Snails

The girls have become fascinated with snails. Though I'm not crazy about the critters, I have no "flowerbed" so to speak of (thank you Crazy Cat Lady next door) that they could devour, so for the most part I just leave them be. They've become a source of endless amusement for my girls though. The same poor 3 snails get mauled repeatedly - slid off whatever they happened to be climbing at the time and plopped unceremoniously into a bug catcher.

You may think I'm unhinged for allowing, nay, even encouraging, my girls to play with snails. As long as they wash their hands when they come inside or before they have a snack, I really don't see the harm. Have you ever placed one in a clear plastic container & just watched it? The undulating muscles of its pseudopod (read - big, slimy foot) is amazing to watch & their faces, with the long eye stalks & shorter I-don't-know-what stalks can almost look expressive. But I digress...

This evening they were observing a pair of snails they had collected while I was getting dinner ready. Caleigh, in her endless wonderings asked me why some people don't like snails. I explained that a lot of people, like Grandma & Grandpa, work very hard to make their gardens look beautiful and that they don't like holes in their flowers - besides that, some people are kinda grossed out by the slimy part, I added.

Caleigh mulled over this for a few minutes while she observed the snail travel across the Glad container. Then she turned to me.

"I like snails. They look like they could be cute & cuddley... but mostly slimy."

My Hero!

Caleigh spilled yogurt on one of Alessa's stuffed animals & Alessa, completely distraught, came running into the office.

"Don't worry about it, Lessa. I'll clean it up tomorrow," I told her.

She walked back to her room and told Caleigh, "Mommy will fix it. OxyClean is my hero!"

:::sigh:::

Mommy, The Wino?

At dinner, I carried cups out to the girls with a pitiful amount of milk in them. They looked at the cups & then to me with an expectant look.
"Sorry girls, that's the last milk in the house."
Alessa, concerned, asked, "Are you going to have water then?"
"Nope."
"Soda?"
"Nope."
"Wine?"
:::blink blink::: Pardon?

I've NEVER had wine, and I make an effort not to have them see us drink (an occasional social drink after the girls go down for the night if we have friends over). Where on earth do they get this stuff?!?!?!

Holy SMoM Party Batman!

Last weekend was our annual Mothers of Multiples Halloween party. Alessa decided that she wanted to be Wonder Woman again. Though the costume was a little short (she wore it 2 years ago), we supplemented it with some patriotic shorts. Caleigh wanted to wear her Batgirl costume.

The story with the Batgirl is as follows: 2 years ago, on the girls' "3 year old Halloween", we decided we'd bite the bullet and buy each of the girls whatever costume they wanted for the first Halloween they they actually seemed to "get it". Much to their father's delight, they both firmly insisted on being superheroes (each $40 costumes). When Halloween actually rolled around, Alessa was still thrilled to be Wonder Woman - albeit, the costume was a bit big for her (super cute though).

Caleigh, however, absolutely REFUSED to wear her Batgirl costume - she INSISTED on wearing the Ren Faire garb I threw together for them earlier in the month for Folsom Faire. The garb was my first real sewing attempt. I suppose I should feel flattered by the fact that she loved it, but all I could think about was the $40 we had wasted on the Batgirl costume. Eventually I relented and she wore her Ren Faire dress with a few little accents to spruce it up - though I still grumbled occasionally about the wasted money.

This year, however, was quite different. Mid-August she started grilling me about where her Batgirl costume was & was quite persistent about finding it. We located both costumes & hung them in the closet for safekeeping.

Flash-forward to last Saturday night. Caleigh has donned both the costume & the persona of Batgirl and spends the first part of the evening whoooshing from person to person. Suddenly she screeches & clutches her face. As a mother, this is quite concerning to me. However, she peers through her fingers, glances swiftly about the yard and dramatically exclaims, "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!! I'VE LOST MY SECRET IDENTITY!!!"

:::sigh::: The strap on her mask had broken. Rik has made sure they take their superheroes VERY seriously.

Mad Ducats

Today the girls received their Halloween cards in the mail from Grandma & Papa Watsie. They were absolutely vibrating with the shear excitement of unexpected mail, but when money fell out... they were tipped over the edge of the cliff.

"Money!?!?" Alessa all but shouted. "Why is there money!?!?"

"Well, let's sit down & read the card," I offered. I read the cards, letting them pick out the sight words they'd been working on & sounding a few words out.

"Wow," breathed Caleigh reverently, "a whole dollar."

"A dollar? Check the number on it again," I challenged.

"Five dollars!?!?" Alessa exclaimed.

"Five dollars!" Caleigh echoed, "we can buy ANYTHING!!!"

Fon

Alessa was practicing her writing this morning.

"Mommy has a fon.

Daddy has a ipod.

Robrt has a fon.

Dood has a phone. (:::blink blink::: Dude?)

Alessa dusint hav a fon.

Caleigh dusint hav a fon."

At this point, after much praise from Mommy & Daddy, she hands it to Rik & says, "Now YOU write something! Like, 'Alessa will get a phone soon'... or whatever."

Bits of Wisdom

We were driving home from school and I was only half-listening to my girls chatting with each other in the back seat. Apparently, Alessa really knows how to impress her sister, as I suddenly hear Caleigh gasp & exclaim:

"Alessa! You're AMAZING! You're like CRAZY magic."

Bits of Wisdom

Caleigh's revelation during dinner tonight:

"Chocolate milk is healthiness & sugarness."

Watch Out For Squirrels

Recently at Target, Caleigh, being somewhere OTHER than our house, immediately decided she needed to check out the new bathroom - still within the first year and a half of being fully "potty-trained", I'm not comfortable calling her bluff quite yet.

With a "Do you really want me to take her into the men's restroom?" look from their father, Mommy left Alessa with Daddy & headed into the bathroom with Caleigh with potty ring in hand. I entered a stall and stopped dead in my tracks as there was urine ALL over the seat (come on people - be considerate). I said to Cailegh, "Wait a minute, Love - there's pee-pee all over the seat. Let's go in another stall." As I opened up the potty ring & sat her on the toilet in the new, non-urine covered stall, she looked at me very seriously and we had the following conversation:

"Mommy, do you know who went pee-pee all over the seat?"
"No Honey, I don't."
"It was the squirrels."
Blink. Now I was intrigued.
"The squirrels?" I asked
"Uh huh. See that hole up there?" she explained, pointing to the vent in the ceiling, "The squirrels needed to go potty so they came through there but they missed the seat & went pee-pee on the toilet."

Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen. Next time you're in a public restroom and there's urine all over one of the toilet seats, be sure to warn the management that they have a squirrel problem.