Only in my house

Only in my house--

can a purple tutu bring so much joy and body hair so much distress.

The reign of the princess continues, when today her mother caved and bought her her "dancy ballerina" ensemble.  It's lilac, sleeveless with velvet trim at the neck and armholes.  There's an applique of toe shoes on the chest, and the tulle has sparkles with ribbon trim on the tutu part.  I even got her little socks that look like ballerina shoes.  They don't match, but she doesn't care.  She twirls around in it anyway, arms outstretched, and then lifts them up over her head like she's posing.  She is quite pleased with the whole deal, and I am anticipating that this is gonna replace the pink Barbie nightgown as her new favorite.  Which, I'm sure you can guess, means I'll have to spring for another one; to have one to wear, one to wash.  I don't know where she gets this from, this fascination with all things 'dancy.'  But I know that there'll be a class on down the road sometime, with mini-ballerinas twirling together.  Given her penchant for dancing around naked, I can only hope that this isn't the first step in an illustrious career on the marquees of "gentlemen's" clubs.  I'm not worried...afterall, her brothers all outgrew this stage, and they'd no sooner dance around naked at this point then sport a big pink bow on their heads to school.

Speaking of brothers, tonight the big guy is feeling the weirdness that comes along with your body marching to its own tune.  "Mommy, look--there's hair on my toes.  Do you think I have some kind of disease that's making me age faster?"  Oh, man.  He has no idea how much fun we're in for.  "Mi vida, that's perfectly normal.  You're a guy.  Guys have more body hair.  And all this is happening for you at the time it's supposed to, don't worry, it's not some disease."  "But I'm bigger."  "Yeah, and aren't some of the other boys in your class getting bigger too?  I can't predict puberty, but I can assure you that you are not the only one at its door."  This is the same child that thinks he has a unibrow and has asked me to wax it.  OY!  First of all, it's not that bad, but to him, it's a full-on unibrow.  Secondly, my sweet is 11.  I'm not about to wax an 11 yr old!!  Thirdly, I am suspecting a female influence here.  One offhanded comment from a girl is, I'm sure, enough to strike fear in the heart of a preadolescent.  I remember when he first started wearing glasses, a little girl in his class told him he looked better without them; he's been after contacts ever since.  Mom-tuition tells me this unibrow idea came from a girl.  He's such a cute boy, so sweet...why can't he see it??  Oh, man, the insecurity of this age on up, holy cow~~I signed up for potty training, and conveniently (?) forgot this is part of the deal too!!  Where's that confident Mom who tells all her friends that "I just want to raise boys that turn into good men." ??  I'll tell you where...mentally, I'm hiding in a semi-cower in the closet; physically, I'm taking a big gulp and trying to look like I've got all the answers.  Hey, it works for now. 

Only in my house--

can my bad mood be assuaged by a walk and a pitcher of tulips.

I've been struggling lately.  My mind is all over the place, sometimes where it shouldn't be.  It's making me really cantankerous, cranky, annoyed at myself.  Earlier today I went to Trader Joes for pizza dough, and came home with that and the most perfect shade of blush/peach/pinky tulips I've ever seen.  I love tulips, so graceful, but I'm not brave enough to attempt to grow my own.  I knew I'd be thinking about them even tomorrow if I didn't bring them home with me, so I bought 'em for myself.  They're really the prettiest color, I wish I could carry them around by my face like some lost little Dutch girl all day.  The kids are fascinated, and keep sitting at the counter in the kitchen to get a closer look.  So far, looking, no touching... 

I remained a bit on the grouchy side, so after we got settled early this evening, I grabbed Shadow's leash and took off.  I cranked up the tunes and in the state I was in, probably would've just kept on walking...but my feet found their way home because it was late and I knew everyone was probably hungry.  Cranky, but not irresponsible, haha.  Selfish enough to keep the tunes on, though, so I wouldn't hear the beginnings of every little fracas!  Besides, that way I could dance around the kitchen stretching the pizza dough and only look like half a loon...except I caught myself singing out loud a couple of times :)   Fortunately, no one said anything about it, and all that stretching must've been therapeutic to some degree, because although my evil hormonal twin still lurks within, I've once again prevailed.  She's been sent away with a back issue of GQ and a chocolate bar.  (No, it's not pms. Really. Can't say.)

And to reward you for putting up with that little rant above:

Only in my house--

can my heart feel like it's gonna burst with pride, twice within the span of 15 minutes.

Today, Ben had a running club race at school.  He was really nervous about it.  We got there before they started, and so I went up to pep talk him.  Ryan and Audrey hugged him.  But when Nolan came up, he and Ben approached each other, too cool to hug.  They give each other the chin-tilt-up and five.  Then Nolan says, "Do I know you?" but smiles and pep talks him too.  YES!  They really do like each other!

Mr W arrives at this point, but Ben's gone back with his group.  We're chatting, our kids running all around us, and Audrey starts fussing.  Nolan steps up to the plate, "Hey, Mom, I got her.  I'll take her to swing."  ??? Wow.  "Ok."  So I'm kinda enjoying chatting with Mr W, but getting a kick out of him at the same time.  He does this thing, where he's talking to me, but not looking at me.  I'm used to it, and he's not ignoring me.  It's a cop thing, to be looking at all the people in the crowd, back, forth, constantly.  There were a lot of people there, so I wasn't surprised, and the fact that I find this amusing is probably one of the reasons we're still married, lol.  One of my friends (also a cop) once said if you get two cops together, and they're talking, they're facing different directions, not looking at each other, but all around.  It's so true, it's comical.

I look over at Nolan, and the princess is sitting in his lap on the swing.  As the swing goes up, she breaks out a smile as bright as the sun.  I'm filled with happiness at this little scene.  I look away for a minute, at Ryan on the next swing, amazed he's actually not asked for a push.  When I look back at Nolan and Audrey, I can't believe it.  They are swinging still, but now Audrey has leaned back onto Nolan and raised her arms overhead (like you see people do on rollercoasters.)  They're both smiling, and I'm convinced I won't be forgetting this moment, even though I don't have a camera in my hand. 

And with that memory, folks, I think my evil hormonal twin is willing to let me have some peace.  For now.

She knows she can't compete with that degree of cuteness.