Our lives are a musical

You know how when you watch a musical you think, "Who sings everything they do and think?" Well, Sophie does. All day long, she sings. She sings what she is doing ("I'm gonna practice piano and take a bath."), she sings pretend things and she sings churchy things ("Jesus died and loves you."). My favorite is when all three get mixed up and she sings about Jesus baptizing someone who is playing the piano and going to the store to buy milk. Even better is when she does this while walking, well, processing, through the house holding a book above her head. Maybe women will be allowed to be ordained as priests in her lifetime. Can't wait to hear her sing her first sermon.

Black Friday in PDX

This is how we spent Black Friday, P-town style. First a walk across the Hawthorne bridge to watch the Macy's day parade. The girls loved it. Then we walked around downtown admiring the decorations stopping for Sophie to play in the confetti left over from the parade. While we were there, Santa arrived back at Macy's via cab. That was funny.

We then took max to Whole Foods for a quick shop and lunch and then to Cacao to drink chocolate (http://www.cacaodrinkchocolate.com/). Then back on max and across the bridge to head home.

Who needs to shop when there's all this other fun (and mostly free) stuff to do? I love this town.

It wasn't the candy

It's just not right when a kid goes out trick-or-treating, doesn't eat any candy and then gets sick. Seriously, how many kids puke on Halloween before they even get to eat the candy? Poor thing.

It's also not right that we were up all night and it wasn't because we were partying.

At least she had a great time trick-or-treating and was ready for candy eating 24 hours later.

One more thing, trick-or-treating in old Portland is a workout. It's like trick-or-treating on a stairmaster covered in wet leaves.

Fruit fly humor

We have been trying to deal with a fruit fly problem in our house using some homemade traps. We were explaining the traps to my Mom. The traps are made of rotting fruit, wine and soap in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.

Sophie, in that dramatic excited way she excels at, says:
"That's gross! (and without a breath) Can I watch you make it?"

Supercool things our daughters are doing

When I teach about typical language development, I always mention that parents consider their own children to be geniuses. At least I do. Here are some supercool things our girls are doing these days.

Sophie, who is now 5 years old:
1. Today counted to 39 without assistance. When did she learn to get past 20?
2. Travels to church and grocery by bike. I am so proud watching her sit up tall and pedal.
3. Loves to write word lists: Sophia, Sophie, Lucy, Dad, Mom, Amy, Wow, Nemo
4. Loves to talk. To anyone and everyone. Tells cashiers what she ate for breakfast. Invites strangers over for sleepovers. Invites the children of our friends to move in with us.
5. Has a wicked fashion sense. Who knew a white shirt with blue, green and brown polka dots could be paired with a purple and pink plaid skirt? I have given up with any expectation of her wearing matching clothes and moved on to be proud of her non-conforming fashion sense.

Lucy, who is now 19 months old:
1. Is a sponge. We have lost track of her words and are constantly saying to each other, "Did I tell you what she said..." She now speaks in 2-3 word sentences. "No nap." "Momma seat." "Sophia seep." "Daddy-o bike." "No, Daddy, Momma."
2. Has little fear. Bringing her to a playground is hazardous to my health. I can't move that quickly. She falls so often that I have forgotten to flinch. She is covered in bruises including one on her cheek from when she tried to climb into her high-chair yesterday and the entire thing fell on top of her as she slammed to the floor. Wait, I do remember how to flinch!
3. Loves to eat. I mean, she really loves to eat. We took her to dinner with co-workers who watched her lick a side of sour cream clean and said, "This is hysterical. You never told us she ate like this." And she loves sausage. That's her favorite form of meat. And she likes broccoli. "More baki please" is what we heard repeatedly at dinner tonight.
4. Is a very happy kid, until you take away her food. Tonight, Lindsey took away a lollipop that Sophie, ahem, kindly shared with her. Lucy howled and kicked and screamed for about 10 minutes. Did I mention that she only cried for about a minute after the high-chair fell on her?
5. Does have some fears of vacuum cleaners and sitting on the potty. She can tolerate the vacuum, but she doesn't like it. She is happy when it is off stating, "Bac alldone," repeatedly. Tonight we sat her on the potty and she was very unhappy, "No potty. No potty." then "Alldone potty."

I've always depended on the kindness of strangers

So how did it go traveling with a 5 year old and 19 month old by myself? Well, it was tiring, but not so bad. Every time I travel alone with kids, more of my faith in humanity is restored. First there was the gate agent at PDX who said, "Don't worry, I'll walk your stuff to the {x-ray} machine." We have a family rule, "You pack it, you carry it" but she insisted and refused my help. How sweet is that? Then along the way were all these folks offering help.

The flights weren't so bad. Lu likes to move and didn't like being confined but she dealt with it for the most part. Sophie was patient with her (and me), too. We taught Lucy the rules of flying and she quickly learned to recite #1 on command ("no whyin'") and Sophie added rule #1a all on her own, "no whining." Lu didn't always follow her own advice but folks on the airplane still complimented her on how quiet she was. I wonder if they were sitting over the engine?

Now the ride back, that was nice. We split up. Lindsey had Lu and I flew with Soph. Lu was great for Lindsey. Soph slept at least 3 hours of a 3.5 hour flight and for the first time in months, I read a book on an airplane and actually felt relaxed when the flight was over.

I guess stepping in dog poop really is good luck.

Crying is not allowed on airplanes

So I will take a flight across the country tomorrow. I remember when flying was almost relaxing. I'd read an entire book or watch a movie, heck, sometimes I'd even go crazy and buy one of those $5 bottles of bad wine. Woohoo! That was livin' large. Then there was that big security issue and the need for the long security lines and IDs. That wasn't much fun, but I'm happy they are keeping us safe. But to be honest, the thing that has made travel unrelaxing for me? Two things. Thing 1 and Thing 2.

I have been blessed with children who are good travelers. They have both flown across the ocean and done so in a way to make their mother so proud. We have family rules that we repeat and repeat (1. No crying on airplanes. 2. No kicking the seat in front of you. 3. You can't get up unless the seatbelt sign is off.). I have no idea if they help the kids travel better, but I'm pretty sure they make me and Smitty feel better. But I won't lie, I'm a bit scared about tomorrow. I'm flying alone with both of them. And we are too cheap to buy a seat for the youngest. Yeah, you heard me. It's only a few hours, so how bad can it be, right? Well that's what I thought until I didn't forward the email that told me I would get bad luck for 4 years because I am a Scorpio and then I stepped in a huge pile of fresh dog poop this morning. I know, it's just a coincidence. And if having bird poop land on your shoulder is good luck, than clearly stepping in a huge mess of dog poop is even better luck, right?

I do wonder how bad it can be and then remember that after spending the better part of the weekend alone with the girls the hardest hour was during church when I chased Lu around the lobby. She's so active! Hopefully flying at her nap time will mean that she'll sleep and Soph and I will read books and write letters. And if not, well, I've packed plenty of chocolate and goldfish. And we will continue to recite the Smithstanza Family air-traveling mantra: crying is not allowed on airplanes. In the airport? Fine. Let it all out. But not on the airplane.

And if that doesn't work? Well, it's only a few hours of my life and at least I'll have chocolate and goldfish to share with my fellow passengers. Did I mention the bag of earplugs?

Another one?

Three years ago, we were on our way to vacation in England while my family was on their way to hotels in MS to evacuate Katrina. Planned travel vs. forced travel. Ugh. My mom told me to go. What can you do if you stay behind? she said. So we left. When we got to Raleigh, NC, we saw the news of the flooding in nola. I could only reach one of my brothers who evacuated to my in-laws' house. We couldn't reach the rest of my family. Not my mom and two oldest brothers and their families who were in MS and not my brother who stayed in nola with his job. It was terribly frightening because the news was so crazy that we couldn't piece together how bad things were in nola. I know people at the airport thought I was crazy. I couldn't stop crying. God Bless Lisa, a flight attendant on the plane who took pity on us and made sure we were as comfortable as possible.

It took us a few days to reach our family and we felt so much better when we knew they were all safe and their houses were mostly okay. But the hurricane damage was on the cover of the papers in England and Scotland for almost the entire two weeks we were there. It was surreal to experience this natural disaster in another country.

Three years later, my family is planning another evacuation. Katrina wasn't worse case scenario, as crazy as it sounds. What will Gustav do?

We already have a blog?

L tells me that we already have a blog on our website. I don't know how to blog so how am I supposed to work it? I need something ready-made, like blogging for dummies. Let me give this a try and see if it works.

Testing, 1, 2, 3.

Hello, Cleveland!