so me

A few weeks ago, Ella asked, "Mom, do you have a 'mini me'?"

"No. Do you want to be my mini me?

"Yes."

"Great. You're it."

I shouldn't have been surprised when we were shopping recently and Ella picked out, among all of the fun printed shirts in the girls' department, a plain, cap-sleeved, green T-shirt. "Look, Mom. Isn't this awesome?"

"Looks a little plain to me. Are you sure you like it?"

"Yes! Look, Mom! It's exactly like the ones you wear." True enough.

When we got home she disappeared into her room. She came out a few minutes later wearing her new t-shirt, jeans and flip flops. She saw me smiling at her, and even though she tried to play it cool a little smile escaped before she scurried downstairs.

good clean fun

A couple of weeks ago, I gave Ella and Lauren the tutorial on how to clean a bathroom. Today Ella asked me, "Can I clean the bathroom? Please? All by myself?"

"Sure," I told her, quite happily.

"I know where all the things are! I can do it!" She scrambled up the stairs.

When I went to check on her she was wearing my ipod and scrubbing the toilet.

"This is awesome!" she yelled above the music in her ears. "I always thought cleaning bathrooms would be really boring, but now that I know how to do it, it's really fun! Can this be my job every week?"

"Yes!"

"Thanks, Mom!"

baby talk? yes, please!

I just have to say, Audrey's baby talk was truly worth waiting for.

If you ask her if she wants something and she declines she'll say, "No shank shoo." I know! Adorable, right?

She might say, "Nope," which is just funny, and she knows it. You can tell because when she says it she's usually looking down, and then just her eyes glance up at you and she gets a silly grin on her face.

And if she does want something, she'll yell, "Yup!" and she smiles, and her eyes get all happy, and she might even stomp her feet a little because she can't just stand there being that happy.

Sometimes we have to do some guessing to find out what she wants and when we guess correctly she does a shocked little gasp. Then she exhales, "Yeah!" and then giggles with glee until the thing she's after is delivered into her grasp.

Sometimes my day does seem like an endless game of 20 questions, but I must admit that, lately, I'm quite enjoying it.

those eyes

Since we recently decided to go with some friends to the beach next week, it turns out Lauren will celebrate her birthday while we're there. At this late date, and with so many other things to do, party supply shopping required swift action. I decided to order online from my favorite cheap party supply shop -- Oriental Trading. (This is where Kim would type, "I love China.")

To fulfill Lauren's wish for a puppy-themed party, I selected dog noses, dog-shaped tubs of silly putty, and bone-shaped candies. As I finished shopping, Lauren came and cuddled next to me on the couch. "Is this for my birthday?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes, "I said. "What do think?"

"Oh, thank you, Mom!" She gave me a squeeze. "You're spending a lot of time on the computer for my birthday, aren't you, Mom?" She felt so special. And then, in a way only Lauren can, she said, "Mom, thank you for spending a lot of time on the computer for my birthday."

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

I had barely uttered the words when I surveyed my shipping options and realized that to get the party supplies to the beach in time for Lauren's birthday would require an extra $20 charge, more than my total purchase. No way. I've never. Plan B. And then I looked at Lauren and her always grateful, big, dark, puppy dog eyes.

The box will arrive on Tuesday.

play imitates life

I peeked downstairs to check on the girls and there they were, all three of them happily playing together with the car rug they've had for years, running their cars along the roads and stopping at various shops along the way. What imaginations! It was a happy moment for me to consider that I must be doing something right. And then I heard Lauren's voice, "Thank you for your order! Next window, please."

break me into tiny pieces you will

Today Lauren announced, "Ella, guess what! My birthday party is going to be Hello Kitty. And I'm going to have a regular burro pinata!" This was news to me, and confusing to Ella.

"Why would you have a burro if your party is Hello Kitty?" she asked.

"Because Mom said sometimes it's sad to use a bat to hit a character from a show you really like." I remembered saying that once. Maybe a year ago. And, apparently, Lauren had been listening. Ella remained unconvinced that a "regular burro" was the way to go.

"I know!" Lauren said. "I think at the place where we buy balloons they have a Yoda!" She shrugged, "That could work."