I forgot to note that when we went over the Grapevine on Saturday there was tons of snow. All over the hills and right up on the ground. I was more impressed than the kids. Parker did exclaim that it sometimes snows in the fall.
I had forgotten about it until I took a look at my car yesterday and it was dirty. The kind of dirty that only kicked up snow and ice could cause.
Tonight before bedtime, I talked to the kids about how they should stay in bed until 6:30 and only then should they get up, turn on lights, play with toys, talk, etc. I then added that they could get up and get out of bed to go to the bathroom at anytime as long as they were quiet and went right back to bed.
So during songs, Elizabeth got up, went pee, and came back.
Then, about an hour after they went to sleep, she came out of the room in a daze, went to the bathroom, peed and came out and stood in the doorway. I asked if she needed help and she said, "Can I have a tiny little bit of water?" I said sure and to get it herself. She did and then we heard her running the water again. Then she went into her room and back into bed with the water dripping
I went into the bathroom to turn off the water and saw that she had left her cup in the sink full of water for Zeke.
Very sweet.
My mom made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, as she always does. I ate way more than I should have, but such is life.
When the pumpkin pie came out, Elizabeth just wanted some whip cream. So I gave her some. She wanted some more. When it became clear that the small bowl that my dad made was not enough, I put the contents of it on her plate and she ate it all. She was quite, quite happy.
Parker and I discovered that we are perfect Pumpkin pie buddies. He only likes the crust and I only like the filling. We shared two pieces that way. Miranda, god bless her, ate the pie and whip cream and was very content with all of it.
My mom was cleaning out the crawl space in our house and came upon a box of my stuff. There were some pictures from my ballet days, my high school days, some random earlier shots, my high school dipolma and photo ids, some drama stuff and two real finds.
The first was this Nutcracker. This was the actual nutcracker used in 1977 when I was Marie in the Los Angeles Ballet's version of the annual classic. Many of you know this story, but for those of you who don't...I was cast as a sentry and punchinello when I was eight years old. It was great fun going to rehearsal and hanging out with real ballet dancers. A few weeks before opening, the Director, John Clifford, asked me to be the understudy for the lead, called Marie not Clara, in this production. And then on opening night, only 5 or 6 hours before the curtain was to rise, he told me I was going to dance the lead that night and the rest of the run. (Helena's mother was causing problems and they had enough of her.) I had two run-thru's and then performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in front of over 3000 people. I was even alone on stage at one point in front of all those people. The nutcracker seen below was used in the production and even has gel on the back so when Fritz (Marie's brother) threw it on the ground it didn't actually break. I treasured it for a good long while, and I'm very pleased to have it here again. I've had many great times in my life including marrying Michael, having kids, saving and adopting animals, but it's that day when John Clifford said to me, "Rachel, you'll be Marie tonight", that I replay over and over in my mind more than anything else.
The second thing in the box was letters from Michael. Lots of them. In high school and college we were friends. More specifically, in high school, he was dating my friend Area. In college, he went to Berkeley and I went to Santa Cruz. I'm not sure what started it, but we started writing each other letters. (This was before email was widely used.) He would type his and I would hand write letters back. I don't think we discussed anything too meaningful or deep, but we did write a lot and I remember looking forward to getting his letters in my college mail box. I would sit on the bench in the courtyard with the ocean in the distance and smile as I read them. All of the letters he wrote me are there. Some of them even include short stories he wrote (for himself or me). I'm looking forward to re-reading them, as is he. If someone told us back them, we would be married with three kids, we both would have died laughing.
Amy and family came over for Thanksgiving left overs on Friday. The kids sat at a "kids table" for the first time that I can remember, although Amy claims it has happened before.
We also ate my traditional birthday cake, made my Grandpa Tony this year.
Before dinner, the kids goofed off with Uncle Eran. It's all fun and games until someone injures his back.
The rest of us watched.
The kids are always initially concerned with Grandpa Tony, but they warmed up fast this trip and both seemed to enjoy hanging with him. Julia joined the fun Friday evening.
On Wednesday, Mom, David and I took the kids to the Natural History Museum in LA. The kids love the animal exhibits at the Cal Academy so I thought they would love this. And they did. But Mom and I did not because apparently we didn't get the memo that it was field trip day at the Museum. We couldn't walk five feet without being swarmed by twenty kids in blue shirts. I can normally navigate such big places with three kids no problem, but all these other kids stressed me out and I just wanted to leave. So after a while we did and visited the nearby rose garden which was lovely. The kids were hungry but the only thing we could find was McDonalds so I waited in line with the 50 or so high school kids who also decided they were hungry for what seemed like days. I was shocked when my mom actually ate a burger and fries, something I've never seen. Everyone then enjoyed an ice cream from a cart and we headed home. It would have been a great place to visit on any other day. Oh well.
The drive to LA today was exceptional with only two exceptions. The kids watched their new videos, used their new coloring books, did their connect the dots, made up stories about their buddies, sang songs, talked to each other, and in general were delightful.
The only two downsides were:
1.) Parker asked about every 20 minutes if we were on the 405 yet. And every time he saw a sign for any other route, freeway, highway he liked to talk about it. Like, "Mom, there is a 14. Did you see that? A 14! Where does highway 14 go? Are we going on 14? Is 14 longer or shorter than 238? I think 238 is the shortest freeway. Even shorter than 13. So 14 must be longer than it. Oh looks, freeway 210! Oh, wait. Did you see that Highway 5 used to have 2 lanes, but now it has 4 lanes? That is crazy."
I tried to distract him with I Spy, the Alphabet Game, and anything else, but every time he saw a number, he would just go off.
2.) We stopped three times. Two McDonalds Playplaces and One Denny's (Both rest areas we normally used were closed for budget reasons. Damn state!). At each one, Miranda had her 'poop' issues involving lots of crying and screaming, dragging her to the toilet, and soiled underwear. It was if we regressed completely to 2008. It was very frustrating to say the least.
Anyway, we made it here without any tickets, food leftover and relatively happy children.
The girls were complaining today that it is a long time until they turn 4 years old. Parker told them they had to wait a whole year from when they turned 3. I asked him if he knew how many days that was. He said No, so I told him to figure it out.
He did fine adding the first couple months in his head, but then the 31s sort of started to throw him off. That is until he figured out (and articulated) that it was much easier to just add 1 first and then the 30 for the months that had 31 days in them. He got to the end and had 335 which is when we realized we missed June.
It's interesting that my mind would never have made the leap to "just adding one first". I kept trying to do the "long math" in my head (carry the one, etc). But Parker's brain figured out the short cut pretty damn fast.
In other math news...
He was also pretty excited the other day to tell me there are 4 ways to count to 12. By 2's, 3's 4's and 6's.
And he has started to get division. I had to say it like this: "How many 2's are there IN a 12? So then 12 divided by 2 is ?"
And lastly and somewhat related, I had to work in his class yesterday for the annual Stone Soup making (which is apparently required in all preschool and kindergarten classes). They did a few things with numbers. Nothing major at all, just counting and had you not known that Parker can do multiplication and division already you would never have guessed. He was just like any other kid shouting "39" a bit late after the teacher asked what came after 38. He didn't tell the class it was 13 times 3 or 100-61. He just smiled and was happy with 39.
He did however, when one kid forgot what came after Wednesday in the days of the week, start making up new words for the days of the week (showing, to me at least, that this concept was boring.) But then he looks like a moron for saying Thurday, Friesday, Satday.
1. ) I went to the Chiropractor today... something I've been doing for a couple months now. I don't think it's actually working, but I'm seeing it through. Today, he asked me what I was doing for Thanksgiving. I said I was heading to LA. I added, Santa Monica really.
He said, Oh, I used to live in Santa Monica.
Oh really, where?
12th and Montana.
Excuse me? That is where I live. Where on 12th and Montana?
Oh, I lived in the back-house of this big house two houses up from Montana.
Seriously? You lived at Dominic's house?
Yeah, Dominic. About 10 years ago.
Well, my parents lived and live next door.
How crazy is that? My friggin' chiropractor who is a dad of twins lived next door to my parents.
2.) Without getting into too much gory detail, it appears I'm having more medical issues. I had to go in for some blood tests the other day. I took the girls with me. I explained to them what was going to happen, how it might hurt a little, but it's no big deal and they could watch. When the guy put the needle in my arm, Elizabeth started crying. She was so sad for me. It was sad and cute all together. She kept saying, I don't want them to take my blood.
3.) I'm been doing a very nice job of staying home and letting the kids play. I think it's easier for me to do so because they are playing much better together. For example, yesterday Elizabeth asked me to paint her face with this face painting crayons we have. She got her face and ran upstairs to show her brother and sister. Who of course came downstairs wanting their own faces painted. This pattern went on and one for a good long time and by the end of it they were covered from head to toe in face paint, bandaids, and tatoos. They were also naked and wearing their Thanksgiving preschool costumes which were very un-PC Indians. They looked like savages. I couldn't get many pictures because of the nakedness. These are after the play session when most of it had worn off.
4.) I rearranged the art supplies today so they could get their own stuff and draw, stamp, sticker whenever they wanted. Here is what Miranda did today which impressed me greatly.
I got the kids a little pretend doctor kit the other day. The only problem with it is there aren't three of everything and no one wants to be the patient. So when Daddy came home the other day, he lucked out and got to be the patient with two doctors and one nurse (Miranda demanded that she was the nurse.)
Michael and I took the kids to SF today. I took Parker there on Bart this past week just for fun and he wanted to go back to look at the high tower (big office buildings) with daddy. So we went over on the ferry. (As we were walking toward it, I said, "Ah, man, we forgot our camera." Michael said, "We'll just have to remember our adventure the old fashion way." I said, "By buying a Kodak disposable one?" He said, "No by using my iPhone.")
The ferry ride over was good. We got off at the ferry building, walked to the high tower. He actually wanted to go up this one office building, but I got confused and we went up the Hyatt Regency instead. With glass elevators and tons of christmas lights, the kids were pretty damn happy about that and luckily Parker didn't notice the "tall tower" outside.
After going up and down a few times, we took the trolley to Pier 39 to see the sea lions per Miranda's request. The kids all wanted to do this jumpy bungee thing I let them do when we come here, but there was a long line so we skipped it much to their dismay. The sea lions were as cute as ever. We had a touristy lunch while watching them and then went back to the ferry. On the way back, Miranda remembered she hadn't gone on the jumpy thing and freaked out. Lots of screaming and crying ensued. Michael took Elizabeth and Parker and I stayed with Miranda until she pulled it together.
Apparently some time between the freak out and getting to the ferry, Parker ran his hand along the pier and got a finger full of splinters. He was pretty upset. In fact, he pretty much screamed and cried the entire way home on the ferry only calming down at the very end. Although we felt bad, it was exhausting to listen to him and deal with it.
By the time we got home and Michael got the splinters out, I was beat and took a nap. Michael not only played with the kids for the next two hours, but cleaned the house too. A good end to a not terribly successful morning.
Two days ago Parker says to me that he needs a band aid on his finger for an ouchy. Although this behavior is common with the girls, Parker doesn't tend to put on band aids for no reason. So I gave him one. A while later, he said he needed another one. A longer one. That stretched around his thumb. Huh? What the hell is he talking about. I tell him there aren't long band aids. I ask him again what he wants. He patiently tries to explain, but I'm still lost. So I say, "I'm not really sure what you want." He says, "I want it like Ike has it."
Ike is a kid at school and broke his arm. He has a red cast. So I explain as much to Parker and tell him that he can try to get something to have a pretend broken arm, but we don't have one at one. He seems satisfied by that resolution.
So later at the store, we hunt down an ace bandage (in purple!) and when we got home, put it on. He was quite happy. He wanted it back on this morning again.
Yesterday, while I was practicing the art of sitting around (something I have been working on lately), Parker said, "Can we go on a walk around the block?" What a great idea! Everyone put on their shoes (and their halloween costumes for some reason) and we were off. We made it one house down and Parker started screaming. Something poked him. I thought it was a bee sting, but then he said, he grabbed the rose bush. Not so smart, dude. So we went back home, I plucked out the thorns, put on some bandaids and we were off again.
Everyone was in great moods, running and playing with eachother. Stopping at corners to wait for me. People stopping their cars to see the cute kids in their cute costumes. It was all very sweet.
Then Miranda and Parker got a little far away and I yelled at them to come back a bit. Parker ran down the street towards us. Miranda ran down the street and fell smack dab on her face. God damn it. Blood everywhere. I carried her home before I realized it could be a chipped tooth. I checked it out and no, it wasn't. Just a big fat lip. And man, was she upset. She wasn't just crying. She was bawling. Shaking. Like her world was about to end. I sat with her for a good long time. She would calm down for a bit and then remember how much it hurt and start crying again. She couldn't eat dinner and I had to sleep with her last night.
This morning, same deal. No food, bouts of crying when she remembers, and a giant, fat lip.
Poor girl. 
The girls are napping and Parker is upstairs having quiet time. During said quiet time, he has been talking to himself and singing and counting in French. I keep thinking it's the girls waking up, but it's just him having a good time all by himself.
For some reason, yesterday Parker decided he wanted to learn to count in French. (I didn't tell him that he had already learned that when he was 2.) So I went through 1-10 and then when he got bored with that, started doing 11-20. Luckily, most of the numbers after 20 are pretty easy so he picked them up super fast. He was really intrigued with 60, 70, 80 and 100 for some reason. He laughed hysterically at 60 and then thought 70 and 90 were super cool because they were addition.* So after we talked about that for a while I asked him what 170 was. He got it right. Then this morning, he was still talking French numbers with michael so we he asked him what 190 was and after needing a little help to remember 100, he got it right.
*for those of you who don't speak french, 70 can be directly translated as sixty-ten, and 90 is four-twenty-ten. Which is pretty nutty, actually. -ml
Lately I find myself involved in the following conversation.
Elizabeth says, "Boo-catty (or something that sounds like that.)"
Miranda says in a very snotty, mean girl way, "No, you can't say boo-catty."
Elizabeth, in serious distress, says, "Mommmmm, Miranda says I can't say boo-catty!"
I say, "Elizabeth can say "boo-catty"
Elizabeth says, "My mom says I can say boo-catty."
Miranda says, "Ok."
The people in these roles changes around. Could be Parker and Elizabeth or Parker and Miranda too. And the word changes around too, but the general conversation is the same. Every time. Every day.
Each month in preK, the kids have to learn and recite "Chicken Soup with Rice" for the corresponding month. Starting with September, "In September for a while, I will ride a crocodile down the chicken soupy nile, paddle once, paddle twice, paddle chicken soup with rice." Then October and now November.
Parker memorizes it immediately for two reasons...one because he just memorizes things fast and two because we have the book and have it on video and the kids used to watch it all the time.
Lately, Elizabeth has been interested in it. She tries to recite it along with Parker and it's very cute.
Today, when we were picking up the girls and dropping off Parker, Elizabeth says she wants to do the "chicken soup with rice" thing. Since I'm not sure how she is going to do that, I walk her into Mrs. Loey (one of the preK teachers) and tell her that Elizabeth wants to tell her something. Elizabeth then says, "Hey Mrs. Loey! I can do the November chicken soup with rice thing." So Mrs. Loey says, "Wow, go for it." Elizabeth then launches into it (In November's gusty gail, I will flop my flippy tail, I'll spout hot soup, I'll be a whale! Spouting once, spouting twice, spouting chicken soup with rice) and makes no mistakes. Mrs. Loey appeared genuinely impressed and amazed. She not only gave her (and Miranda) a sticker, but she wrote her name on the board with the other PreK kids who had already recited it (Parker being one of them.)
That crazy Elizabeth.
To say my birthday weekend with the gals was great would be an understatement. I was a bit worried that it would never live up to my vision, but when the rain went away Friday as we were driving up, I knew it would be a wonderful weekend.
Ebba, Susan, Kika and I drove up around 3 on Friday. Val and Shari were driving up the next morning. We immediately checked out our cute cottage (at the same place Ebba stayed at last year), and then jumped in the hot tub. After the tub, we walked to dinner on the main drag in Calistoga. The food was great, but the Mariachi band that was playing two feet away from us for most of the dinner was a bit loud. After dinner, we played a few board games, laughed a ton and stayed up too late.
Saturday morning, Val arrived early and we went for a a short run while the others got ready. Shari joined us a bit later and then we all headed off to the spa. We staked out our chairs at the pool and then went back for the treatments. We each got a massage and then half of us got facials and half got body polishes. They were both great and we were all very relaxed and happy afterwards.
After our treatments, we hung out, had lunch, lovingly prepared by Ebba and Shari. I tried my best to stick to my diet, but it was hard with all that delicious food.
When the sun set and the pool was closing down, we headed back to the cottage where the gals surprised me with cake and a great present. Shari made the cake, which was a throw back to a present I got for her many years ago. The present was a scrap book made by all five of my friends. The theme was "reasons I think Rachel is great" and it was really sweet to see all the great old and new pics and read all the wonderful things they said about me. After a few tears, first by me and then by all of them, we were off to dinner. I made a reservation at some fancy place, but when we arrived, we all knew it was too fancy for us. After a quick fleeing, we ended up at a burger joint on the side of Hwy 29 and it was perfect, if not freezing. Burgers, fries, shakes. Perfect "break the diet" food. Shari headed home and we all went back to the cottage where we played more games. I went to sleep before all of them and slept great.
The next morning, Sheehan and I went for a short run before we all had a quick last hot tub. Val took off and the four of us remaining did some shopping in Calistoga and some window shopping in St Helena. We finished the weekend off with a lunch out of the back of the car thanks again to Ebba. We were all fat and happy.
Everything was really quite perfect. And I could not have asked for a better birthday present from Michael. Not only did he fund the trip, but we watched the kids all weekend without me. It was nice to arrive home to a 'daddy-type" welcome from the kids.
I can't wait until I turn 50.
