pink pajama mama

Yesterday morning George told Annabelle he was going out of town for a couple of days. She turned to me and whispered, “Mom! Daddy’s going away! Now we can go to the mall!” And then she winked at me with a big smile.She’s three!!Where does she get this from? And don’t say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! I have never in my life said these words! I have avoided even saying the word “mall” to Annabelle as I don’t want her to learn it. I’m struggling a bit with her obsession with Hannah Montana. I don’t want Hannah to dominate her play and I think she’s too young to be into the whole tween thing. But on the other hand, I don’t want to impose my views onto her–I want to encourage her to have her own likes and dislikes. And I don’t see a whole lot wrong with Hannah Montana. Her show is not violent or scary or sexy, so I guess it could be worse.We’ve been talking about different rocks. Annabelle loves to look up different kinds of rocks in her rock book and match the real rock with the photo–tiger’s eye, rose quartz, jasper, fool’s gold. She even named her new baby “Rose Quartz.” I’ve been telling her about the igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary kinds of rocks. She loves these kids of words.We’ve also been talking a little bit about bones. The other night I named off all the bones I could remember from fifth grade when we learned about bones. Tonight we were lying in bed reading Pippi Longstocking and out fo the blue, Annabelle turned to me and said, “Metatarsal! Is that a bone or a rock?” I told her it was her ankle bone and she nodded and smiled and fell asleep.Henry is having a language explosion and will repeat any word you say. He said his first sentence last night in the tub. He made his own bubbles and then looked at me with his big baby eyes and said “Mama! I tooted.” This of course elicited a laugh and he kept repeating it with a big smile.TOday we were driving to the bookstore to get the new Sophie Kinsella book and  I said to Henry and Annabelle “Look at the bulldozers!” Annabelle asked me,”Are they sleeping?”Their world is so beautiful. Henry skipped his nap today and fell asleep sitting up on the couch at 5 pm. I tried to rouse him but his body was like a wet noodle and I put on his pajamas and changed his diaper without him awakening! Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby in your arms? They are my bliss. 

Annabelle insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress to music class at Loyola this morning complete with light-up glass slippers she can barely walk in. She shuffled over there following Henry who insisted on pushing the pink baby stroller. Annabelle said his name was Elvis instead of Henry.We came home and they stacked the co-sleeper with pillows and said they were in a Mardi Gras float and proceeded to throw imaginary beads and some real toys at me shouting “Happy Mardi Gras!”We made homemade bread and Henry was completely delighted with the sprinkling of flour on the kneading board process, except he dug his little hands into the bag, took out giant handfuls of wheat flour, and then threw them across the kitchen. The whole kitchen is covered in flour.We went to a place called “The Monkey Room”, an indoor playground where the kids had a ball. They played Scooby and named Henry as Scooby, although he had no idea who they were talking to every time they called him Scooby.Tonight was taco-movie night, the night Annabelle looks forward to all week. We got to watch some of Hannah Montana. Annabelle especially loves the episodes with Dolly Parton in them, and a bit of Winnie the Pooh for Henry who is talking more and more every day. He calls nursing “Night-Night.” Annabelle called it “Mi-Mish.” And the only coat Henry will consent to wearing is Annabelle’s red Santa coat. Henry calls it “Ho-Ho.” “Ho-Ho” is one of Henry’s favorite words and characters. He loves anything that even remotely resembles Santa. Any guy with a beard is a “Ho-Ho.” Any person wearing red is “Ho-Ho.”  

You haven’t experienced Ash Wednesday until you experience it in New Orleans. It’s like Night of the Living Dead around here with all the people walking around with gray ash crosses on their foreheads. It’s like the city is filled with vampires. I’m assuming the ashes stand for purification and cleansing, (I’ve asked around, but have yet to google it)which the city needs after the Mardi Gras festivities!My neighbor, Allison, was telling me how she planned to take her 4-year-old and 5-year-old, George and Maggie, to noon mass, but instead decided to take them to the 4pm mass. It turned out that at the noon mass, the priest said, “Is there a doctor present?” and then collapsed, dead, right in front of the congregation! How’s that for divine providence? Allison was relieved she had decided on a different church time.Yesterday, we were playing outside with George and Maggie and they wanted to play church. They outlined pews for us to sit in, then George and Annabelle were the priests. They sang songs to us in another language they made up, and then filled their palms with gray sidewalk chalk which they then rubbed on our foreheads.I wonder how these formative years spent in New Orleans affect these munchkins. What are they taking in?I hope they absorb the heart of New Orleans; the music that bubbles up from the earth and plays on every corner; the sparkles and treasures made from nothing; the desire to create a unique and incredibly rich community; the rich and fecund atmosphere of food, dancing, and a flair for the dramatic. I hope they’re taking in the magic.

I just heard Annabelle yell, “Don’t take your cape off Henry! You’re my prince!!” When I looked at Henry, he had a baby blanket tied around his shoulders as a cape. “Darlin,” she said like a country singer, “keep your cape on!” Henry is usually thrilled to play any sort of game with Annabelle. He calls her “Babelle.” He rarely makes a peep, just looks around with his big baby eyes and smiles. He’s learning so much from her and I’m so thankful that he’s got such a great role model.Sometimes Annabelle’s cleverness amazes me. Last night she started whining over and over that she wanted to watch a movie. I kept telling her she could watch five minutes after dinner. She kept whining. Finally George snapped and said, “If you ask for a movie one more time, I’m throwing the tv out the window.” (I keep wondering if he will really do this someday when he’s forced to follow through on his threat.) Annabelle went quiet for a minute. Then she said, “Mom? I Really want to do something but I can’t tell you what it is. It’s the thing I was talking about a minute ago?”I laughed so hard I spit out my water. 

My parents called me today to see if I remembered a boy from my hometown by the name of Mark Long. Of course I do. I used to beat him in leg wrestling even though he was three years older than me. I was best friend with his little sister, Sherri, in first grade. Our parents were childhood friends. When I went over to their house to play, I challenged Sherri’s brothers to leg wrestling matches and beat the pants off them every time. One was younger, so of course I’d beat him, but beating the older one was especially gratifying. It was great! I got so cocky about my leg wrestling skills I started challenging adults as well, namely my father, who outweighed me by about 200 pounds and would humor me for a minute before flipping me over onto the floor. Leg wrestling champ… a strangely invigorating memory.Then I remembered the time my cousin, Guy, told me he was taking Judo. Guy was my age, twelve, and very macho. His mother was the cocktail-drinking Louise who had a mole on her chin just like Ginger on Gilligan’s Island and had kissed Elvis. I told him to show me some moves. Ba-da-Bing -Ba-DaBoom, I shocked the hell out of him by flipping him over my shoulder. Ah, victory was sweet.Little did he know I offered karate lessons in my own backyard to the neighborhood children for free, even though I had never taken karate. I also taught tennis against the side of my house, and organized a dance show for my whole neighborhood with all the neighborhood kids. I choreographed and taught them a dance number on roller skates to Greased Lightning,  a vampire number to the Fifth of Beethoven, and a highly theatrical number to a song about Raggedy Ann and Andy, a song I wrote and recorded with my tape recorder. The whole neighborhood attended, they even brought popcorn!My history with beating boys started early, in kindergarten, when little scrappy Charlie refused to share his blocks with me. I kicked his tower down and he punched me in the nose, making it bleed. From that day on, I did everything I could to best boys in every situation. This bizarre desire to dominance continues today. Just the other day, I tried to flip George over my shoulder, but he proved to be immoveable. I have to work on my technique.

Just a little Disney update from pink pajama mama signing on here from Disneyworld. We are having the most fabulous time!! We had breakfast with Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland and Pooh. The look on Annabelle’s face was priceless was priceless when we entered the room. Henry, on the other hand, was terrified of all the characters. He cried and had to be taken from the room. He was so cute. He sat in a tiny chair and his feet didn’t even touch the ground, he’s so little. A bit later, we moved onto the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where Annabelle chose to become a mermaid. (Henry spent all this time lugging giant Pooh and Tigger stuffed animals around the store.) She put on a sparkly mermaid costume and they did her hair and makeup and nails complete with tiny tiara and massive amounts of glitter. Annabelle was in heaven. She held perfectly still and wouldn’t touch anything with her nails wet. She pursed her lips with so the gloss wouldn’t get messy. I kept asking her to smile so I could take her picture and she said, “I’m too busy.” She asked Tawona, her fairy godmother-in-training toplease put on a bigger crown. Tawona poured glitter over her with a magic wand and  said “May all your dreams and wishes come true.” Tawona was pretty impressed with Annabelle’s diva like demeanor. Included in our package was a photo shoot. By the time it was Annabelle’s turn, she was refusing to take her picture because she didn’t want it taken by the “man” who was a really a butch lady. The butch lady charmed her with jokes however and before we knew it, Annabelle was hamming it up in front of the  camera!. Instant transformation! I don’t know where she gets it!Now, we were whisked off back to the Magic Kingdom for dinner with Cinderella in the Castle. TOTALLY FABULOUS!! The castle was amazing and overlooked the carousel and the giant dancing mice once again sent Henry into fits of fear and the fairy godmother walked around granting wishes and Annabelle was again in complete heaven, but by now the kiddies were fading and we finally headed back to the entrance. Disneyworld reopens at night for a “Pirates and Princesses party” and everyone–even grown-ups with no kids-gets dressed as pirates and princesses. Thelights were lit, the air was balmy, and the music was blasting when Annabelle asked to get out of the stroller so she could dance. She ended up dancing all the way down Main Street in her little mermaid sparkles doing a full-on show–following the music perfectly–getting dramatic when the music got dramatic, doing ballet when it turned soft and slow, and marching around like a miniature matador when it turned strong. She swung around the lightpoles and even strangers were taking pictures of her she as sofantastic–completely in her own world. Henry followed along behind her with a big balloon. He loves balloons. Annabelle danced all the way out to the boat which transported us back to the Polynesian where we walked back to our room with the pathway lit by tiki torches.I get so caught up when I’m here, I really believe if we wish upon a star our dreams will come true! > > >