Happy Thoughts

So, Gommie tells me that the only current stories she has to pass on is that the kids have established a personal best for timeouts in a day and that Mommy has had some too.

My challenge: tell some cute or at least repeatable stories.

Here it goes . . .

We have a new nighttime ritual to add to our four stories (one chosen by each of us), singing the "Mama Loves Me" song, tucking in with kisses (2 for Buddy and 3 for Sis) and nose rubs (Sis's addition) and hugs (Bud's addition), and now "happy thoughts," inspired by the reassuring book Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep. They each relay 5 happy thoughts. Tonight's list: gummy bears, horses, Max and Ruby, Franklin, Wonder Pets for her; baseball, gummies, Wonder Pets, "Myskit" Seaport music, and baseball again.

They have been building towers out of plastic blocks on the porch. Tall, tall towers. Then, they walk their fingers up the tower--"going to Chinese class" which was on the third floor of an imposing old building, in a rotunda with great windows. It was probably the most impressive thing about class, perhaps even before the Chinese.

Buddy is OBSESSED with a bag of diapers--generic, drugstore diapers--from a friend of ours. But they have dinosaurs on them. And so now, a boy who had happily worn undies the other day with no accident, now doesn't even want to change his diapers. And he insists on wearing those daytime diapers over his nighttime diapers. We've offered dinosaur undies, but they won't do. Because, and I quote, "Dinosaur diapers keep me cozy. They keep me company." Heaven help us, there are only two bags total! One step forward, two steps back.

We played in the rain yesterday at church. While it was still actively downpouring, the kiddos stood in the doorway and watched the water in wonder and awe. Sis bravely poked her head out and squealed with delight. When the rain stopped, they danced in the puddle that had gathered at the entry, getting their shoes sopping wet. After almost everyone left, we were still in play mode and headed into the center of the parking lot, which had a huge puddle--a small pond--about 10' in diameter. I took off my expensive sneakers and we danced in the water, singing Laurie Berkner tunes such as "Walk Along the River" and "I'm Gonna Catch You." Sis ran in circles so very fast. Buddy liked to splash. We all made big waves. Mama photographed it all.

I'm a Wonder Mom. Or more specifically, I do the bidding of Wonder Twins. Who are currently obsessed (yep, obsession is the theme here) with saving insects. Did I mention I rescued, at their bidding, a fly at my coffee shop the other day? A fly. I caught the dizzy, dying thing trapped by the window near our table in a napkin, as they cheered me on, and we went out the front door and released the poor thing. Which did promptly fly away. And yesterday, in the rain, we saw a "bee" (it was a wasp) trapped in the water and I heroically scooped it up in a leaf and placed it somewhere dry. They then emulated this rescue for the next 20 minutes, actually singing the Wonder Pets theme song.

Today at lunch, which we had at a friend's house, the kiddos out ate everyone, as usual. At the end, when the other two girls were off playing, my two were still eating fried rice, dumplings, and "trees" (broccoli--Bud's had a robin in it!). And then they started to feed one another. "Here try this. Now you help me." They went back and forth for awhile. It was so sweet, especially because mealtimes usually aren't so peaceful.

I know there are more stories--how Sis loves to play with the babies at playgroup by reading them stories or tickling their toes; how Buddy took the church nursery school teacher 1 grape and 1 chocolate animal cracker as a snack; how Buddy likes to hold my hand during meals; how Sis will only sing the "Family Song"--and she can sing all the words--if Mama is home, otherwise she says, "somebody's missing; how they have both been great with the cats, trying to pet them gently and toss them toys. I admit my memory has been clouded with the stress of keeping us from tumbling into chaos and so I can't relate more stories.

Perhaps I need to practice my happy thoughts. So here goes.

1. picnics together, both real and pretend
2. cats at home
3. singing the "Family Song"--they sang it to us all by themselves tonight
4. Robin Hood on BBCA for date night
5. thunderstorms (we're having a big one right now) and the puddles they make