High Musical . . .

Having sat through "High Musical" or "High Ho Musical" (neither which sound like something a four year old should  be watching, but she can't seem to remember "High SCHOOL Musical") about 400 zillion times is becoming painful to my eyes, ears, and my 'perkiness radar'.  What is it about Ashley Tisdale/Sharpay (how sad is it that I know this?) and her overly smiley, tanned high school crew that make this Disney production mesmerizing even to my four year old and , yes, also my 20 month old? 

Ella knows all the songs and asks us to play them in the car, "I want "High Musical!" she'll yell and then she goes on singing about "sticking to the status quo".  What does she know about status quo?  I was really hoping to save the "status" talk for a few more years (along with the other talks we can't wait to have).

She received "High School Musical 2" for Christmas.  And as annoying as Jeff and I find this movie to be, Ella was so excited, you would think she had not just received all of Toys R Us for her birthday and Christmas.  If that is all it takes for her to say, "I love you Mommy!  I love you Daddy!  You are the BEST!!!" then I am saving this movie until she is 16 as my secret "I hate you" weapon.

On the “Imaginary Friends”. . .

As mentioned in the header, "Today and Tomorrow Day" is a blog about our lives with two toddlers, a spastic dog, and the occasional imaginary friend. For a while (actually, about 6 months), we had another child - a four year old boy named Kevin with curly blueish-black hair and black teeth. Kevin showed up in Ella's little three year old mind around the time we were preparing to move. Jeff and I thought it seemed normal (at least not too abnormal) for a three year old to invent a friend who could move with her to her new house, so we entertained the concept and presence of "Kevin" as much as possible. Kevin played games with Ella - often times games such as "Chase" -- Ella would run frantically around the house laughing as Kevin apparently chased her and every once in a while, tagged her. Cute. Kevin did EVERYTHING Ella did. At bedtime we had to make sure we didn't sit on him when we sat on Ella's bed to read her book. Ella would matter of factly explain, "Kevin is sleeping in my bed tonight and he doesn't want you to sit on him." Umm, okay, where do we even START with that one?

Kevin ate with us, rode in the car with us, and argued with us. "Kevin says I don't have to eat my fruit--he doesn't like fruit either." Sometime after we moved and Kevin made his successful voyage with us, he got mean. Ella, sitting perfectly quietly (as perfectly quietly as a three year old does) would tell me, "Kevin hit me!" This type of behavior continued on for about a month with Jeff and me attempting to convince her that Kevin was a bad-deal, that real friends don't hit, and all the while, trying very hard not to undermine her creativity by blurting out, "Kevin is not real! He CANNOT hit you!" After all, we knew it was hard on her to move and that she had to deal with it in her own way.

One day while Jeff's mom was over, Kevin unleashed another one of his silent attacks. Having seen this before, and apparently set to do something about it, Jeff's mom stopped whatever she was doing at that moment, squatted down to be eye level with the invisible offender and her granddaughter, and told Kevin that he needed to go home. Turning to Ella, she repeated the message we had unsuccessfully been trying to get across to her, "Kevin is mean and he can't play with you until he learns to behave." Ella's response, "Okay".

Kevin didn't show back up that day, or the next. In fact, he came around much less frequently after that. We were surprised, but secretly relieved...Kevin had been starting to worry us. One day we finally got bold and brave enough to ask Ella about him. "Kevin is mean and I don't play with him," she said. Whew! "But Ben is my new friend; he's nice!"

Alas, she is a creative little kid. . .

Not enough time in the day. . .

For anyone with kids or who has ever had kids, you know the "magic" happens when they go to bed.  By magic, I am referring to unloading the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, picking up little toys that stab your feet as you quickly try to stop toddlers from tossing Christmas ornaments from the tree (that you keep thinking you'll get put away soon), and doing anything remotely adultish - like reading books without pictures or watching movies that aren't rated 'G'...you get the idea.

The kids have been asleep now for about 2 hours and I have accomplished nothing -- except watching reruns of "What Not to Wear" and "House Hunters" simultaneously.  You know, I sometimes think that if I just had a bit more ambition left in me at this time of night, that I could really accomplish great things in life (at least those things I mentioned above), but I am seriously worn out by this point of the day and accomplishing anything at all seems just plain daunting.

So, what has been accomplished today?  Well, I managed to go to a dental appointment (sans kiddos!) where I learned my wisdom teeth must come out (that blew the excitement of being alone for an hour), went shopping with my sister, came home and played with the kids, went to my grandma's for our Friday night date while Jeff was at work, and did get Ella and Keeton in bed on time, complete with the bedtime story and snack.  Maybe watching HGTV/TLC reruns wasn't so undeserved after-all!

Sales Associate of the Month

 

For Christmas, among MANY other things, Ella received a very life-like cash register. It has a digital screen, makes plenty of realistic cash register noises, comes equipped with beucoup faux money (paper and plastic coins) and even accepts its very own Visa charge card (how’s that for preparing our next generation of debtors?). Ella LOVES this red and blue cash register and has been in full “maker” mode since Christmas Eve night when she received it from Mommom Kim (my mom). In Ella’s mind, a “maker” is the person who is behind the counter at McDonald’s; the ever important 15 year-old who “makes” her cheeseburger with no onions or pickles. She thinks that anyone who stands behind a counter somehow “makes” the merchandise that is sold to us.

Anyway, not only is Ella in training to be a maker, but my sister, Jessica, and I think she is also in line for a pretty lucrative sales career someday. On Christmas night Ella was playing maker with my brother, Bey and my dad’s wife, Grandma Donna. Ella asked Donna what she would like and in reply to Donna’s apparently ridiculous request (something as unfathomable as an apple), Ella replied, “we have oranges.” Donna took it in stride, replying, “Well, I want a big, fat orange, not those little scrawny ones.” Ella looked at her — the look of an overly tired, underpaid, forced to do 2 million Christmas returns in one shift employee and said, “Do you like lemonade?”

An Early New Year’s Resolution

 

For those of you who are reading this you are falling prey to one of my New Year’s Resolutions (along with losing five pounds and managing money better — the required ones). Anyway, I’ve really fallen off the good-mom horse when it comes to writing down the cute things the kids said, the dates their fifth and sixth teeth came in, what their favorite bath toys are, etc., so this is my attempt to easily document some of the quirkiness that regularly occurs in our house. Also, in this format my family can have easy access to the kids and perhaps even feel like they are in the very midst of all the chaos!

And, if the act of publicly telling people you are going to lose weight is supposed to make you more prone to success, then maybe this format of public sharing will do the same for my writing. Enjoy!

 

 

Why Tomorrowday?

Tomorrowday is a phrase that Ella uses frequently. She never says "tomorrow", as in, "I'm going to play tomorrow." It is always accompanied by "day", as in, "I'm going to play tomorrowday". I think it is cute and no matter how often I remind her that "day" is implied and not a required suffix, she doesn't care.