Monsters or Angels?

Here's a pic of the girls kissing each other goodnight just minutes ago. They look so sweet, don't they?
You'd never guess from this photo that just hours earlier, both girls were utter monsters. Emma lost her mind at the mall and started wailing, "You just don't understaaaaaaaaaaaand me!" because I accidentally got her the big red gumballs instead of the little red gumballs from the candy machine. Sophie threw herself on the floor in Walmart and screamed, "My shiny! My shiny!" because I wouldn't let her touch the gold tooth in the mouth of the woman behind us in line. (No joke: at one point the woman looked at me, completely deadpan, and asked, "If I let her touch it, will she shut up?")

Yeah. Pictures can definitely be deceiving.

Emma and Sophie on a Tuesday

Sound bites from today:

• After her bath, Sophie told me all about her "nippens" (a.k.a., nipples). When I asked her where they were she said, "On my shoulders!"
• Emma reminded us to sign her "wiggly assessment" form for school. I told her that the correct pronunciation was weekly assessment. She replied, "That makes absolutely no sense."
• Picking up Sophie at the nursery, I gave her a big smile and said, "Hi! How's my baby? Did you miss me?" This is my typical greeting, and usually her response is an enthusiastic "YES!" Today she answered, "NO! Go away, Mama. My not done having fun."
• I asked Emma why she only got 50% on her classwork last week. She cried indignantly, "Mrs. Parker tricked me! She said if I didn't know the answer then I should guess, but when I guessed she counted the answer wrong. That's against the law!"
• Emma checked out the beginning buds in Elena's flowerbed and encouraged Sophie to come smell the flowers. Sophie took a big sniff and exclaimed, "That's disgusting!"
• Emma complained on the way back from the bus that she was really tired. "Why?" I asked. "Because I worked really hard today at school," she said. "Being smart is such a burden."
• Sophie wriggled away during her diaper change and declared, "No, Mama. That my butts. No touch my butts, Mama!"
• Emma was so excited to show us the gift her friend Ani gave her at school. It was a coupon for $1 off Tide laundry detergent.

Video highlights from today:

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt...

I'm not sure which is more pathetic...that this video represents typical entertainment in our household, or that this video represents how entertainment typically ends in our household.

No swimming today

Every day, as we weave our way through the gym, Sophie stops to wave at all the swimmers in the pool. Today, as she smooshed her face against the windows and prepared to shout her customary "Hello, swimmers! You wet!," we both noticed at the same time that the pool was drained of water. Sophie looked utterly shocked. She exclaimed, "Ma-ma, da water is gone! No one can swim in the pool!" I explained that the water would be back soon, but Sophie remained shell-shocked. As we reached the front door, the front desk employee waved and said, "Bye bye Sophie, see you tomorrow!" Sophie turned around, glared at the employee, and demanded in a stricken voice, "Why you take water from pool? That not nice. You share! You share da water. RIGHT. NOW!"

ABCs

Life Cycles

Last Friday, we went to see Emma in her stage debut. Emma's school partners with CAPE (Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education) on a school-wide program in which, throughout the year, each grade suspends regular curriculum for two weeks to focus on the intense study of one subject. The bulk of the time is spent creating a multimedia show on the subject in question, and the school then hosts a performance of the show for the students' families. Last week, it was the kindergartners' turn. All seven kindergarten classes (over 200 kids!) presented "The Cycle of Life Show," about the life cycles of plants and animals. In the days prior to the show, Emma had been talking our ears off about kinds of flowers and planting seeds and photosynthesis and meeting meteorologist Amy Freeze and learning songs and making costumes and lots, lots more. Let's just say, we were very excited to finally see what in the heck she'd been going on and on about, and SHE was very excited to show off her class's hard work.

Hard work, indeed. Simply put, I was blown away. I mean, we are talking 5-and-6-year-olds here, so my expectations going in were rather low. But the show was really fun and clever, and I had tears in my eyes watching all the little ones perform with such pride on their faces. I still can't wrap my head around all the things the teachers were able to get that age group to do. They amaze me. I feel such gratitude that we managed to find a school for Emma that recognizes and utilizes the performance arts as a vital means for teaching young children about the world. Emma now knows more about plants than I do! Honestly, I learned a lot from her these last few weeks...including the fact that she definitely seems to love the stage. Yikes. How does one teach a child to love Biology? Astrophysics? Advanced Mathematics? Anything that could lead to a career that is actually lucrative? Oh well, I guess we still have some time.

Here are a couple photos from the day, and a video highlight of the performance (mostly just Emma's parts). Enjoy!

Photos

A few photos from the last couple of weeks...

If one girl gets a snuggle from Grandma...

...then of course, so must the other.

No words for this one, really. It leaves me kinda speechless.

Goofing off in our bed.

Meg's daughter Izzy came to play today. Seriously, how cute is this child?

Sophie Stories

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Here are a couple funny Sophie moments from this week. (For those who keep up with me on Facebook, I apologize for the repetition.)

Story #1:
Sophie's really been fighting naps lately. One recent afternoon, I'd been listening to Sophie scream "No want nap, my want lollipop!" from her crib for about 10 minutes. I finally went in and told her in my firmest voice that it was time for sleep. She replied, "Mama no boss to me. My want lollipop NOW!" A very long stare-off commenced. Right when I was ready to throw in the towel, she flopped onto her stomach and said, "Okay, Mama. Nap time. Love you." I walked quietly out of the room and closed the door on complete silence. Victory! Mama wins! I practically danced back to my desk. Approximately four minutes later, I heard her telling the fish on her mobile that they couldn't have any lollipops. After another two minutes she started shouting, "Maaaaaaaa-ma! Come get me now, Ma-ma. My no tired, Mama. My want hug. My need hug fwom you, Ma-ma." A really long pause followed before she delivered the death punch: "Maaaaa-ma. My love you vewy much, Ma-ma." I caved and got her up.

Story #2:
While I was checking in at my gym's front desk, Sophie screamed "NOOOO!" at an unsuspecting old lady walking through the front door. Why? Who knows. The poor woman was so startled that she actually turned around and left. I had to run outside, chase her down and explain that the crazy shrieking toddler in the purple coat was, in fact, harmless. Because the lady clearly spoke only Korean (and I, um, don't), our entire conversation boiled down to this: "[Profuse, rambling apology on my part, culminating with two final words]...It's okay." "O-kay?" "Yes! Yes, I promise it's okay now." "O-kay?" "Uh huh, yes, it is definitely okay." "O-kay?" "Yes. Okay." "O-kay?" "Okay." "O-kay?" "O-kay!" My fourteenth "okay" must have been really convincing, because she finally agreed to come back inside with me. I gave Sophie my fiercest you-are-so-in-trouble look and prompted, "What do you say to the nice woman for scaring her?" Sophie grinned her sweetest smile and said, "Excuse me. My sorry. That was big loud!"

Ah, Pulaski Day

Emma had the day off from school Monday in honor of Pulaski Day (an Illinois thing), so we were able to hook up with Debbie, Brynn and Jack. First we ate a yummy brunch at Ann Sather's (seriously, their cinnamon rolls are the best I've ever had in my life), and then we hit the Swedish American Museum. They have a cool children's area where kids can role play with all sorts of colonial sets and props. I wish I knew more about exactly what time period the museum was trying to replicate, but the weird chaperone guy who followed us everywhere would only repeat, "This side is Sweden. This side is America. Nothing from Sweden goes to America. Nothing from America goes to Sweden." At one point, Deb asked him what the Swedish call their horses and what significance the animal holds because she has Swedish friends who have elaborately painted horses all over their house (and there were also several throughout the museum). Completely straight-faced, he answered, "The Swedish call their horses...horses. They are not significant. They are just horses." Um, o-kay. No more questions from us.

Because the museum didn't open until 1pm, the afternoon ended with an overtired toddler meltdown that culminated in me wrestling a screeching Sophie into her coat in front of several strangers. (No exaggeration...we were both rolling on the ground, and I'm grunting and begging in desperation to get the stupid coat on without bumping into highly breakable Swedish artifacts, and horrified patrons gawked at our every move and the freaky woman working the front desk exclaimed, "I suppose this should trouble me, but it makes me so happy to see how much she doesn't want to leave!") But temper tantrum and odd museum employees aside, the kids had fun. Here's a few pics from our day.