Raising My Girls

Today something funny happened.  The girls decided that they wanted to carve their own Halloween pumpkins!

 When I was little we would carve a Halloween pumpkin every year.  So it seemed like the thing to do once I had kids of my own.  That is until they got just old enough to be completely grossed out by the pumpkin “guts.”  LOL!  After that we just went with those plug-in plastic pumpkins. 

Needless to say, I was surprised when they asked me to buy and let them carve their own pumpkins this year.  Today I did just that!  I let them each pick out a pumpkin of their own.  Then, after dinner they settled down at the kitchen table and went to work.

The older girls went right to cutting the “lid” off the top while I did it for the 3 year old.  Once inside the grossed out face of said 3 year old was hilarious.  Lots of “EWWWW” and “I’m not touching that” was repeated continuously.  I got her a measuring scoop and let her get to work.  It was too funny not to watch.

She instructed me on what kind of face her pumpkin should have, “Triangle eyes, a little nose, and a mouth!”  I cut the face out for her and let her continue her cleaning efforts.

Finally, after 30 minutes of “cleaning,” I finished it up and she had a jack-o-latern all her own!

The older girls… well, they’re still working on their pumpkins…. an hour later!  LOL!!!  Who knows what they’ll end up with?  LOL

My girls love music.  They come by it naturally as I too love music.  My house almost always has music playing at any given time throughout the day. Daytime shows don’t appeal to me, so my television stays on the “Hit List” digital music channel until about 7-8pm each night.

Music helps me write.  Music keeps me focused.  Music is fun to clean by, exercise to, goof off with. 

The girls love it when we all just crowd into the livingroom and dance.  Their daddy doesn’t dance with us, but we outnumber him anyway.  LOL!  It’s so much fun to watch them shake their booties and twirl around until they’re dizzy.  The youngest will squeal with laughter while the older two bump into each other during a “routine.”  I show them moves from my early days in dance class during high school and they try to copy.

It really is true about music soothing the savage beast.  My girls can be in the worst moods, fighting with each other, and just being downright ugly, but if I get them up and dancing their moods instantly brighten!  It’s always been that way, even from as young as 1. 

I love that the girls will sing along with a song, at the top of their lungs, with me. 

The older two girls have a boombox, personal cd players, mp3 players, numerous cds, and are always asking for me.  Now the 3 year old has started asking for her own “purple cd player.”  I’ve looked and looked, but I just can’t seem to find a purple cd player.  Maybe I’ll run across one before Christmas.  She’d be tickled pink if Santa brought her a purple cd player.  LOL!

Girls and music…  What a wonderful combination!!

When they’re little they tend to overlook the clothing that you put on them.  As they grow into their own and become more independent they start showing interest in picking out their own clothes.  Then you hit early puberty and the clothing goes flying across the bedroom every single morning.

My youngest doesn’t really care what I put on her.  She has a few favorites that she enjoys, but if those aren’t the ones I choose then so be it.  She is happy in a dress or jeans. 

My middle daughter is starting to create her own “style” when it comes to clothing.  Some things she puts together makes me cringe, but she’s the one who has to wear it and I try to bite my tongue.  LOL  And don’t get me started on her ideas of a good hairstyle.

Now, my oldest daughter, she’s in a group all her own.  She has reached the point where she does have some nice style and always looks good in what she puts together.  Her biggest problem is trying on numerous outfits before she’s ever ready to go anywhere.  She also has this routine of roaming around the house looking for clothing.  She’ll check the dryer, she’ll check the laundry basket, and if she finds nothing there she’ll finally go through her own closet.  What’s really funny is that she’ll do all of this even if every stitch of her clothing is clean and in her room.

Sometimes the older girls’ bedroom looks like a hurricane hit it.  Clothes are strewn throughout, flung on the floor, spread across beds, and sticking out of dresser drawers.  It’s craziness, but I know the feeling because I use to do the same thing.  LOL!  You can never find that perfect outfit, even if what you have on WAS the perfect outfit last week.

Girls and clothes, what can ya do! 

It’s funny how women enjoy trying out new hairstyles all the time.  Most men might go through three different styles in their entire life.  But women start from a young age and continue until their last day trying on new and different styles.

With that said, this morning I just tossed my hair up into a trusty ponytail and took the big girl to school.  Two hours later, my 3 year old comes to me and says, “You really need to fix your hair, Mommy.  It’s VERY fuzzy!”  LOL!

Considering that I don’t plan on leaving the house until it’s pick-up time at school, I refused and assured her that I would “fix” it later.  LOL!

Over the years I’ve watched these girls go throgh hairstyle after hairstyle.  They’ll fix each others hair, they’ll fix their own hair, heck, they’ll even attempt to do something with my mop of curls.  One day my 8 year old came out of the bathroom with braids all over her head, in no particular order.  And it was time to leave for school!  Thank goodness it only takes me a matter of seconds to reduce a headful of braids to nice, soft waves, cause she was not going to school looking like that!

Oh, and lets not forget about all of those braiding, beading, coloring kits on television that are marketed toward young girls.  I swear, if I hear one more time about how much the older two want a hair braiding kit, I might just scream.  Seriously?  Since when should it cost you to braid your hair when your own fingers can do it for free?

 My naturally brown hair, has been a lovely shade of red for a year now (thanks to Garnier Nutrisse!).  Before that I would go blonde.  From the age of about 17 my brown hair has been hidden.  Now my oldest is saying that when she’s old enough she wants to color her hair too.  I’m all fine and dandy with that… when she’s older!  Then she tells me about these other 11 year old girls in her grade who seem to come in with a different color every week.  ACK!  Too young people! Too young!

This has even gotten to the point that the elementary school they are in has it written into their school “rules” that children can not come to school with distracting hair colors.  LOL  No green, purple, blue, orange hair is allowed.

Anyway, girls and hairstyles go hand in hand.  It doesn’t matter if they’re 3 or 93. 

Okay, so my youngest can be quite comical at times… as all three year olds can be.  However, today has been even funnier than usual.  This could be that she’s coming off of a mysterious illness (she ran a high fever Monday that was gone Tuesday).  Or it could be that she’s just in a very good mood. 

Either way, today she explained that she now has “moves.”  When questioned about said moves, she carefully explains that her moves come from sugar and powder and lemonade.  Not only that but she has “super fast” moves that can be done “all the way over to my ball there.”  And we can’t forget that her baby doll is highly appreciative of said moves while she’s being swung around and thrown across the room.

So what are these “moves” I’m speaking of?

First, you start on hands and knees, while pretending to be a dog.  Next, you shout to the crowd that you have “super, super, SUPER MOVES!”  Then, you proceed to spin and jump around in circles while still on hands and knees. 

The next part is optional, but if not done it may take away from the power of your moves.

Next, you raise up on your knees and DEMAND that your mommy watches you perform your “super, super, super FAST MOVES!”  When mommy looks, you declare, “Wait, I have to shake myself up first” and then you shake your whole body before spinning and jumping around in circles yet again.

Once mommy is paying attention, your game is over and you should announce that you’re now going to go watch Dora the Explorer.  Proceed to the nearest television with your show on while leaving mommy laughing and determined to blog about your “super moves.”

Voila!  You are now a 3 year old girl with super moves and a worldwide audience!  Be happy, have some juice, and go watch Dora!

 :-)

Hannah Montana has been on the scene for quite some time now.  She’s been around long enough for my oldest to be absolutely enthralled with her at one point, and become totally uninterested the next.  The older the child is, the more likely she will have heard all o he things being said about, said by, and the things that being done by Miley Cyrus.

Just over the weekend, I was surprised to find out that the 15 year old Miley Cyrus (who will be 16 in November) is dating a 20 year old MAN.  And apparently her father has no problem with it.  What’s up with that?

My husband has issues with even the thought of our daughters dating ONE OF THESE DAYS.  He’d be irate at the thought of his 15 year ol dating someone almost legal drinking age.  We actually knew a 15 year old girl who got pregnant by a 20 year old man when Tim & I were dating.

Anyway, I’ve gone off topic here…

The point I was aiming to make is that it’s funny how a couple of months can change a little girl’s idea of wonderful.

My oldest loved Hannah Montana when it first started.  She had to watch all the shows and wanted all the music.  Then as my middle daughter’s interested started leaning in this same direction, the oldest shot out of that world like a bullet from a gun.  She now thinks Hannah Montana is for “kids” and none of her friends like it, blah, blah, blah.  She torments the middle daughter with teasing and jest about her enjoyment of the show.  I’m always having to remind the oldest that she too once loved Hannah Montana, and if she doesn’t leave her sister alone about it, I’m going to buy her a Hannah Montana bookbag and make her carry it to school for a week with the words “I Love Hannah Montana” written across is in black permanent marker.  She usually stops abruptly after that. 

The youngest is still too young to care for anything other than Dora and Spongebob, but she still knows who Hannah Montana is.  LOL!

Life is nuts with a house full of girls.  Their likes can be so similar one moment and then the complete polar opposites the next.  Hannah Montana or no Hannah Montana… who knows what tomorrow will bring?  But I do know that there will always be arguments and teasing between the three of them.  Maybe I won’t pull my hair out before their grown.  Just maybe…

The phone has become a popular feature in our home lately.  The preteen discovered the use of it to keep in touch with her friends a few years ago.  Now she’s on it all the time.  Kind of reminds me of my teenage years when my parents got so tired of me tying up their phoneline that they opted to get me a line of my own.  That was fun.

Now my 8yr old has decided that she wants to start using the phone as much asher big sister does.  Unfortunately at her age, most of the kids aren’t allowed to use the phone yet.  She has one little friend that calls alllllllll the time.  She called the other morning at 6:50am.  It was a school day, and we were about to leave to take the girls to school, but no one wants their phone ringing that early.  UGH!  I made sure to make a point that it better not happen again. 

Anyway, the 8yr old’s friend is quite the annoyance.  Once she starts calling, she’ll be calling all day long. Therefore, I have a tendency to not let the 8yr old use the phone as often, cause I don’t want to hear it ringing all the time.

 Now the 3yr old has started asking if shean call her “friend” too.  Her friend is an imaginary boy named Drew.  He likes to hold her hand and she likes to swing him around in circles.  So why would she need to call him?  Because her sisters do it!

The other day she kept asking to call her friend, so I just dialed up the local recording for time & temp and let her listen to him.  LOL!  She listened as intently as if the life of her dear Drew depended on it.  And then we hung up.  Now anytime she wants to call her friend, we just dial time & temp.  LOL

Girls and phones seem to go together as seamlessly as jello and cool whip.  Why is that?  You don’t catch many guys on the phone the amount of time that girls do it.  I was a phone girl too, but there was only me using at that time (my little sister was too young to care).

Ah well, girls and phones, a mystery that may never be solved!

My youngest is 3 and she’s been begging me to find her some games to play online just like her big sisters do.  So I finally sat down and searched for a few good sites–that are free mind you–that she might enjoy.

This morning I finally let her get on the desktop computer and try them out (like I’d allow it on my precious, purple laptop… NOT!).  Se seemed to be getting the hang of using the mouse very quickly.  We went through games featuring Dora, Diego, Max & Ruby, and even Wubbzy and the Backyardigans.  Things were going great during planting flowers in Wubbzy’s garden, playing hide-n-seek with Max & Ruby, and even while paying costume dress-up with the Backyardigans.

Then disaster struck!

During an innocent (or though it seemed) game of dress-up with Ruby–where a nice pink princess dress was in use–my 3 year old had the meltdown of all meltdowns.

According to 3 year old girl logic, a princess dress must, and let me emphasize, MUST be accompanied by a crown.  MUST BE! You just don’t know how serious that must is unless you’ve seen this firsthand.

I was in another room when it started.  First, a yell to me saying that Ruby needs a crown.  I ignore and go about my business thinking that she’d move on.  Then, a more demanding shout declaring that Ruby needs a crown NOW.  I shout back to just put shoes on Ruby and I’d be there in a moment.

Now, I did. All hell broke loose.  Screams turned into wails until I finally went to see what the hell was going on with her.  With a waterfall of tears streaming down her face, snot pouring from her nose, and a voice so shrill it could pierce eardrums (seriously, I’m deaf now), she graciously explained that Ruby MUST have a crown.  By this time I was done.  She was informed that the tantrum was unacceptable and if it didn’t stop we would be turning off the computer (she’d been on for 30mins already and it was time to get off).

Through much screaming, gasping, and shouts of, “Noooooo” the computer was turned off.  Twenty minutes later my youngest was declaring her hunger and asking for lunch.  Whew!

My thoughts for today…

W will not be playing dress-up with Ruby again.  She’s just too much darn trouble!

I’m not a morning person.  I’ve never been a morning person.  I hate getting up early and the sound of an alarm clock makes it worse by jarring me from a peaceful sleep every morning.

My girls have always been the up and at ‘em type of people.  It’s like they’re wide awake the moment their eyes open on a new day.  How is that possible? 

Luckily, it’s starting to become pay-back time for all the times they’ve woken me up too early for their own good.  The oldest is at that age where she wants to sleep later.  She wakes up in the morning ready to bite someone’s head right off their shoulders… like me!  LOL

But what’s super funny is that the younger two like to go in there and wake her up if she sleeps past 7am on the weekends.  Kind of seems funny and a bit ironic that she’s already getting paid back for all the times she woke me up simply to ask for a different pillowcase, or because her Barbies need a new pair of shoes.  I don’t even have to wait until she has kids of her own to enjoy the payback!  Her little sisters are doing a fabulous job it!

One of these days the girls will understand why mommy prefers to sleep late on the weekends (since it’s not an option during the week).  And on that day, I hope their own child(ren) won’t allow it!!

Little girls ARE alarm clocks.  They can shake you from the halls of sleep happiness faster than any alarm clock’s buzz.  They know how to climb up in your bed and jump down on your ribs. They think it’s funny to poke your closed eyeball just to see if it’s as squishy as it looks. 

But they will have their payback one day… way worse than what little sisters can do!  Bwahahahaaa!

The love a little girl has for her daddy is something unique in, and of, itself.  The love of a little girl for her daddy is something that mommy will never experience.  Little girls look up to their daddy as their protector; even if he’s never had to do anything to really required protecting.

I have three little girls.  They each love their daddy in their own way, and with their current stage of life being taken into consideration. 

Our oldest is nearly 12 years old.  She’s almost a teenager, has hit puberty, and is more worried about her friends and boyfriend than she is about her parents.  She seems to always be on the phone, or computer, or watching television, or with a book in her hands.  But when she does offer up her valuable time to her family, she adores the attention she gets from her daddy.  She tells him stories about her day at school.  She shares her thoughts on her I.Q. test results.  And, of course, she tattle-tells on her younger sisters.  LOL!  But you can tell that this child loves her daddy.

Our middle daughter is 8 years old.  She likes to think that she’s as old as her big sister.  She hates cleaning her room.  She enjoys tormenting her little sister.  And loves to ignore and/or argue about anything that her father and I tell her to do, or not to do.  But when her daddy sits down and has some one-on-one time with her (that does not involve disciplinary actions, lol), that child acts like there’s no one else in the world.

Now our youngest is only 3 years old.  She thinks her daddy hung the moon and developed the telescope to show it to her.  He’s her daddy; a word that means HERO in her eyes.  She runs to the front door anything she hears his car pull up in the driveway.  She’ll stand right by that door until he walks in.  She shouts, “Daddy! You’re home!” and hugs his legs tightly.  Her little chubby faces lights up with the love she has for him.  She’ll climb up in his lap and have complete conversations about how she missed him allllllll day and how mean ole mommy only let her get three books at the library that day.  LOL!

There is no one else in the world like a little girl’s daddy.  Sure, mommy is great.  Mommy kisses away the boo-boos and spends all day baking goodies.  But there’s no one like daddy in the eyes of the little girls who love him the most.