3.5 Hours Later...

So, around noon today, Alex had a pea accident. Dropped a bowlful of frozen peas on the floor, much to her non-chagrin. Nope, didn't care at all, really. But I cared, which is silly of course. What does it matter if there are a few hundred peas rolling all over the floor right where we walk a hundred times a day? Well, being the crazy, uptight Mom that I am, I asked Her Highness to pick up the peas. She put a few peas in her bowl, then had a change of heart and started smooshing them around instead.

A fun game, I agree, but only if you're not the adult who likes clean, pea-free floors. Anyhoo, I asked her very nicely (as always, of course) to please continue her cleanup efforts. But, in the absence of pea-absorbing booms, she declined.

To make a not terribly long story a bit shorter, she declined repeatedly, resulting in uncounted time-outs in her room. Sometimes self-imposed, as in :

Mommy - "Are you going to clean up those peas now?"
Alex - "Can I have a time out instead?"
Mommy - "Yes, you can always have a time out if you want one."

Many book deprived, stuffed snake-less, somewhat tearful hours later, she decides that the best way to cheat the system was to tinkle on the potty. She tinkled three times in the space of an hour, earning three Hershey Kisses as per the pre-established potty agreement that's been going on for months. Amazing what a skipped lunch will do to improve her bladder control.

One roll of shredded toilet paper later (what is she, a bored cat?) and Daddy arrives home. He asks her, as he did previously over the phone, to clean up the peas. Apparently his imposing presence was enough to terrify her into doing that which she would not do before. Peas cleaned up, she still managed to fuss her way into an early bedtime (which was also completely devoid of all book reading due to the million-time-out afternoon) but now she's asleep, Gabe's asleep, and all is well in the world. Though I'm fairly sure I saw a pea smear near the kitchen table.

Pout

He hates it when I put him in his play yard to selfishly eat some breakfast. Such a tortured existence. Clearly he doesn't have enough toys and never gets any attention.

Side note - 200th post!!! Wow, I never thought I'd actually post this much. It helps that the kids are so photogenic!

And another exciting note - Gabe slept for about 8 hours straight last night. We can only assume it won't happen again for a while but secretly hope for more tonight. Of course, I'll probably yet again wake up at 4, wonder if he's breathing and get up to check on him only to hear the happy snores of a very sleepy baby. Even Alex had a (relatively) good night, so we've capped off a stressful week better than we expected.

A Good Day for...

Apparently it's "a good day to go swim in the pool" pronounced poo-uhl. Also a good day to watch tv (no it's not, but nice try kid) and a good day to dig for worms. And to draw on the driveway with chalk. And eat marshmallows. And read the bug book - incidentally, I think Alex may be the only kid I know who likes to read/look at a field guide to insects. She's definitely the only one I know brave enough to pick up some of the bigger bugs. She still talks about the patent leather beetle we found at the playground, only she calls it the leather patent beetle. Just to annoy me, I'm pretty sure.

Anyway, it's a good day to do all the things Alex loves to do the most. How nice for her, and concurrently exhausting for me and even the Gabester. Here's a grainy picture of her reading a book in bed, which it's also a good day for doing.

Nerdly Heritage

I'm quite proud to report that the nerdy force is strong in our young Alex. Yesterday, we ventured outside (For the third, fourth, fifth time? I lost track.) and headed out to do some yard exploration.

We started out by the deck looking at tomatoes. Alex told the yellow cherry tomatoes a story, "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Alex...". That was pretty much the story, I think.

Next, to the swing, after a short detour to ponder the raccoon poop in the lawn. Seedy. Anyway, Alex tried very hard to get on the swing every which wrong way she could think of, culminating in a scream-fest and me telling her it was time to go somewhere else.

We went under the dogwood to look for creatures. No creatures found, and I very cunningly suggested we go to the front of the house for a look-see around the lavender for moths (motheses) and bees. She fell for it, and off we went.

We took another detour to look at some nice big mushrooms, but not to touch them! And then over to the bottle brush buckeye for a flower bud check. Yep, lots of flower buds. On our way back uphill to the porch, something very nerdy happened that really surprised me.

So, Alex has never seen Star Wars. But the Imperial March is a part of our weekly if not daily life. Appropriate for moments like Gabey waking up early for a nap, the cats puking on the carpet, Alex melting down because "the wrong show is on". Anyway, she's heard us humming that songs lots and lots, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she did too. At first, I thought for sure I was mistaken and she was just humming coincidentally familiar notes, but in fact she was humming the Imperial March. Impressive, my young padawan, very impressive. She'll be a powerful Sith Lady some day. (Lord, are they all Lords even if they're girls? Don't know where to start looking that one up. Maybe Wookieepedia.)

Anticlimactically, she chased bees around the lavender, spent a few minutes covering things with sand in the sandbox, chased a daddy long-legs, shot a few hoops, and then it was inside for a bath. But now we know she can both carry a tune very well and she's destined for nerd greatness.

Long Day?

I just have a feeling it's going to be a long day, what with the heat, humidity, and Alex telling me first thing that she wanted her hair cut and her nails painted. If she wouldn't peel off the nail polish (on her fingers and possibly a toe or two) maybe we wouldn't have to do -that- every other day. But where's the fun in that?