Never Eat Snow White

Did I ever mention that the family owns an apartment in Hawaii? And they go every winter? And Mercy goes with them? And gets PAID to go??

Yeah, I just found that out.

I thought W was going to be very cranky all day because the second I met her at school she started whining and being really hard to move, but then she became an angel for the rest of the day. I told her I wanted to give her a gold star because she was being so good. I think she was just super tired. She must have been tired because when I suggested getting a snack from home today instead of 7-11 she said, "...OK". I was shocked.

In the taxi, with her weary head leaning against the back of the seat, she asked me, "Emma, how do you make money?" I asked if she meant me personally or people in general. She wanted to know how people in general go about making money. I told her they have jobs and their job pays them money for doing a good job. She said, wait this doesn't make sense, how do they get the jobs? I explained interviews and resumes to her, and explained that college is good for figuring out what you want to be when you're grown up, and that helps you decide what job you're going to have. I asked her if she knew what she wanted to be and she said, "I think a teacher's the best profession" and I told her I thought that was a wonderful profession. I told her I thought for a long time about being a teacher and that I still wanted to be. She said, "so why don't you quit your job and be one?" I told her that would mean me leaving her and her sister because right now that's my job. She paused for a long time and said ...."you can come visit us!"

That was cute but once we were back at the apartment and I ushered her quietly into her bedroom to change her clothes so as not to disturb her mother in her private yoga lesson in the other room, I realized I was just back to the everyday routine at their house and it felt boring again. I know the routine- it hardly ever changes. I know that when they're getting undressed for their bath, they're just going to throw their clothes on the floor and I'll bend down and pick them up and put them in the hamper. I know that once W gets out of the bath, she'll run to the right side of her bed flinging her towel behind her, then crouch down into her towel and become a turtle. These things should be comforting like most routines are for me, but this one gets tedious and old.

Today was actually another really good day with them though. The mother left to pick up M and take her to her tutor for a good while into the afternoon, so it was just me and W again left to play her imaginary nurse/mother game where she dictates everything my character does. She's very imaginative but the game becomes tiring for me very quickly when I'm just doing everything and saying everything she tells me to. I don't think I can pretend to be flying on a plane and throw up in my hands anymore. The only thing keeping me awake during this role playing game was the abundant amount of sunshine coming through the double windows in her room. It's another one of my favorite things about their apartment- the sunlight on sunny days. I don't even need to turn the lights on it's so bright.

The other thing that kept me awake was my Starbucks via that I'm so grateful for that I bought. I had a big-ass mug of Starbucks via and I pulled the shades higher and I didn't pass out.

We only did her activity book for a little while because she got bored. Her book is too easy for her. She's learning North, East, South and West right now. I gave her an anagram to help her remember the directions: Never Eat Snow White. I think that's pretty kid-friendly. She's remembering her directions! Hey, whatever works, right?

I gave her her bath then which was more mellow because she wasn't taking it with her sister, but I had more fun because I got to play. She listened when I asked her to bathe or wash her hair- normally that takes quite awhile. She brought home a book from the library about making crafts for Valentine's Day, and I read her the introduction from the toilet lid while she was in the bath. We went through all the different crafts we could make and decided which ones we wanted to make. I told her I would ask her mom if we could go after school one day to pick up the supplies. She seemed really excited at that prospect. We played with a Barbie and a naked Barbie knock-off and pretended that the mermaid one was giving the human lessons in swimming like a mermaid. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone she was a mermaid though because her dad would be really mad at her and take away her mermaid tail. It was pretty much The Little Mermaid but more creative. It was looking at her in the bath today that I realized she looks just like the little girl, Patty, in one of my favorite childhood movies, "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street". She has a really sweet face.

When she gets out of the bath it takes me coming up with different games to get her to get in her pj's. Today I played "this little piggie" with her toes and she loved that. I started singing "Inch worm, inch worm, measuring the marigolds...."....not sure why, it just came in to my mind. Then she perked up and asked if I knew this song, "Inch by inch, row by row, we're gonna make this garden grow....". Now, OF COURSE I know that song! I used to LOVE that song when I was a kid! So I got all excited but couldn't remember the lyrics, so she ran around her room looking for the booklet that had the lyrics in it. She was so excited when she found it. We sang the lyrics together while I dried her hair. It was a very sweet moment. Then we sang "You Are My Sunshine" and I decided that I want a girl who will sing with me.

M came home shortly after that. I asked her how her day was and she said, "not good. not good". I put on sad face and said "why not??" and she came up and put the palm of her hand on my cheek and said, "not because of you, Emmy, not because of you". I forgot to mention that she calls me Emmy and I don't mind a bit. She loves reassuring me of how nice I am and how I could never do anything to put her in a bad mood. I'm not even concerned about that! She's an extremely thoughtful girl.

M finished her calendar project while I dried HER hair, then it was dinner time right away. I didn't bring anything for dinner tonight so I was starving when I left, even more so than usual. During dinner I cleaned up the table covered in colored pencils and notebook pieces of paper, and washed their dishes. After dinner T came over for M, and W and I had awhile together before it was her bedtime. Her mom surprised us by bringing in a whole stack of colorful tissue paper, white paper plates, and doilies. W had asked her earlier if we could get supplies for these projects, and she actually had them at the house! She sat down with us for a minute and said she used to make these things back before she had kids because she had a lot more time on her hands. For a minute, I caught a glimpse of her normalcy and what her life was like before she had 2 children.

We were so excited and spent the next 45 minutes making valentines crafts. We didn't have all the supplies the book called for so I got creative and we made our own version of the Valentine suncatcher. I was very proud of myself :) W had a lot of fun and hung it up in her bathroom. She was proud of her work when she normally judges her work. It was a nice change in the everyday routine and we bonded over it. Who cares if Valentine's Day isn't for another month? While she was drawing snowflakes (that she learned how to draw from me) on the doily for her suncatcher, she said, "I wish I never had to grow up". I think it's funny that kids think once they hit a certain age they can't act like that anymore. I was explaining to her that I act like a kid all the time and that you never need to lose that.

We still had time to read the fairy books (oh boy) after craft time, and I told her I would get more supplies over the weekend so we could continue to make these for Valentine's Day. I also hope I remember to bring her bubbles tomorrow. I told her I would bring her bubbles.

I put her to bed and then had 20 minutes to read with M. She always hugs me after T leaves as if she's letting me know that she hasn't betrayed me. We read Harry Potter, and as I was walking out and saying goodnight, she said "Love ya!" I smiled widely and said, "I love ya too!"

And I do. I love these kids. Even though sometimes I can't stand them.....