Sunday, December 24, 2006

Adventures of a bad secret-keeper

"It's a surprise. I can't tell.... We're singing 'Mary did you know?'"
"I thought you said it was a surprise."
"It is. You don't know that song."
"Yes I do."
"You do?? How did you learn it??"

Imogen is bad at secrets, bad at surprises. Today I got a Christmas gift from her. She walked in darting her eyes around and clutching something in her hands. She sat next to me on the couch and slipped her hand into my pocket. "You can read that later," she said. "Ok, I'll read it later," I said, and continued to read something on my computer. She waited about 30 seconds. "You can read it now," she said. (The endless patience of a five year old.) It was a little piece of a paper that had a drawing of us holding hands and said "I *heart* you. MY" (MY are, apparently, my initials. M for mommy.)

I thought it was so sweet and I thanked her. Thus encouraged, she said "I'm going to make another one. But it's a surprise. So don't look at it. I'll make it in my closet so you don't see. Don't come in there. I won't tell you where in my closet I'm going to be." (Note: the closets here are very small.)

Jeremy tried to explain that when you want to surprise someone you simply don't say anything about it but I'm not sure that'll sink in.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Imogen, uptight

I'm one of those people that gets on the nerves of people like Imogen. I've talked before about how rule-oriented she is and how she loves to classify everything in her world. She sees very much in black and white. There are ways in which certain things are to be done, and there is no wiggle room. It's right or it's wrong and it really NEEDS to be right. And I'm just really not like that.

At her school, they are teaching her etiquette and manners. One thing they are teaching her is how to set the table. We're usually so busy and in a rush that no table gets set around here. But since school has been out, I cook more, and she's been bugging me to set the table, and tonight I let her. Genevieve helped. And then, she became unhelpful. Imogen insisted that Genevieve's glass belonged on one side. Genevieve wanted it on the other. Genevieve was not moving any glass but her own and Imogen was freaking out about it. Crying, yelling and stomping her feet about how she can't possibly sit at the table and eat while looking at this glass on the wrong side of the plate. I sent her to her room to calm down.

She came out and I tried to explain that Genevieve's glass placement preferences are not important in the slightest and that Imogen was overreacting and needed to calm down and content herself with the symmetry of the rest of the table. She became upset again, crying that it simply wasn't possible to overlook such a glaring violation of the laws of nature. I sent her back to her room and didn't bring it up again when she came back.

Friday, December 01, 2006

pictures


Imogen looking evil or something. :)


Our Christmas tree, or at least most of it. It's very pretty. :)


Genevieve putting on her shoes. You can see her new earing. And her new haircut.


I bought the girls hats and gloves the other day. Genevieve modeled her's for her daddy just before bed.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Earrings

Genevieve got her ears pierced today. When we got there the woman said she was the only one there who could do it so we would have to do them one at a time. I had warned Genevieve that it would hurt, but I've never heard of a four year old getting them done one at a time. I asked her if it would be ok, and she insisted that it would.

In a sudden and strange turn of event she chose pale blue stones for her ears over pink. It gave me hope that she wasn't quite herself this morning (and would handle pain with a little more dignity than is her custom.) She sat very still and quiet and looked very grim while her ears were washed and the dots were marked and remarked till they were even.

Then she did the first one. Genevieve flinched and gasped. No tears, no screams, no insistance that she really only wanted one earring. Same thing other side. She picked a blue sucker to match her earring (we can't be seen eating clashing candy, apparently).

Later Jeremy commented that he's not too surprised. Genevieve's got an extreme stubborn streak and when she decides she wants something, very little will stand in her way.

Scary movies

"Go away, I'm watching a scary preview."
I- "I like scary movies."
"This one is too scary."
I- "I like movies that are too scary!"
G- "Yeah! I like movies that are all-the-way-scary."

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Tennessee

Overheard:

Genevieve: "Where am I from..." in squeaky voice for pony.
Imogen: "California?"
Genevieve: "No."
Imogen: "Colorado?"
"No."
"Connecticut?"
"No."
"Delaware?"

Etc.

The other day Imogen came home from school and asked if we could go visit Tennessee. Who wants to go to Tennessee? What's even in Tennessee?

Monday, November 06, 2006

Genevieve's "kids"

So, I walk into the living room the other day and the girls are playing Uno. There are Uno cards scattered around on the floor in messy piles in the middle of a circle of not only Imogen and Genevieve but the three miniature stuffed animals that Genevieve calls her "kids". A little pink pig, a little pink bunny and the "red-head stepchild" of the group, a little gray elephant.

"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Playing Uno," Imogen answers.
"Why do you have so many cards out?"
"Because Genevieve's kids are playing too," Imogen answers.

I watched them go around the circle, playing a card for each stuffed animal. They speak for the animals in squeeky voices replying in their normal voices.

Genevieve sleeps with these animals, reminding me of my little sister who used to sleep with so many stuffed animals, you couldn't see the bed around her and you had a hard time piling them all on so that they wouldn't fall off. At least Genevieve's addiction hasn't reached such a critical stage.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Instead of working on stuff, I'm posting this

Me.


My messy desk. The coloring is funky because I have this pink lamp that bathes everything in a pink light. It makes me happy.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Halloween

I don't have my camera back yet, so you'll have to settle for a low quality webcam picture.

As you can see they decided to go as frilly as they could this year. Imogen is a fairy and Genevieve is a princess, but there's precious little difference. Both are pink and poofy.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Strawberry milk

At the store I said I would buy the girls some chocolate milk. But then Genevieve noticed the strawberry milk. Chocolate milk has a surprising lack of pinkness I guess.

"How do they make strawberry milk?" she asked.
"Well," I said "you have to get a pink cow. And feed it strawberries."
"Really?" her eyes lit up. She was enchanted. I could see the baby pink cows frolicking in the strawberry fields of her mind.
"No, not really," I said.

The other day we were at Wal-mart and Genevieve made a comment about when she was a grown up.

"You'll be old by then," she said. While I was grappling with this statement, she ammended it. "Actually, you'll be dead."

Wow.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Anger 101: How to Let Them Know You're Really Mad
taught by Genevieve

Covering such versitile topics like:
Screaming: volume really is everything
Door Slamming: when one slam isn't enough, open the door and slam it again
Apologies: make them come to you
Comprimises: why they're never worth it
Changing your demands so you can keep crying


Thursday, October 19, 2006

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Write that down...

The girls have been wreched the last couple times we went to Walmart. So I reviewed with them four rules that they must follow at the store and made them memorize them.

1. Stay with me at all times.
2. No touching anything.
3. No crying about not getting anything.
4. Keep hands on the cart in the parking lot.

These are rules not only for my own sanity, but also for safety. These are rules that I've been training them to follow since they were old enough to walk and that I consider their responsibility to follow and not mine to enforce. These are rules that are not followed with anything approaching perfection. But I was happy with the previous level of imperfection as compared to the current level of imperfection. When I have a five year old standing in the checkout crying about not getting a candy bar (really!), I really have to wonder what in the world she is thinking.

So we've summed up all expected shopping behaviors into four rules which Imogen really digs. I asked her the rules yesterday on the way to the store yesterday. She rattled them off with passable accuracy then said she would write them in her head. She pretended to write on the top of her head.

"I have lots of lists in my head. I have lots of paper in my head so I can write down my lists," she explains to me. Genevieve immediately repeats this. Imogen goes on to prattle happily about all the rules she must write down and remember. Genevieve gets confused and asks if Imogen will teach her the game to which all these rules belong. To Genevieve, rules are for games. To Imogen, rules are for EVERYTHING.

Random pictures

Briefly considers going as a box of Honey Nut Cheerios for Halloween...
Sorry it's sideways. I'm too lazy to fix it at the moment...


Pretending to be asleep.

Asleep for real.

Imogen being weird (aka, herself).

Wednesday, October 11, 2006



The dot you see on her nose is not a picture mistake. It was either a bug bite or a Zues bite. She never could get her story straight. :)


How old are you? :)

Picture issues


Still no camera. I seem to be unable to resize these pictures, so we'll see how this works. Just a few birthday pics.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Birthday girl

Genevieve's birthday went well. She got toys and clothes in varying shades of pink, wrapped in paper of varying shades of pink. I took pictures. I was grabbing the camera to get one last shot of her in her new pink sunglasses before posting them on here when I realized the button was missing. Uh oh. I still don't know if I can get the pictures off my camera and for how long it's going to be out of order. Basically right now, we're just searching for the button...

Monday, September 25, 2006

Learning to do stuff

Imogen has this fabulous determination to learn things. Her piano teacher gave her a difficult (for her) piece recently. The music covered two pages (one side each page) and must be played with both hands, switching back and forth often. She was expected to know the first line and a half the first week. She had some kind of mental block on this music and it was very frustrating. She cried, she stomped around in frustration, she made me promise that she didn't have to play it at the recital if she hadn't learned it in time. It took two weeks to learn the first section, but after that the rest of the song has been easy for her.

Whistling was the same way. She's wanted to whistle for months. She's puckered up her lips and squeeked as high as she could to imitate the sound of whistling. She cried about it. She tried to get me to commit to an age when she would magically be able to whistle. And finally, within the last few weeks, she actually learned to whistle, a real genuine whistle.

Incidentally, a couple days later, Genevieve learned to whistle as well. That's Genevieve: two days later, eighteen months earlier.

Imogen's next project is learning how to snap. She keeps track of which of her classmates can snap their fingers (or have convinced her that they can snap their fingers). Sometimes she comes home and tells me that her classmates' older siblings can snap as if this is some kind of evidence that she is failing dreadfully to do something that obviously a multitude of people can do.

She's got a bit of a competative streak.

Monday, September 11, 2006

It's all in your head

I was peacefully painting at the dining room table when a shriek from outside told me that Genevieve was once again calmly handling her self inflicted injuries. Now, this is the child that Jeremy offered to throw a party for if she would go an entire week without hurting herself to the point of leaving obvious wounds. This includes both scabbing and bruising. This is a child that I'm half afraid to take out in public lest someone call family services on me for my obvious abuse of her. She is the single greatest consumer of bandaids in our household, by a lot. Her day care repeatedly sends home accident reports in duplicate for me to sign and send back as if it's such a unique occurrence that a single copy of the form would be insufficient to detail it.

Unfortunately, not only does she inflict bodily harm on herself with alarming frequency, but she's never been one to downplay these incidents. Screaming bloody murder as if one's fingers have been removed by a hacksaw is certainly not an overreaction for a splinter.

So perhaps I can be forgiven for my complacency at the gasping sobs as Genevieve made her way inside while I continued to paint calmly. When she sputtered out "I fell!" I noticed that her knee was actually bleeding quite a bit. Knowing these things really can hurt I was all sympathy as I cleaned up the knee and covered it with a bandaid. I examined the palms of her hands carefully. They were red, but no scratches, so I cleaned them, kissed them and sent her on her way.

Well, that wasn't going to cut it. Sure, the knee was fine, but the hands were grossly neglected and the screams were unabated. I checked once again to make sure there were no open wounds with bone shards poking out that I had somehow missed in my negligence. My sympathy was evaporating fast. "What do you want me to do?" I asked, through gritted teeth. "MY HAAANDS HUUUURRRT!!!" she suggested reasonably, shattering several windows. "Fine," I said, "you want some medicine?" She nodded.

The bathroom where most of the medicine is kept was occupied, but I didn't really care. I don't have any topical painkiller unless you count the sunburn ointment which was nowhere to be found. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find that didn't seem poisonous, which was Vick's vapor rub. I made a production of wiping a thin layer on the palms of her hands, and the crying ceased immediately. The potent odor proved... something or another. "They feel better," she informed me. "They smell better," I said.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Perspective

To Genevieve, french fries and chicken nuggets are simply the tools one uses to eat katsup. No part of getting dressed is too insignificant to draw the battle lines and prepare for war over, from the color of one's panties to the choice of shoes. And life gets really good when you turn four and can consider yourself a "big kid" instead of just a "little bit big".

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Genevieve alone

With Imogen at school till 3:30, I have afternoons alone with Genevieve, and it's been fun to get to know her better. When Imogen is home, Genevieve willingly lives in her shadow, following her lead, or fighting with her. Genevieve alone is different though.

For one thing, she's very easy to be around. Imogen is the extrovert in the family. Genevieve has her parents' ability to be alone with her thoughts. Whereas Imogen relies on the people around her for conversation and to keep her occupied, Genevieve has a rich fantasy life and I find her having conversations with her toys constantly. Imogen has a mad desire to classify everything around her, to bring all objects and behaviors under the domain of some rule or another so that she can order her life accordingly. This results in more questions than I ever knew existed. Genevieve asks questions like a normal child, which seems very rare compared to her sister. Genevieve isn't curious and is willing to have mysteries in her life, or willing to make up answers to whatever questions might occur to her.

Today I discovered that Genevieve is the perfect shopping companion. For one thing, you almost can't lose her. At her age, Imogen was trying to go home with other people at the park and last year she lined up with other classes at school. She regularly gave her teacher a heart attack thinking she'd been lost for good this time. Genevieve trails along behind me or holds my hand, always aware of where I am.

But also, Genevieve is actually enthusiastic about shopping. We wandered into the lingerie section today. A Mecca of femininity. She helped me pick out bras, fingering the silk and lace and gushing at the bright colors and the pink all around her. She even got excited at the shoe section, pointing out several pairs that she liked.

Speaking of the pink obsession, it's getting worse. Today in the bathroom she was extatic that the soap that I squirted into her hands was pink. "I LOVE pink soap!" she said.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Firsts

Imogen started kindergarten today. She had all sorts of fun. She's there from 8 till 3:30. Seven and a half hours a day (for those not mathematically inclined). I've never been away from her like this. I've been away from her for two weeks in a row but it was temporary. Last year each day felt kind of short. I dropped her off at 8 and by the time I made a stop or two on the way home, it was 10 and an hour and a half later I got Genevieve dressed again to go pick Imogen up. Each day seemed short. Today at 9:45 Genevieve asked if it was time to go get Imogen again.

Without Imogen, Genevieve has no one to tell her who to be. Genevieve only learns things like her letters and numbers because Imogen knows them. She learned how to spell Imogen's name before her own. When she talks to strangers she tells them how old Imogen is and what grade she's in. She seriously needs a life of her own.

Imogen also had her first piano recital today. She played "Oh MacDonald" pretty much mistake free in front of about fifty people and seemed rather surprised to find herself being applauded.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

We name our computers

"Can I watch a movie on your computer?" Imogen asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"She doesn't like your movies."
She paused to think this over. "How do you know?"
"I asked her."
"How did you ask her?"
"You'll never run out of questions will you?"
"No. Does she like your movies?"

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Dropping like fies

Genevieve is well, but Imogen started throwing up last night. I started being sick rather suddenly around 11am today. Ben went to work at 3pm feeling fine but four hours later was calling for a ride home. Jeremy took the afternoon off to take care of us.

It's a plague! We're dying!

Ok, maybe not but I'm really wiped. I hate being sick.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

First tooth



Imogen lost her first tooth last night.

Imogen was veeery interested in the tooth fairy and when she would come and if Imogen would see her and so on (and on and on). Imogen's Indian name is Child of a Thousand Questions. Fairy tales were not invented by people like her or for people like her because most of them don't make sense.

Genevieve is sick. We were up till 2am changing sheets and holding hair back while she vomited. Poor kid. Poor me. Imogen woke me up at 6:30 to tell me how much money the fairy had left her. Speaking of which, she never woke up while Genevieve was throwing up or crying or we were cleaning up or bathing Genevieve. I started to think you could parade a band through the room and Imogen would sleep through it.

Anyway, I'm wiped and Genevieve is still sick, and we're out of food so I still need to go to the store. I hate grocery shopping.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Imogen's haircut



Imogen got the idea that she wanted a haircut before school started and I somehow promised her one. So we stopped by Supercuts today and she got it cut. It's really cuter than it looks in these pictures. Because it curls under, she commented "It looks like Willy Wonka's."

Genevieve struggled with her individuality with Imogen's haircut. Genevieve likes her hair long and has rejected several haircut offers in the past. But Imogen, Genevieve's model in life, was getting her haircut. Genevieve came to me saying "I want a haircut." I said "Are you sure? I don't think you really want one." "I do," she assured me. A couple minutes later she couldn't stand it. "I changed my mind," she said. "I don't want my hair short." "I know," I said.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Omniscient (or maybe just a good guesser)

I stepped out of the shower recently and as I dried off, I opened the bathroom door. Imogen was standing in the hallway. She stood there for a moment, and eventually the suspense became too much and she asked "What are you doing?"

"Getting dressed," I answered. I'm way to used to obvious questions to be alarmed at this point. There was a pause while she considered this.

"Will you close the door?" she asked. Now, maybe in Imogen's world this question is really smooth and subtle but to me this comes with red flags and alarm bells. Without missing a beat I said "You stole my candy didn't you?" I had milk duds on my dresser left over from going to the theater the night before. Her eyes widened. She stepped into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at her clean face. She looked back up at me.

"How did you know?" she was baffled.

"I'm a mommy," I said. "I know everything.

Today I gave her a poptart. She doesn't like poptarts, though she doesn't realize it yet. I warned her that she needed to eat the whole thing this time and she agreed. She ate about three quarters of it and I could tell she didn't want the rest. She kept carrying it around but she didn't want to say anything about it.

As I cleaned the kitchen, she vanished into the family room for a while. She came back empty handed and said "Look, I ate my whole poptart, all gone! See?" She held up her empty hands proudly.

"You fed it to the dog," I said without hesitation. Her jaw dropped. "How did you know??"

"I'm a mommy. I know everything." I told her.

"You're grounded from poptarts," I told her.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

I got a haircut



My hair was getting super boring, and I was tired of it, but I didn't want to chop it all off so I got layers put in. She curled it and it's really pretty right now. I'm lazy so I probably won't be curling it on a daily basis, but hey. I love haircuts. My hair feels all healthy and lightweight now.

Friday, July 07, 2006

photo effects



We were playing around with some photo effects and the girls thought these were the funniest thing that ever happened anywhere. They would pose for the picture then laugh maniacally when I took it.

Friday, June 30, 2006

The man of steel

With the new Superman movie coming out, our cereal boxes have been graces with his presence and the girls are very curious. Genevieve is especially delighted with the explanation that Superman can not be hurt and you could hit him in the head with a baseball bat and he wouldn't even bleed. She repeats this to her sister each morning as she picks out her cereal. I'm not entirely sure she realizes that Superman is not a real person.

Monday, June 26, 2006




The girls have been spending a ton of time outside as the weather gets warmer. They will actually get in the kid pool and spend a couple hours playing in it. I walked out there to find Imogen standing on the porch beside it and throwing her arms out and saying "To infinity and beyond!!" and throwing herself into the pool. And Genevieve is actually getting over her water phobia.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Sometimes...

When my children put plastic bags on their heads... I begin to doubt their future as Mensa candidates.

Long time no see...

Today we went to the "no touching store", known to the world at large as Hobby Lobby. Imogen shmoozed with the old ladies in the fabric section, convincing them that she could do no wrong. (HA!) They heaped me with compliments on thier behavior and horror stories about other people's children.

I always loved Hobby Lobby. I bought them water colors as a reward.

It's kind of sad though that when your child happens to not be in brat-mode at the moment (and every child is capable of being a perfect terror) you get all these compliments. This is so unusual! A kid who's not painful to be around!

Take Genevieve for example. We walked in this evening and lunch dishes were still on the table. Jeremy commented "So, Genevieve, you didn't eat your sandwich?" Good guess, seeing as how Genevieve sometimes acts like she's allergic to food in general.

"No," she said, "I ate mine. Imogen didn't eat her's."
"No," Imogen spoke up, "That one is your's. I ate mine."
Genevieve turned to Imogen and very reasonably shreeked "NOO!! I ATE MINE!!! STUPID!!!"

Really, as if it's inconcievable that the child who believes that little girls certainly CAN live on bread alone would pass on some thus polluted with peanut butter.

Friday, May 26, 2006

My five year old poos in odd places

Like the corner of the back porch. Seriously. I missed a very important step in the how-to-potty-train process I think.

I was at Target yesterday and I saw a shirt that was Genevieve's. I mean, I don't think the people who designed it know Genevieve, but if they had been told to design a shirt for Genevieve, they would have made this one. It has a stick man on it and says "I do all my own stunts". Jeremy thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. I think it's incredibly appropriate, and in the less than 24 hours since I bought the shirt "Genevieve did another stunt" has been added to the household vocabulary.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Say cheese...




These are just three of the 34 pictures I found on my camera that I did not take. All taken from a low eye level. Still, they show an increasing level of interest in capturing a subject (the colored pencils for example), though there's still plenty of random blurry shots of the room with no particular item in focus. Imogen is particularly proud of these and continues to try to get me to commit to an age when they can have cameras of their own. "How about when I'm six? Seven? Can I have one when I'm seven?"

Lame...

Sometimes my conversations with my kids sound like those really lame jokes you get off the backs of instant oatmeal packages. The ones that make you wince instead of laugh. Take this one for instance...

Imogen: "Why are you painting your toenails again?"
Me: "They need another coat." (of nailpolish)
Imogen: "Oh, to keep them warm?"
Me: "No-"
Imogen: "Oh, I know, because they are going outside."
Me: "No, it's just to make the color show up better."
*long pause*
Imogen: "When I'm a mommy do you think my toenails will need another coat?"
Me: "Sure."
Imogen: "Yeah, to make them warm and cozy."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Happy meal induced frenzy

Today when Jeremy picked up me and Imogen from school and Genevieve from day care he said he was hungry and wanted to drive through. I told the girls we would get them happy meals. The girls were very excited of course. Nothing beats a happy meal. Steak dinner? No thanks, pass the chicken nuggets made out of the tail. Sushi? Not if it doesn't come with a cheap toy depicting characters in the latest Disney flick?

Or as Imogen put it "Happy meal!! Happy meal!! Happy meal!! I'm spazzing out!!"

Monday, April 24, 2006

Lucy the ladybug...

Today we burried Lucy the ladybug in a tiny grave in the back yard. She was only with us for a few hours before she died. This is the first pet that Genevieve has lost, and it was very tragic for several minutes.

Imogen tried to console her sister with suggestions that she find a new ladybug and name it Lucy, but Genevieve said she would name it Peter instead. Lessons were not learned here.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Comments

Anyone can now leave comments on this blog.

Pink eye again!

Imogen woke up with a raging case of pink eye yesterday. She had to miss a field trip to the zoo with school. Her eyes are badly swollen and nasty gunky. I had to get up past midnight last night to clean them up because she couldn't open them. I'm going to be SO mad if I get it because that will mean that the germs just LEPT from her face onto mine. I won't touch my face with my hands and I wash them like I'm going to perform brain surgury every time I mess with her eyes. Need... lotion... On the other hand, Genevieve has no such qualms and I'm beginning to think that if she rubbed her eyes directly onto Imogen's, she wouldn't get it. Two encounters with pink eye in the last month or so and she hasn't gotten anything.

I really hope this goes away quickly or we're going to run out of the teeny tiny smidgen of eyedrops I got charged $50 for. Grrr...

Thursday, April 13, 2006

sorry no updates for a while




No, Genevieve isn't that tall compared to Imogen. I had her stand on a stepstool so I wouldn't have just her forehead in the picture. :)

Friday, March 31, 2006

BOOOORING!

The girls are in deep doodoo. Yesterday between stealing cookies and vandalizing the dog's dinner (again), they managed to fight constantly and paint the bathroom (and Genevieve's face) with mascara. (This is but a partial list of crimes.)

So, they're in trouble today. Besides being grounded from sweets and movies and... something else, I forget... they have to sit in their little blue chairs all afternoon. We got home around 12:30 and will not leave here untill around 5. That's four and a half hours. A long time to sit and do nothing, even for an adult. For two squirmy kids, this is torment.

I like it. It's long and painful, but not physically. It's slow and monotinous, it just drags on and on. They aren't allowed to stand up. They cheat and move the chairs around a bit but they know better than the leave my presence. They aren't allowed toys so they have the most inane conversations, like listing all the places they want to sleep some day. "I want to sleep in a tent some day. I want to sleep in a water bottle some day." They play stupid games like blowing in each other's faces, and stomping on each other's feet. They ask constantly what time it is. Genevieve gets excited every time the second hand gets to the five, but Imogen reitterates that that doesn't mean it's 5:00.

Imogen was upset on the way home when she was told how she would spend her afternoon. I reminded her of all the things she was grounded from.

Crying, she said "Just because we're grounded doesn't mean you have to NOT let us!"

I said "Actually, that's exactly what it means."

Still crying, she said "I need lots of hugs."

Watching her, Genevieve tried to muster up some tears.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Pretend bathrooms

The girls recieved a playhouse for Genevieve's birthday this last year. It's very cute and very nice with a little doorway and window and a porch and everything. The girls love to play outside in it. All kinds of pretending happens. Today they decided to pretend they had a bathroom in thier little playhouse. The only thing on hand was a couple of buckets from thier sandbox. No problemo, apparently. They may have been pretending, but we found REAL pee in the buckets. I told Imogen I was baffled. She agreed that it was indeed very baffling.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Five

Imogen: "Mommy, when I'm five and I go to school and I'm still five, I will tell Mrs. ------- that I'm five."

Sometimes I really just don't know what to say to my kid.

Tea and whiteness

Genevieve was drinking the very last bit of tea out of the pitcher when I noticed her staring at the bottom of her cup. There were little flecks of black, tea grounds or leaves or whatever mysterious substance it is in tea bags. Then I noticed the look of horrified revulsion on her face, as if it was rabbit turds in her cup.

"It's ok," I said. "It's tea leaves." Relief washed over her face at my calm reaction. I sat there wishing I had screamed and insisted it was baby spiders.
"It's yucky," she said, much reassured.



A couple days ago I was doing Imogen's hair for school. She stood looking at us both in the mirror and said "We're not the same white, Mommy. I'm bright white."


Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Genevieve's head

Genevieve's head had a hard day yesterday. When we got home from the grocery store I was unloading the bags in the back of the van. My hands were full and I turned to close the back door to the van with my elbow. Just as I pushed it down, hard, she rounded the corner behind me and the door landed on her head.

She crashed into a few walls at home as well. Then the dresser fell on her for the second day in a row. Then Neil was swinging Imogen around and Genevieve wandered too close and thier heads made contact.

So, if she wanders around in a kind of daze or if you see her with a football helmet on, you know why.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Zzzzzz....



The girls looked so cute in thier dresses that I took pictures of them before I went and had pictures made of them. The Sears pictures turned out great for anyone who hasn't seen them yet. (Mom, I'll try to mail your's to you, ASAP!)

Neither girl lays down for naps anymore, but sometimes, Genevieve will still crash. She's still a bit of a baby. :)

Spilled milk



Imogen is getting insanely tall. She wears a size six or 6x, though that shirt is a size seven and since she's so tall, she definitely wears a seven in dresses. Genevieve is still a size 3, though she'll wear fours in t-shirts and dresses which can be long/roomy. I like to buy the biggest size I can so I don't have to replace clothes as often. I'm cheap that way. ;) But Genevieve's little butt still needs a three in shorts and pants.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

midterms

I'm busy this week.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Pictures

Got the girls' pictures taken at Sears. They look awesome!

Otherwise, I need to get Imogen to stop being so friendly. I swear, she just runs up to people and starts having all these conversations with them and the person doesn't even know how to react to it.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Good behavior

I've always believed that my children shouldn't be inflicted on other people. So I've always made it a goal that my children be fairly well behaved in public.

Today we went to Fuji for lunch, a Japanese hibachi grill here in town. Eight people to a table. The other four people sitting there were these two elderly couples. We all enjoyed our lunch and the girls sat fairly quietly, eating their food and talking to us. They didn't like the salad and everyone laughed when Genevieve tried a bite of it (priceless expression, but she managed to swallow the bite!) but they ate at least some of everything else. At the end of our meal, when the other people were leaving, the man sitting next to Jeremy leaned over and said "I just have to compliment you on the behavior of your children."

Yay me!! I'm not raising complete monsters!

Really, that kind of thing is always pleasant to hear.

On the other hand, Imogen was on the phone with my mom the other day, asking just how many gifts she would be getting for her birthday and informing my mother that the proposed number was not enough. GRRR. We had a talk that evening about gift etiquette.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

My daughter, the hair stylist

Yesterday, while talking to a friend on the phone, I found a chunk of Genevieve's hair. Unmistakably Genevieve's. Very straight, dark brown, cut very neatly at the top and tapering down at the bottom. I held it up "You cut your hair?" I don't know why I phrase these things as a question. Her already large brown eyes widened and she took a step back and said "No." I said "No?? Don't tell me know. It's really quite obvious that you DID. I'll be happy to take you to get a real haircut if you want. Do you want your hair short?" And she said "No." She wants her hair long, supposedly.

Then, today, I'm wetting down her hair to put it up for day care. As I brush the hair back from the forehead an inch long section suddenly springs up saying "Here I am!" I told Genevieve that if she's going to cut her hair in the future can she PLEASE take it off in the BACK rather than front-and-center? I also told her I couldn't put her hair up and she responded (reasonably of course) by throwing herself on the floor and screaming. To which I respoonded by picking her up and dragging her to her room and shutting her door and fervently praying she would be done with this display by the time it was time to leave. Which she was.

In the meantime, I need to figure out how to make that hair grow or something.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Shopping trip

Jeremy's grandmother loves to spoil. She sent Valentine's Day cards for each of the girls with two dollars in them. Jeremy told them they could spend them money on whatever they wanted themselves.

So today we get around to doing that. We walk into Walmart and I ask them what they want to buy.

"Can I buy whatever I want?" Imogen asks.
"Yes," I say.
"Can I buy gum?" she asks. Now, gum has been the ultimate forbidden fruit, ever since I picked some out of Genevieve's hair. If I buy some, I don't share it. If I let them pick something out at the store to get, I veto gum. When they ask when they can get gum, I tell them when they're 18.
"Yes," I say, "You can get gum."

So we pick out gum and more candy and we proceed to tell anyone who has the misfortune of wandering within six feet of us all about this. Long explanations of the choice of gum and candy along with who's paying for it and how they got the money follow. It's cute but embarrassing.

But on the other hand, how sweet that $2 each can totally make their day. Such innocence that buying gum and candy themselves is so very COOL. As Genevieve proclaimed "I can buy whatever I want."

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Vague questions

I don't know if kids just think I'm a mind reader or if they honestly think they always communicate the necessary information to me.

Little Miss Questions walked up and asked "What is that red stuff that's not chapstick?"
Without even trying to clarify, I said, "Blood."
She shook her head, "No, it's-"
"Jello," I interupted.
"No! It goes on your lips!" she said.
"Oh... lipstick."
Kids make me laugh with thier statements of absolutes. Today Genevieve said "Animals don't live in houses." I said "Does Zeus live in a house? Is Zeus an animal?" The fact that I had proven the previous statement wrong did not cause her to abandon it, however. Why? Because lions and tigers don't live in houses. Eventually it was suggested that she modify it to "Some animals don't live in houses."

Imogen however is all about questions. She'll ask questions till my EARS BLEED!! It drives me nuts, honestly. If she runs out of questions, she'll start asking questions about things she already knows. She'll sit in front of a movie she's seen about 4.8 million times (like Toy Story 2) and ask me questions about it. "Who are they? Why doesn't he like him? Is that the real Buzz? Why is she sad? Why are they hiding? What was that? Where is Andy?" I think she just hates when I have a moment to focus on homework or something. If I ask her the same questions instead of answering them, she'll say the answer.

"Imogen, you ask a lot of questions," I said.
"Yeah, 'cause I'm just a kid," she said.

That explains it.

Pizza faces



Food is yummier if you wear it, apparently.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Stuff



I got flowers for Valentines Day! I was shocked. I think this is the second time I've gotten flowers since I've been married. :) Except from other people when I had the girls.

The second one is that horrid plaster sculpture I've been complaining about. I actually had to paint it so now it's black. I know what you're thinking: I should change majors. At least, you would be thinking that if you saw other people's sculptures. If I never see plaster again it'll be too soon. I'm not a sculpter type person at all.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

SUGAR!!!!

My kids are in various stages of being grounded from various things for various crimes. Genevieve asked when she would be ungrounded from sweets.
"Saturday," I said.
"Nooo," she whined.
"How about Sunday," I said, thinking my voice conveyed an adequate level of warning.
"Sunday! Ok!" she said, giggling excitedly, and secretly congratulating herself on her negotiation skills. (Future politicians of the world, beware.)

Imogen decided to get in on the act.
"When am *I* ungrounded from sweets?"
"Saturday," I said, bored to death of this conversation.
"Saturday is too far away," she said.
"How about Sunday," I said, hoping it would work again. But Imogen's been getting days-of-the-week lessons at school.
"How about tomorrow? Tomorrow would help," she said. Help what? She already got to eat piles of candy for Valentine's Day. I don't feel sorry for her at all.

Then there's the bagel/donut controversy. Imogen, for the life of her, can not, ever, remember that a donut is a donut. I can see the mixup. Both a small round bread with a hole in the center. She sees a Krispy Kreme truck and it's "Look! A bagel truck!"

So, yesterday, I knew Imogen would come home with lots of candy and cookies and I felt bad for Genevieve (Genevieve got grounded from sweets today, while Imogen's been grounded from sweets since Monday). So we went to the DONUT shop and got a couple DONUTS. Genevieve didn't like her's, but it goes against the Code of the Kid to admit that about something that's chocolate with chocolate icing with more sprinkles plastered to it than the average grocery store stocks in the baking aisle. So she puts it in the fridge to "save it for later". It sat in there getting less appetizing by the moment (donuts don't keep very well) and Imogen was positively obsessing about the thing. I had to hear almost constant requests to go to the "place where I bought the bagel" and so that I could "get her a bagel of her own".

So finally Genevieve pulls the stupid thing out of the fridge and earns all kinds of brownie points sharing this day and a half old nasty donut that she didn't like in the first place with her sister, who scarfs it down and then asks me if we can go back to the bagel shop to get more.

*twitch*

This morning...



As you can see, Imogen was happy to go to school this morning.

Genevieve on the other hand, was subjected to the horrors of wearing clothes she didn't want to wear. I ended up forcing her into the clothes amid threats of grounding on my part and much screaming on her part.