This morning Mia is a horse, as she is most days and nights. She even pretends in her sleep; I'm not kidding. The other day she reared up in her sleep as I was changing her into warmer jammies. She always feels the need to tie her imagination to reality, so if she's wearing a pick shirt then her name is Pink Beauty. If she is wearing seven different colors, then her name will get very long and complicated and I usually end up steering her (pardon the pun) to a simple, all-inclusive name. This, incidentally, is almost always a confection: Crean Filled, Brownie, Icing.
This morning, as I was putting her hair into pigtails, she said: "Mom, I could be a horse with pigtails, right?"
Me: Well, you could pretend you have a little girl Owner who likes to put your mane into pigtails. That's what I would do if I had a horse.
Mia: Do you WANT a real horse, Mom.
Me: I would love one.
Mia: Could I be your real horse, Mom?
If I believed in reincarnation, you know where I'd be going with this one. Julia was a dog for the first 8 years of her life and she turned out OK. If only they were as easy to raise as animals. No crying, no fighting, no hormonal changes ...

Conner

There is a dear little boy on Jonny's bus who has truly made my life happier. He is the friendliest, most cheerful little pudgeball you've ever seen in your life, and it is his warm affability toward Jonny that has made all the difference in Jonny's departure every morning. Jonny used to cry as he left me every single day. Conner is literally always smiling, except for the day that he was pretending he was asleep so that he could "scare" us. Jonny gets on the bus happy now, day after day, because he knows he's going to see his friend Conner. They sit across the aisle from each other.
Today there were two subs on the bus -- the driver and the aid. Conner, clearly no dummy, kept insisting to the "helper" that Jonny sits right next to him on the bus. You could see how excited he was that he might actually get to sit next to him, but the helper made the mistake of asking Jonny the Honest where he sits. I even tried to intercede, knowing that there was no danger of them hurting each other or any other such nonsense, but she said that they had to follow the usual seating. Poor Conner burst into tears.
Being the happy-go-lucky sort that he is, he was pacified shortly thereafter by seeing that Jonny was sitting on the aisle seat at least, on spot closer than usual. He got a special treat when he looked past Jonny who usually blocked Conner's view to our side of the street, and saw me making my daily silly face to keep Jonny -- and Conner --laughing all the way to school.

Thinking outside the box.

I've decided to simulcast some of the posts from my private blog. Forgive me if you find these mundane, but I thought some of you might like to take a peek into the life of a mother of seven. Some of these will be out of date order, I will randomly just pick a post and throw it up here for you all to see. Enjoy, and don't forget to comment!

Thinking outside the box.

What do you do when your 6 yo wants to sleep in her uniform?
After her bath at night, Noelle gets dressed in her uniform shirt, tie, socks, and "under the skirt shorts". All she has to do in the morning is slip her jumper on and shuffle downstairs for breakfast.
I've told her she's allowed, as long as she doesn't tell anybody at school. :-) (And here I am telling all of you ...) The way I figure it, she isn't wrinkled because the shirts are polyester, and who cares anyway? Some of those kids go to school looking like orphans, as have mine on occasion. And the real reason I let her? Because she's really come up with something very smart ... why shouldn't I support it?
She and I actually think alike. I purposefully buy knit shorts and t-shirts for my boys to sleep in during the summer, so that when they wander out at 7am to go play, no one knows they aren't dressed! It's pretty ridiculous how much time we moms spend doing and undoing things all day, every day -- just because that's the way it "should be done." I love it when someone discovers that something different works for them, and has the courage to do it.
I've only started making my bed in the last couple of years because during the early years, when I had a million things to do every minute, I took care of what was most important first. Somehow the bed never floated up from last on that list. I make it now because it feels like a luxury to actually have the time to do it, and also because it gives me a psychological headstart to my day. If you're a fan of Flylady, it's my "shiny sink" of the upstairs ... and everywhere, actually.
Besides that, it's my method of choice for driving my husband crazy and testing his love for me. He just hates all the pillows on our bed, and when he grumbles about them I smile and tell him to deal with it because I'm worth it. He always agrees. :-)