Off Duty

Thanks to some nice kid watching by Amy and Eran, I've not only been able to "sleep" in every day here, but also gone running each day too. The kids get up early (before 6) and are quickly tearing around the house screaming. Eran was on kid duty 2 days and Amy one. I stay in my room and try to sleep more which has been mildly successful.
Saturday Amy and I went for a 3 mile run. Sunday, Dad and I went for a 6 mile run which turned into a run/walk for me. I hadn't run 6 miles since the half marathon and the So. Cal heat was a bit much for someone who usually works out at o' dark thirty. Then today, I rode Amy's bike from Amy's to Santa Monica and then did a 5 mile hike/run with Dad in Pacific Palisades. Very hilly. Dad drove me back even though I said I would be fine riding it. So it was a half marathon-plus weekend which is good considering I have the muddy buddy next weekend.

Things that happen when Rachel and the kids aren't here

Today I consolidated all the random boxes, bags, and envelopes of photos we had tucked around our house, and sorted them into four storage boxes: Rachel pre-me, me pre-Rachel, Rachel and I pre-kids, and Parker and beyond. I got boxes at Target specifically for this purpose.

I cleaned out the three built-in drawers in our hallway, which were crammed with photos, but also christmas decorations, 2/3rd of the Star Wars trilogy in VHS, a hood ornament for a 1965 Ford Falcon, some old work notebooks of mine circa 2002, a bunch of knotted extension cords, a tire pressure guage, a philips head screw driver, miscellaneous plastic farm animals, and about two lucky bags of trash. (Actually, I put the Star Wars tapes in the trash. Kept the hood ornament, though.) Plus, I waxed the wood runners on each drawer for easy opening and closing.

I bought some deep storage containers for moving some of the kids current toys out of rotation, which is my planned activity for the evening.

I've also watched 6 episodes of the BBC series Robin Hood, worked about 6 hours, toured the newly renovated Oakland Museum, and slept 10+ hours per night two nights in a row.

Ice Skating

This afternoon I took Eli ice skating. For some reason I thought she might really like it and be good at it. I was right, but she is still just a little young. She never got too frustrated even after falling a few times and even tried to do it without holding my hands. She kept asking why she couldn't wear roller skates because that would be easier than those "sharp things on my boots". After a few times around the rink holding her up in different ways (in front of me, with me skating backward, and me holding her jacket up), she wanted a break. One more time around. Then another break. Then done.

We'll try again in a year or so.

Swimming.

Went swimming with the kids today.

Parker figured out how to do a back flip and taught Oliver.
Elizabeth figured out how to do a front flip and taught Miranda.
Parker tried to do his swim test (swimming 25 yards freestyle). Did it great as a practice with no one watching, but then stopped 2 feet before the end the real time. They made him swim it again since he was so young (not many 5 year olds ask to take the swim test) and there was a teacher in his lane and he lost it and started crying. He was just too tired. 75 yards in 8 minutes is too hard for a little guy. He was sad and said he wanted to try again when he was 6.
The girls are quite the swimmers these days. I'm still nervous, but they seem damn good to me.

Going again tomorrow with Grammy and Ginny.

L.A.

Drove to LA today with the kids. Not a bad drive. They were pretty good. They only watched TV for about 2 hours which I didn't think was much considering they had 6 DVDs of Dora crap to choose from. Two stops to run around and one to get gas. We played some nice games of "I Spy" which is hard with Miranda since she said, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with a P" and then later tells us it is a Truck. Parker on the other hand was really into giving fun words like "Four Oh Five" (the freeway).

Kids were delighted, as always to be at Amy's house. They play so well together these days. No period of awkward shyness anymore. They just jump in and start running around as if taking up from where they left off last time we were here. Julia was asleep when we arrived, but when she woke up, she ran out and joined in.

In the evening, I added up Garage Sale Tags as Amy and Eran played quintet music with 2 violinists and a clarinetist. I don't know if they were good or bad, but it sounded nice from the kitchen. I like the deeper sounding instruments more I think. From what I heard, it seemed like the guy deciding the music and the one with the most opinions was the one who kept messing up the most. I could be wrong since I'm musically challenged. Something I mentioned before I said to them, "I liked that last one." They laughed and said, "Yeah, it's Mozart."

Not sure the plan for tomorrow, but I hope it involves a run and a nap.

Zeke 1, Rainbow 0

Zeke continues to be interested in Rainbow the hamster. We moved Rainbow's cage to an area that Zeke can't really hang out in. He can get up to it, but there isn't much room so he balances there for a while and then jumps down.

Except last night.

At 4:30am, I hear a huge crash. I jump up immediately knowing what happened and go into the living room where all the contents of the cage including rainbow are on the floor and Zeke is completely freaking out. Somehow in the dark, I scoop up Rainbow who is running around the ground and put him/her in a box. Then I clean up all the hamster stuff/food/newspaper, put the plastic cage back together, and bring it all into my room with Rainbow in it. Then I close the door. It's now 5am and I'm wide awake. Damn it. Then I listen to Rainbow getting her room back in order. I'm pleased I didn't find Zeke with Rainbow in his mouth and for that I am grateful, but losing out on sleep for no good reason just sucks.

Tape

There is tape all over our house. On the walls, the floors, the rug, the furniture. It drives me up a wall not only because there is tape everywhere, but because the kids kept asking me to tear tape for them. They just couldn't do it on their own. So they tried to get it themselves with scissors and only ended up letting the tape go back on the roll. Then they would come to me asking me to "fix" the tape. The whole thing was maddening.

So when Miranda figured out how to get Tape on her own even before Elizabeth, I was thrilled. She was pleased as well, but not over the top.

Then today, I noticed that Elizabeth could do it too. I asked how she learned it and she said Miranda taught her. Then Miranda kept repeating, "Elizabeth, I'm so proud of you that you learned how to do tape all by yourself. You did a really good job and I'm really super proud of you."

Planning ahead.

Parker (to his friend): Lucas, you are going to die before me.

Lucas: What?

Parker: You are going to die before me.

Lucas: Why?

Parker: Because your birthday is September 26 and mine is December 14.

Lucas: Oh.

Copy cat or not.

Elizabeth really tries to be just like Parker or me a lot of the time. I don't notice it often since it is subtle without the gushing love I see in other younger children situations. Some examples...

Last night she asked if she could sleep in a new garage sale fleece jacket. I told her that was silly and people don't sleep in jackets. She said, "Ok." Then about 20 minutes, she came up to me and said, "Mommy, sometimes in the morning when you are waking up, you come out of your room with a jacket on." I confirmed this to be the case and then she said, "So, can I wear one too?"

She is big enough to sit in Parker's carseat now, which she loves and asks to do all the time when Parker isn't there. Miranda is too, but doesn't seem as infatuated with it as she is. Today when she got in, she said (just like Parker), "Headphone music please, CD 3 on Number 2!" which is exactly what Parker says.

She wants to wear Parker's underwear now.

She drew a picture of a map to Los Angeles today, which is what Parker has been doing all week in preparation for our trip on Friday.

There are countless more examples, but you get the point. If you ask her about it explicitly (ie "do you want to do this because Parker does it?"), she acts slightly embarrassed and shy.

Miranda...on the other hand (with the exception of the pony tail situation *which she can't do anymore*) doesn't seem to give a shit what me or Parker are doing. She marches to the beat of her own drum from her clothing choices to songs to her drawings. Right now she is drawing rainbows...damn well, I might add. She doesn't seem to copy anyone. She does what interests her. It's all very fascinating to watch.

Poker for Kids

Parker has started hitting, kicking and pushing other kids. Not just his sisters, but playgroup friends. We tried to talk to him about it and about alternatives. We tried to punish him for it with time outs or taking away privileges. Neither has worked and the hitting has continued and even gotten worse.

Michael suggested and implemented a new system using poker chips for rewards, fines, and credits for fun things like treats or outings of his choice. A friend of Michael's uses this method which good results.

I'm not entirely convinced yet we will get the desired results, but Parker seems to like it so far.

Today, he has lost 3 chips (pushing Miranda) and gained 6 (3 each for cleaning two rooms)

The kids.

I'm watching the kids (Ebbas and Susans) while they prep for the TBB garage sale. One would think that "watching" 7 kids would be tough, but as you tell (since I am posting this real time),it isn't.

First they played in pairs...Fiona and Miranda,Sebastian and Fletcher, Allison and Parker, but then they decided to play duck, duck, goose. Sebastian is apparently new to this game since he just kept saying duck. Miranda yells, "Say something else now! Say Goose!" So Sebastian walks around the circle saying "Goose. Goose. Goose."

Then they went on to a new game that I didn't follow that was some combination of duck, duck, goose and tag and was called JetPot. Parker was,of course, the maker and enforcer of the ridiculous rules.

At one point it seemed so quiet, I got up from Ebba's computer to see what was going on. I looked over at them all sitting on the floor. I counted, "Two, Four, Six, Seven." Yup...all accounted for. They all looked at me, as if to say, "Yeah? What is your problem?" It felt like we were missing a few, but weren't.

Now, Fiona, Elizabeth, Sebastian and Fletcher are drawing while Parker and Allison (later joined by Miranda) are playing something called Queen/King of the Mountain.Someone yells one of those and then says, "It's raining!" They others cracked up and it starts over. Apparently rain goes with the queen, but not king, something Miranda keeps pointing out to anyone that will listen.

Back when we all had babies and were covered in drool and whatnot, we looked forward to the days like these. I find it amazing the future is now the present.

Quads Plus

Thanks to twin plus one mom Jyllian, I got this book about where babies are made at the library. It's for 4 and up and seems pretty good. It's straightforward but uses all the real terminology. Parker seems pretty interested in parts of it. He really liked the part of the microscope showing very small things like sperm.

He also really liked the page that showed mommies with twins, triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets. He's decided he wants a singleton and quads. I told him good luck with that.

Egg Chair

Somehow I have found myself in a circle of friends who are very thrifty. They aren't cheap. They are just really good at finding deals and very good at not succumbing to impulse buys. You'd think, if you know anything about my mother, that I would be the same way. But nooooo. My sister got it, but it skipped over me. I'm impulsive, think more expensive is better and lose patience quickly when searching for deals. In fact, the last time I needed shoes, Susan did all the searching on Zappo's to find me some since I got overwhelmed immediately.

These same friends seems to have an amazing ability to get stuff free. Pianos, play structures, toys. They get them either from Craigslist or, and my mother would be proud, the side of the street.

For the last year or so, I've been eying this chair that looks like an egg and spins around at Ikea. It was not cheap and since really unnecessary, I hadn't bought it. Then one of my friends got the chair for very cheap on Craigslist. Then a few weeks later, my other friend actually bought it full price at Ikea. I was shocked. And happy. If she, who finds a $200+ wooden toy house on the side of the road for free and who has a huge play structure that she got for free in her backyard, could actually just buy it, so could I. So I did. As you can see, it causes both joy and heartache.

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong that I was very amused and simultaneously proud when Parker yelled out "Yoda!" in the supermarket the other day when he saw a box of granola bars with Shrek's picture on it?

Sick.

I picked up the latest bug going around yesterday. Fever. Chills. Sore Throat. All that. Michael offered to stay home today, but since I try to save those days for real emergencies, I just asked him to tell the kids I was sick. After that, they were super great. They left me alone, played very nicely all morning together, had a snack, and were generally very understanding of mommy lying on the couch watching tv. I arranged a ride for Parker to and from school and only had to resort to Dora for the girls around lunch time.

It's never fun to be sick, but I can't really complain too much about it today.

Don't even get me started.

Not ready for this conversation.

The kids have been asking a lot these days about different families. Those with two mommies, two daddies, one mommy, etc. Most of this is probably due to our friend Sue who is in our co-op on Mondays. Sue and Yana have twins and older daughter. Sue was pregnant with Stella, the older one, and Yana with the twins. But with the same sperm donor. They have asked where Stella's daddy is and don't seem satisified with the answer "they dont' have one".

Parker has been saying how he is going to have two daddies, one being Aidan. Miranda thinks she is going to have two mommies, one being Elizabeth. I had to explain about not being able to "marry" your sister, so she said "Fine, I'll marry Oliver."

So today, while Elizabeth and Miranda were in swim class, Parker says very loudly in front of all the parents waiting for their kids, "When I'm an adult and have two daddies, how will I have a baby if there is no mommy?"

Oh Shit.

So I tell him that the women have the eggs and the men have the "seeds". Not sure why I didn't just say Sperm, but that seemed too complex. He asked what kind of seed. I told him a seed that helped people grow.

Now, I sound like an idiot.

So I tell him that we can look at a book when we get home.

Luckily he drops it.

I guess I really need to practice this conversation, especially in light of the kids origins.

Timing is key.

Took the kittens to the kids classes today. Seemed like the kind of thing I should do and I was right. The kids all loved them. The kittens did ok and didn't crap on anything.

Then I got home and had a call from the animal shelter to immediately return the kittens. They were not suppose to leave the shelter. On 10 day observation hold for biting someone.

Nice.

A discussion

Elizabeth (coming down from their room): Is quiet-time done yet?

Me: Yes.

Elizabeth: Good. I'm gonna poop now.

Happy mother's day

In honor of Mother's day today, I made Rachel a BLT.

Magic

Parker has been wanting to do magic, even though he doesn't seem to get the concept. But today we created a magic box he could use to make his buddies disappear. The box has a false back to enable the illusion, but Parker didn't see the need to worry about the whole illusion aspect of things.

Forts

This weekend we built forts. We built a pretty nice one on Saturday which was up most of the day. It had a large main area, plus a long tunnel to get in. Elizabeth was so excited about it, she did a little dance.







Today, while Rachel was on a very wet training bike ride, we decided to spend the rainy morning with another fort. This time I broke out the ladder for some additional structural support, and this one took over most of the dining room.






Forts are awesome.

Miranda

Cat toys

Rachel had a training run this morning, so the kids and I spent the morning together at home. Since the kids were very eager to see the kittens in the back house, we spent the first part of the morning making cat toys. Parker made a bird on a string, Miranda made a sheep, and Elizabeth made a sun. They had a good time, and the cats did, too.

Pulls Up

For the first time in my life (or at least in my adult life), I did a pull up. Elizabeth saw me do it and wanted to try.

As promised...

Kids with Cats. Extra kids are Sebastian and Fletcher who also surprisingly enjoy kittens.

Trying to get the kids to smile

Whenever I try to get the kids to smile for a picture, it inevitably results in progressively worse pictures.





Parker's fake smile is espescially strained.





The fact is, they'll only be cute when they want to.

Five for five.

Boats, Fluffy, Hola, Lulu and one kiten that needs to be named by Michael are enjoying the bathroom in the cabana. Don't worry....they are foster kittens who are litterbox trained and eating on their own and we give them back in a couple weeks. To say the kids are smitten is a gross understatement. Totally boring 'kids and kitten photos' to come soon.

Everyone picked their own name...if you can put the right kitten name with the right Long family member, I'll mail you a cat toy.

The evidence and happy ending.

Girls were thrilled with their new boy hair cuts. They are super cute. And it's only hair, right???

Another difference between Miranda and Elizabeth.

When they cut each other's hair with kids scissors in the bathroom this morning, Miranda ran to tell me about it smiling and proud while Elizabeth knew she had done something wrong and hid the scissors and lied about it. Pics coming later.

Happy Birthday Michael

Even though the kids made Michael's bday presents in March, I waited until this morning to have the kids wrap them and do the cards. Miranda did an outstanding card of our whole family and Parker did a nice one of him and Michael playing golf this past weekend. Michael loved the piggy bank, cat food bowl for Zeke, and butter dish appropriately painted "Butter Place"










Then this evening, we had cake. But since Michael isn't eating cake (or really eating anything), and I shouldn't eat cake, I let the kids pick out a little cake for themselves. Miranda picked chocolate (duh), Parker lemon and Elizabeth picked carrot. They all devoured them after two rounds of Happy Birthday (required since Elizabeth blew out the other's candles and this made them very, very sad.)






Then Michael got my present. A new digital camera since we hate ours. And a funky little printer that makes tiny instant prints. Friday, Ebba is sitting and we are having a date night. A no food date night. Oh joy. Happy Birthday Michael!

No, she's a whore.

Miranda to Elizabeth in the car: My puppy is taking a big poop and I'm helping her.

Elizabeth: Is he doing a good job?

Miranda: No, she's a whore.

Elizabeth: She is?

Miranda: Yes, a whore. A whore.

Rachel: What is she Miranda?

Miranda: A whore.

Rachel: What? A hole?

Miranda: A WHORE!

Rachel: A whore?

Miranda: No, a WHORE!!!!!!!

Rachel: Elizabeth...what is she saying. A hole?

Elizabeth: No a WHORE! Not a hole. You don't understand what she is saying.

Rachel: I don't understand what she is saying.

Miranda: Mom, it's a girl puppy so it's a whore.

Rachel: WHAT?!?!?!

Miranda: Not a him, but a her.

Rachel: Oh, a her! Not a whore.

Miranda: Yeah, mom a her.

Time doesn't fly.

Miranda: It sure is taking a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time for me to grow up.

Me: Yup. It take a long time. Why do you want to grow up so fast?

Miranda: Because I want to have real kids and real babies. And you have to grow up to have them.

TPS: Bad Guys

While sitting near the water at the Jack London Farmer's Market on Sunday, Miranda says that we need to take a boat to San Francisco.

Parker says, "Are their bad guys in San Francisco? I don't think we should go there if there are."

Me: "There are bad guys everywhere. In San Francisco, in Oakland, in Los Angeles. But we'll do a good job of staying away from them.

What not to wear.

I discovered a very disturbing thing recently.

The girls seem to be wanting to dress and look like me.

It started with the mommy pony tail that Miranda requested. I though the label of mommy was a more generic mommy rather than Rachel mommy.

Then I noticed Elizabeth wanted to wear sunglasses on top of her head even when it wasn't sunny outside. Again I didn't really think much of it.

Then I remembered that they both despise skirts and dresses. I figured this was some genetic thing, but didn't actually realize that the girls have probably never seen me in either.

And then today, after Miranda requested "wearing clothes" to bed (for the 4th time in a row), I asked her, "Why do you like wearing clothes to bed?" She said, "I want to be like a mommy. You wear clothes, so I want to wear clothes."

I don't mind the fact that they want to be like me. I just worry about my complete lack of fashion sense, taste, style, awareness of trends or anything else that has to do with looks. Poor girls.

Thank god they have Susan in their lives otherwise, they would be wearing a short black cocktail dress at their wedding.

Trail Run/Walk

I'm doing this race in June where you both run and bike. For 6 miles, you switch off with a partner. One is running and one is biking and then after a mile, you swap. It's called Muddy Buddy since at the end, you have crawl through some kind of giant mud pit. It's basically just an excuse to have fun.

Since I haven't done any trail runs or mountain biking, I thought I should start and joined a group of people doing a 6 mile trail run near my house. It started out fine, but then immediately got incredibly steep. So steep, we had to just walk up it. But then it leveled out and was fine for a while. The fast folks stopped every so often to check the map, so us slow people were able to catch up regularly which was nice.

But apparently, we took one (or two) wrong turns and ended up in some other area with almost no idea how to get unlost. Lucikly we ran into a couple people who pointed us in the right direction and we made it back to our cars only going .34 miles over what we should have gone. We were all tired and thirsty and did a lot of walking.

Basically, I need to do this a lot more in the next 6 weeks. Yuck.

The Fifth Sense

At the lake today, Miranda said, "I think I smell chocolate."

I said, "Really, I don't smell anything and we don't have any chocolate."

She said, "I smell it coming from wayyyyyy over there near the vending machines."