

Day two, same thing. We showed her the sticker chart and the spaces left for 3, 4 and 5.

Day three, she said only 2 more left.

Day four, only one more left as she held up her finger.

And on day five, she woke up twice in the middle of the night, cried out for Mommy a few times and then went back to sleep. It was not a nightmare or a mini nightmare. She was awake, she started to freak out and then she went back to sleep. She really wanted that baby.

She woke up in the morning before the others (which never happens) and came out to find me and her new pink baby. She was thrilled and played with it the entire day.

She is now adjusting to the next 10 stickers she has to get to receive the matching baby stroller and baby swing.

Sure bribing is probably one of the lowest forms of parenting, but if I have to buy that kid a baby once a week for the rest of her life to get a good night's sleep, I say it is worth it.

Jackass Part II

I've been trying to be better about not swearing as much around the kids. Today, we were driving in the car and someone did something totally stupid and dangerous in front of me. I gave a big sigh and went Sheesh! Elizabeth said, "JACKASS!"

I'm so proud.

Valentine Cards

At the latest parent meeting at Parker's preschool, we were told each kid had to bring 19 valentines day cards to school on Friday. The only instruction was that he had to write his name on each of them.

I thought there was no way in hell I was going to get Parker to sit and make 19 cards, so I bought a bunch of cards at Target and was just going to have him sign them. Then I thought I should at least give him a chance, so I got some paper, cut it into card like shapes and gave him a pen, some stickers, some hearts and told him to have at it. My only instructions were that he had to write his name somewhere on the inside of the card. Oh and occasionally I reminded him to use hearts somewhere on it.

Here is the result. I was very impressed.

Dentist for Three

I took the kids to the dentist today. I decided to ditch the kid friendly dentist (since the wait was always very long) and took them to my dentist, who is anything but kid friendly (I've never seen him without a mask.) After a long wait (which is quite unusual at my dentist), we went in. Miranda was first. I held her on my lap in the chair and laid back. She was absolutely perfect. He checked her out and actually brushed her teeth with one of the electric instruments that was quite loud. He also used the water thing and sucker in her mouth, which she also handled amazingly well. The dentist was quite impressed as I was. This is a girl that cries if you look at her funny, but yet she is perfect at the doctor or dentist.

Eli was next and started off great, but then quickly decided that this was pretty bad and started crying. We tried to continue, but gave up before he got to the bottom teeth.

Parker was last and was on the chair by himself. He wasn't happy about the whole thing, but was a little trooper and didn't cry or complain too much. I was quite proud of him. I don't need to bring the girls back for a year, but Parker goes every 6 months now. I made it to 22 without a cavity so I'm hoping they get there too.

Calendar

For a while, I've been trying to get Parker to understand the concept of the calendar and dates, but he never quite did. Which I found surprising considering it is all about numbers.

But with our upcoming trip to LA, he has gotten it. Everyday he says, "Is it February 10th? Does that mean we have 10 more days until our airplane trip?" (I said, is that more or less than two weeks? Less! Is that more or less than one week? More!) He also told me that Daddy is working at his school after February 28th (which meant in March). And he asked me what day is birthday is this year. And the other day he said, "Is 2010 next?" Since he asked that question in the middle of the day out of nowhere, I had no idea what he was talking about and say, "Huh? Is what next?" Then he said, "What's after the 31st day in December?"

Tom Sawyer

Somehow I've convinced the kids that unloading the dishwasher is really fun thing to do and they should always help me do it. It works out great for me since bending down to the lower rack is a killer on my still-not-yet-recoveredfrom-three-babies-2c-sections-breastfeeding-andcarrying-around-infantseats back. The kids all crowd around and hand me plates, bowls, cups, and forks. (I take out the knifes before they start.) Each time I say, "BOWL!" "GLASS!" "BIGGGG SPOON!" They think this is hilarious. I have no idea why, but I'm not arguing with it and will enjoy the help for as long as I can get it. I'm a little nervous about them dropping a big plate or bowl, but so far, so good.

Breakfast

Parker has been requesting Bread and Jam for breakfast.

Any guesses on what his latest favorite book is???

Miranda reads

Not to be out done by her sister...



And here she is reading In the Night Kitchen to the Big Kitty.