Pre-Birthday, Checking in with the Kids

Lilly would not take a nap today. "Nursy?" she says, plaintively, after she's already nursed to death and then wanted to "lay next mommy" meaning lay next to me and play with the curtains and not go to sleep. She cries bitterly when she doesn't get her way. It's sad, and when I finally gave up she had the puffy eyes of someone who'd been up all night on a bender. She's obsessed with gum and everytime we get in the car she says "piece dum mommy?" then cries when I say no. We try to limit her to one tiny piece a day, and she chews it forever. She's forgetting how to eat, though. She thought it was very funny today when Karina had on Emma's bathing suit. She laughed and said "Pia wear Emma bay suit," grinning, like that was the craziest thing.

It's Nathan's last night of being 8 years old. The little meatloaf baby is now at least sixteen meatloaves long. He spent his last day of being 8 playing in the pool at my horse job while I worked, and playing with Karina his friend who is 11 and has braces, and playing in the tree with Emma, and eating pancakes and carrot cake cupcakes. He also got to wear purple and play a basketball game with his and Emma's team at night. His favorite meal is salad with grilled fish and broccoli. He does not enjoy chocolate cake or milk. He loves dog movies. The current favorite movie in the house is called Slappy and the Stinkers and involves some little rascal type kids and a seal. They've rented it from the library like a zillion times. Plus it's the only movie they could watch since the DVD side of our VCR is broken, and it's a tape.

Emma has lost most of her teeth and doesn't look like anyone we know anymore. She looks like the butterfly half out of the cocoon, and like she had to pay her way out with some of her teeth. She's tall and a tumbler. She'd like to watch tv all day and eat pistachios. She has about forty bathing suits, and enjoys favoring one for a week at a time. She just got a new one at a yard sale down the street this weekend for one dollar. I probably should be scared that she cares so much about matching her clothes, except that she also like gathering the chickens' eggs, climbing trees, dancing and swimming. She's a good mix of lazy and impetuous. Her wish when she throws a penny in a fountain is to be a mermaid with magical powers.

Tonight, going to bed, Nathan told Emma she learns things faster than he does. It was a shocking moment of honesty and love. We told Nathan that he learns things differently, like he's curious about things and will study them until he knows everything. If he wished on a fountain, he'd wish for an 84 Nissan pick up truck with camper shell. Just like his brother's.

If Lilly could wish on a fountain, she'd wish for gum.