We Are The Incredibles

Today, I realized that our family is very much like The Incredibles (you know, that cartoon movie about a super hero family). I realized this when playing with Penny today.

Sean is Mr. Incredible. He isn't a gigantic mass of rippling muscles who can throw cars around, but he does single handedly financially support our family. He is the slient rock around which we all revolve. He can also fix just about everything we need fixed around here: leaky faucet, broken screen door, dishwasher that leaves junk on the dishes, and even those sippy cups with the straws that don't line up right, clearly a superpower.

I am Elastigirl. I can't actually stretch my arms under a table and pull my kids apart, or stand in one place and vacuum the entire house, it only seems like it. I run around, chasing kids, stretching myself between them. I am wife, mother, blogger, aspiring fiction writer, I'm taking an online class right now and will start another next week. I'd say I stretch a lot.

Samantha is like Violet, the oldest daughter who can disappear and form force fields. She wears her hair partially covering her face, like Violet. She is my shy girl and regularly disappears to play in her room alone and will stop her pretending if she sees someone watching her, pausing her multi-character conversations until it is safe.

Ella is like Dash, the middle child. He is more outgoing, just like Ella and very active. While I'm happy Ella can't move so fast that she can't be seen, I do often wonder how she managed to climb something or get into something in the two seconds I looked away. And she is always on the move, never tiring, my very physical child.

That leaves Penny, who is like the baby, Jack Jack. Mostly, just like Jack Jack, she sits in a chair or on her gymini, cooing and babbling happily away while the rest of us run around like we have the world to save. Jack Jack never really does anything, the whole movie, you're just waiting to see what superpower he has, just like we're waiting to see who Penny is. Today, while playing with Penny, I lifted her up, holding her suspended a few inches from my face, her whole body became stiff and tense. In my mind, I saw her turn into a flaming fireball, then a lead weight, then a little devil baby, just like Jack Jack does at the end, finally revealing his superpowers. She didn't, of course, she just threw her head back and squealed in delight with a big, toothless smile. Good enough for me.

The Calm Before the Poo

Today the girls behaved themselves rather nicely with no major incidents. We had a lovely picnic lunch in our backyard, nap time wasn't too difficult, and we went for a walk. Although they kept stopping every three feet on the walk because someone needed something, there was no fighting or trying to run into the street. When we came home they both wanted to play in the backyard together.

Things were going great. So great, I decided to feed Penny inside the house on the comfort of the couch and leave the girls in the sand box in our fenced backyard with the dog. Our screen door to the back is torn, so to keep Tut inside, I had to close the sliding glass door, leaving it cracked just enough to hear them.

No sooner had Penny latched on, leaving me unable to move around, but I hear a tap at the sliding glass door. I look up from my spot on the couch. It's Sammy.

"Mommy, Ella went poop!" she said.

"Ok, I'll change her diaper after I finish feeding Penny," I called back.

Suddenly, I see Ella at the window. She has removed her pants and is working on her diaper.

"Ella! Ella! NO! Leave your diaper on until I get there! No, no, Ella! Poo poo!" I yell to no avail.

Ella removes one of the diaper fasteners, then pushes the diaper down her leg and steps out of it. I can see the poo smear down her leg. She turns, butt towards the window, I can see she REALLY needs a diaper wipe. She apparently can feel it too and she turns her head to try to see her butt, reaching her hand behind her.

"Ack! Ella, don't touch! Poo poo!" I yell while still feeding Penny.

She stops and looks at me with wide-eyed surprise, "Poo poo?"

"Yes, poo poo! Don't touch anything! Just stand there. I'm almost done," I shout through the window.

Penny finishes, (thankfully she's a quick eater) and I get up and open the door to let the girls inside.

"Ella, go right to the changing table. Don't touch anything and don't sit down," I tell her.

Apparently, that was an invitation to play. She takes off the opposite direction, through the kitchen, squealing as I chase her in a panic, waiting for her to sit down or rub her dirty behind against a wall.

Finally, I catch her and manage to hold her away from me to get her to the changing table. She's kicking me, and when I get her to the table, she squirms and rubs her butt on the pad. Fortunately, no poo went anywhere but her legs and the changing table pad, which changes easily enough.

Picnic Day

Today is a beautiful spring day in Los Angeles. The sun is out, the sky is robin's egg blue with no clouds or wind, and it's nice and warm.

The girls and I took advantage of the weather by spending most of the morning outside. I got some yard work done in my constantly on-going effort to create an oasis like backyard and make the front yard look more planned and less weedy. They were pretty cooperative and even a little helpful, picking up some of the weeds I pulled yesterday and throwing them in the green bin.

Around noon, we came inside and I was able to stall lunch a little while the girls played in their room (o.k. they made a mess in their room). I really hate the time after lunch but before nap because all the girls want to do is watch television. I don't mind one show, but no more. They always whine and argue when they have to figure out something to do before t.v. time.

Since it was such a beautiful day, and I didn't have the rugrats under foot cramming food in their mouths faster than I can make it, I decided to have a picnic. I made all three of us lunches (usually I have to eat during t.v. time by myself), set out the picnic blanket under the shade of my neighbors trees on the top tier of our yard, and brought the girls out.

We ate together. They fed the dog. They told each other jokes, laughing with wide food filled mouths, and rolling on the ground at their own hilarity. (Example joke: "Don't touch my nose!" We just returned the book, "Don't Touch My Hat" to the library. Apparently substituting anything for hat is hilarious.) Penny lay on the blanket, kicking her legs and flailing her arms, looking at the trees and her sisters.

It was a lovely, relaxing lunch with my three girls. We'll definitely have to have more picnics soon.

Why I Love Dora

Besides the fact that putting on a Dora episode (thank you inventor of the DVR) will buy me twenty minutes of peace, Dora is actually educational.

Both Samantha and Ella know some Spanish, and pronounce it in not a totally gringo sort of way. They also learn a little geography and other things.

Today at dinner, Sean gave the girls some shredded cheese to eat (they like the shredded stuff, just plain).

Samantha piled her cheese on her plate and said to him, "Look, Daddy, I made my cheese like Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania."

She's right, Mt. Kilimanjaro is indeed in Tanzania. I looked it up.

Thank you, Dora.

Easter Earthquake!

We had a lovely Easter yesterday. The Easter Bunny got her butt out of bed at five forty-five to hide eggs outside and the girls actually slept until almost seven. They hunted eggs in their pajamas, squealing with delight each time they found a hidden egg in a funny place (like in a plant or on the slide).

After having one tiny chocolate egg before breakfast, they went into a sugar induced manic state that resulted in their candy being confiscated and made Sean and me very exhausted.

At two, we loaded up the car and went to Sean's aunt Sandi's house for Easter linner (late lunch/early dinner). The kids were again overwhelmed with Easter baskets from relatives, and had a great time playing with bubble guns and sidewalk chalk.

The highlight at Sandi's is the koi pond. The kids get to feed the koi who come right up to the edge of the pond, mouths agape, waiting for the food. They never seem to be full. The girls watch those fish for hours.

Yesterday, the girls were feeding the fish and suddenly the fish swam deeper and away from the edge. The girls complained that the fish had left, and we told them they must finally be full. Then the ground began to roll and we watched as the water in the pond shifted to spill over the side when it usually sits five inches from the top. The ground rolled like a boat for a couple of minutes (enough to make me motion sick). Then the koi returned to beg for more food, so we knew it was over.

There was no damage to anyone we know. Some of the people at the party didn't even feel it, although I find it hard to believe someone didn't feel that one. I'm not sure if the girls felt it, they couldn't articulate themselves well enough for me to know. Sean, standing no more than five feet from me, didn't feel a thing. Nor did his sister. Maybe it's genetic.

That was about the third or fourth good earthquake I've felt in my life. I do occasionally feel some small ones, but they don' t bother me much. I just can't get used to the bigger ones. The idea of the Earth moving like that, with no warning, it's just kind of scary. Give me a tornado any day. At least I know when it's coming and how to protect myself. Guess I'm still a Midwest girl at heart.

Samantha's Easter Revelations

Me: The Easter Bunny is coming tomorrow.

Sam: And he's going to hide eggs in the hammock and on the swings!

Me: He is? (Easter Bunny taking notes.) What do you think he'll bring you?

Sam: I don't know.

Me: Maybe some candy?

Sam: Nah, that's not healthy.

Me: Then what's he bringing?

Sam: Maybe chocolate covered raisins? They're healthy because they're raisins.

RIP Sea Monkeys

The sea monkeys I got when we were in La Quinta have finally succumb to the forces of nature (i.e. Ella).

Yesterday, yet another day of Ella havoc, after she had finished eating dinner, Ella headed over to the table closest to the sea monkeys.

"Ella, don't touch. Look only," I admonished.

"Wook onwy, no touch?" she asked.

"Yes, look only," I said.

She then grabbed the lid off the top of the container. I told her to put it down and reached for the container to try to get it off the table before it spilled. She quickly threw the lid across the kitchen and grabbed the container.

"Ella! Put that down! It will spill and all the sea monkeys will die!" I yelled.

She looked me dead in the eye before dumping the container upside down, water washing over the table, onto Sammy still eating her dinner and the floor. There was no hope. No way to recover them. They were gone.

"TIME OUT, ELLA!" I screamed.

She ran to her time out chair and sat there until I had finished cleaning the mess.

As soon as they had spilled, Sammy started crying. Once I had banished Ella, I picked up Samantha and wiped her tears.

"Are you crying because of the Sea Monkeys?" I asked.

She shook her head no.

"Then why are you crying?" I asked.

"Because my skirt got wet and now it's dirty and I can't wear it," came her reply.

Luckily, our friends, Troy and Vivian, after reading about the previously-dead-miraculously-resurrected tank, got us a lovely sea monkey castle. So, there are still sea monkeys in our house. They are still on the kitchen table because I honestly have no other place to put them.

Ella seems to have realized her mistake. After she said, "More baby sea monkeys" and I told her no, they were all dead, she seems to understand. She points to the tank and says, "All dead".

Hopefully, she'll leave the other tank alone.