Last week the girls and I were outside cleaning and weeding. Or at least I was cleaning and weeding, the girls were making dirt castles (Yes I mean dirt castles. There's no sand here). As I'm pulling the dead leaves from around the iris bed Sweet Pea chimes in, "Mommy, frog!". I jumped up out of the bed of iris to take a look. Sure enough there it was, resting in the cool shade of the iris plants. Cocoa came over and we all hovered over it. I ran to grab the camera so that we would always have a picture of our little green visitor. It's as though it was posing for the camera.
Apparently the frog has decided to stay around for awhile. Just a few days ago, my husband was working upfront on the boardwalk he was building. Sweet Pea had been outside with him and as Cocoa and I walked up to see how he was doing, Sweet Pea said, "Mommy the frog is still here." Sure enough, there it was sitting on the bed of rock by the board walk. Cocoa had to take a look at it. She walked up next to her daddy and slowly planted herself on his lap. He was trying to level something at the time but stopped what he was doing to show her the frog. The girls watched it for another moment or two before it hopped its way back under the boardwalk to stay cool.
Cocoa smiles not only with her mouth but with her eyes as she says proudly, "Cookie on the back." For awhile there it was difficult to get a clean diaper on the girl without searching through the stack and finding the one with Cookie Monster on the front. I constantly remind her that Cookie is on the back as well, pointing to the smiling monster on the back of the diaper. She finally gave in one day and proudly turned her backside to me, stuck out her rear and said, "See, Cookie on the back. See, see." Pointing down to the furry blue creature. Now she does this often. She picks the diaper out of the basket and shows mommy that Cookie is there. Yet, I feel that soon, there will no longer be a furry blue Cookie Monster on the back of her diaper. She is starting to use the potty more. She's even gone several times on her own. One day after getting showered, I called for her to come brush her teeth. I called again and again. I went into the hallway and called again. I heard a faint voice in the distance, "I go potty." I went into the girls bathroom to find Cocoa perched on the toilet seat. She had the "two step" step stool in front of the toilet with her legs out stretched on the top step. She looked up at me, smiled and said, "I go potty." And sure enough she did! Number 2!!!! So happy with joy at my little girls accomplishment, I cleaned her up and put on a pull-up. She smiled with glee because she had seen these before. Her big sister had worn them for awhile when she was potty training. She looked so proud as she spun around showing mommy the princesses that were on the front. She did a quick turn to the back and looked. I think she was looking for Cookie Monster.
Not a bit of sadness there though because later that same day as we were entering the grocery store she said, "Go potty." I said, "Are you sure?" She nodded and so I took her to the restroom. I was use to doing this before with her. Normally Sweet Pea was with us and she had to go. Cocoa always said she had to go herself but never would actually go. So I went along with it and to my surprise, SHE WENT POTTY! NUMBER 1 this time. Wow! I smiled and told her, "Your such a big girl!" She was happy with her accomplishment again. Unfortunately though as I rushed to pulled her pants down, the pull-up tore and I didn't have another one in the diaper bag. I said, "Sorry Cocoa. Mommy has to put a diaper on you." Out of the diaper bag came a diaper with, you guessed it, Cookie Monster on the front. Oh was she delighted with that. We washed up, got our cart, and I buckled her in. Sure enough, she pulls up her shirt and tries to pull the waistband of her pants down to show mommy that Cookie was on the front. "See, See.", she says. I smiled and reminded her we were in the store and to keep her shirt down.
Later that night Sweet Pea said she had to go potty and Cocoa said, "Me too." Sweet Pea comes running out of the bathroom and says, "She went potty!" So to share in the joy I motioned for my husband to go see as well. She went Number 2! So he got to help clean her up this time. What a joy it is to potty train.
About two weeks ago I took all the girls toys, right down to the last stuffed animal decorating their rooms, and put them in the bonus room and locked the door. I came to the conclusion that they have too many toys. The pile on the floor seemed endless. Mostly it was a pile of stuffed animals. OK so maybe they have too many stuffed animals. Word to the family.....no more stuffed animals. OK so some of the animals came from us when we went to Circus Circus. Can't help but try to win the stuffed animal for your little girl. Those big brown eyes of Cocoa's and those beautiful green eyes of Sweet Pea's, you just can't resist. (Daddy's pretty good at those claw machines.) That first night I started to feel guilty. They wouldn't clean up the mess they made with the toys that were in the room in the first place. It had been two days of saying "clean up the toys". Giving them time limits and bribing them with candy and the chance to watch a movie. I would start to help them but they had to do the bulk of the work. It just came down to me not wanting to deal with it anymore I guess. I did give them one stuffed animal a piece, Sweet Pea's "Horsey" and Cocoa's "Dumbo" (I'm not that mean). So that night Cocoa walked downstairs and told daddy that, "Mommy locked the door." She would continue to repeat this same phrase over and over again. I called my sister one day and Cocoa even mentioned it to her.
Get this, the first day after I locked the door, they found something they could use to unlock the door. I called my husband and told him about it and he asked, "How did they know to it?" I told him that they're not stupid. They're SMART! They've seen us do it before to other doors they've accidentally locked. The next day, they did it again. Now it's two weeks later, they've gotten a few things back. Two boxes of blocks and a box of Toys Story toys. They sure were excited to see those. But since then, nothing else. I actually was going to give them all back the other day. They, of course, had opened the door and so I told Sweet Pea to start putting the animals in their rooms. Once the animals were back in their bedrooms, I would come and help put them away. Simple right? Wrong. After two hours, about two dozen animals had been moved. They went back into the bonus room. The next day, same thing. I don't really think they missed the toys as much. We certainly spend more time together now though. I have it in the plan to give them the toys back by the end of this week. They have to work for them though. They must help make their beds, clear their dishes from the table, and listen to mommy. Simple stuff. Maybe they'll appreciated their toys more now. I don't know. But I guess I can always lock the door again.
So yesterday to beat the heat I took the girls bowling. Yes, bowling. Imagine if you will a pair of bowling shoes. Now imagine it in a size 6 for toddlers. They were absolutely adorable and looked even cuter on Cocoa. She's been bowling before (just before her second birthday). This time was different. She stood next to the ball return looking into the black hole waiting for the ball to come out. She watched as others took their turn and she cheered. She even picked up the six pound bowling ball. This I thought wouldn't be a good idea seeing as though she could drop it on her foot. But she held on tight and with all of her might pushed it down the lane. It only needed help from the bowling alley guy twice. Otherwise she didn't do to bad (of course she had help). She would often pout when Sweet Pea would try and help her out. Sweet Pea insisted on helping her sister which actually meant she was holding the ball and pushing it down the lane. I had to remind Sweet Pea that it was her sisters turn and to help her push the ball, not do it for her. Sweet Pea loved bowling. She would pick up the ball (even putting her fingers in the holes) and walk right up to the line and would let go. Sometimes it was a little slow and we weren't sure it was going to make it but it generally did. Get this, on the first frame of the first game, she got a strike. That's my girl! It was definitely a fun time and a lot cooler inside the building than outside. I may have to take them again sometime. Afterwards as a special treat, we stopped at Starbucks and the girls got to have a Horizon chocolate milk (in the box) and of course I had to have a frappacino. It was 94' degrees outside! What a lovely way to end the day.
I caught a glimpse of this sunset last night and had to take a photo. It was the first day in a series of very hot days to come. The temperature was just right and the view was breath taking.
The other day my husband called and told me that he won something as a raffle prize at a golf tournament he played in. He thought it would be fun for the girls to play with. "What was it?", I asked. He told me I would see when he got home. Sweet Pea was screaming with glee because daddy was bringing home something for her. Cocoa was screaming with glee because daddy was coming home. So when he made it through the door Sweet Pea was already looking for daddy's surprise. Cocoa just wanted him to pick her up. It didn't take long for him to unveil what appeared to be a tent. Yes, a camping tent. I thought to myself that we really don't need a tent. We don't go camping (OK maybe one day we will). But the girls were excited at this thing that was now being taken out of it's package and assembled in our family room. Their eyes were big and they were eager to see what it looked like. It was put together rather quickly and sure enough once the door was unzipped, they went right in. So seeing as though they would be well entertained, I took off for the grocery store. (It's nice to be able to go shopping alone once in awhile.) I thought by the time I got home that they would be ready for bed. Sure enough they were ready for bed, and the tent had been taken down. As I put away the groceries I asked my husband if the girls were already in bed. His answer now that I think of it should have tipped me off that something was up. He said, "Well, sort of." I then heard Cocoa talking upstairs. I finished putting away the groceries and went upstairs to put her back in bed. As I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs the light was on in the master bedroom. I pushed the door back to unveil the TENT. I gave a half a smile and asked what was going on. Sweet Pea said, "We're going to sleep in the tent mommy." OK....so I went downstairs to see why. My husband informed me that the girls wanted to sleep in the tent and he didn't think them sleeping downstairs was a good idea. He didn't want them to wake up in the middle of the night and get scared. So he put the tent upstairs. In the master bedroom. I guess he could have put it in the bonus room but that room is off limits to the girls right now (their toys are in there, more on that later). All I can say is that it wasn't easy trying to get them to sleep. They were too excited about this new experience. And it wasn't a good night sleep for me either. We had put blankets down on the bottom of the tent but during the night I just kept hearing the rustling sounds of their legs against the canvas/tarp like material. I also had put a night light in the room so it wouldn't be too dark and well it was too bright for me. I know they enjoyed themselves and they stayed in the tent all night (Cocoa generally goes wandering in the middle of the night). I really needed that cup of coffee the next morning. So much so that I even had a second cup. You know they even took their naps in it the next day. I did take it down last night though. I don't think I could have gone through another night of hearing them toss and turn on that material. Oh what joy it brings to see them have so much fun with something so simple as a tent.
Today is a better day. Got started off early with of course a cup of coffee that I was able to make by myself with out the girls screaming, "It's my turn" with regards to who puts the coffee in the filter and who presses the button. The girls were still asleep. I actually got to watch part of the news this morning with no interruptions from the monkeys climbing all over me. I sometimes feel out of touch with the world seeing as though I pretty much just stay at home with the girls and most of my daily conversations include the phrase, "Let's go potty". Yet that's what being a mom of two little ones is like. You discuss everything it is that you're doing or going to do. Sure enough this makes for quite a conversation with two year old Cocoa. Almost everything you say she'll try and repeat back at you except that she'll be missing a word or two or four. She'll try and sing a song and will normally just shout out the last word in the verse. It is rather cute though. She's moving around to the beat and bopping her head in time to the music and you hear, ".....Manatee.......for me......up above....love." Since I'm around her more it's easier for me to understand what she's saying or trying to say. It's as though I'm a translator specializing in the secret language of a two year old. She'll sometimes be on the phone with her daddy and all I hear is her end of the conversation. Once I get back on the phone I do my best to clear up any confusion for my husband. On the other end of the spectrum is Sweet Pea who has volumes of words stored up in her vocabulary. She just needs to start understanding the definition of some of those words. Case in point, she likes to use the word "frustrated". She'll crinkle her nose and say she's frustrated when she can't have the big fork and has to use the kid size fork. I then remind her that it has the princesses on it and then she seems to be OK with it. The word frustrated just seems strange coming out of the mouth of a four year old. I remember when she was about two and a half and we were in the Starbucks drive-thru, I ordered my drink and pulled up to the window. From the back seat I heard her voice say, "Benti Pepper Mocha". She was clearly trying to repeat my drink order of a venti peppermint mocha. I had to turn around and smile. I even smile about it now.
It's nap time. Ah, nap time. Some days I just live for nap time. As I mentioned I have a four year old and a two year old. The older one I call "Sweet Pea" and the younger one is "Cocoa". Of course it's not their real names. I don't know how comfortable I am yet with letting the world know their real names. These are nicknames that I do call them though. Sweet Pea is full of energy like most kids. I really should just let her run around the backyard at times just to get it all out of her system. Cocoa is at that age that she wants to do everything her big sister does and everything her mommy does too.
Which brings me to my morning cup of coffee. I left the kitchen for a short time to go upstairs and mentioned to Sweet Pea to come upstairs once "Super Why" was over. OK was an easy answer but a difficult task for them to do. I came back downstairs to find Cocoa on the counter and Sweet Pea on a chair by the coffee maker. The milk jug was on the counter with a cup full of milk beside it. Coffee grounds were overflowing from the filter and the bag of coffee and scoop were in Cocoa's hands. So it was my fault for leaving the room and my fault for allowing them to help me from time to time make coffee. This was the second time Cocoa has done this. "Mommy's coffee" is what she says to me with those big cocoa colored eyes of hers (Now you know why I call her cocoa). Oh the silly little things they do. For now all is quiet on the western front for at least an hour and a half.
I guess I should say that I am Cafe Mere. I know I forgot all the little accents and what not that go over the letters. So what. Yes, Cafe Mere is French for coffee mom. Why Cafe Mere you say? Because I LIKE coffee and I'm a mom. And anyway who doesn't like coffee. (OK my husband doesn't really drink coffee but that's OK.) I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful little girls ages four and two. They are currently getting into the cupboards for breakfast (that would be my cue). My oldest just said, "Mommy I think your coffee's done." Smart kid. I guess my coffee is calling me. More on me later.
