Poker Face

I jumped in the shower this morning before I woke Salem up. She must of heard the water as she got up, knocked on the bathroom door to say, "Good morning mommy!!" It was a statement wide-eyed and full of sunshine.

Later, I fixed her breakfast and put her flavor-of-the-month show on. I ran to the bathroom to continue getting ready for work. The door was closed but I could hear the TV singing with the kid's morning program. As I was putting my mascara on, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey mom! Poker Face is on!"

Lady GaGa is Salem's summer fav. It's funny to hear a little kid get excited about pop music, it reminded me of when I was 5 and got excited about M.J. and rollerskating.

M.J. - R.I.P

Salem's Career of Choice

Salem has announced her desire to be a dentist when she grows up. I must say that it's a good path for her as she has more fun visiting her dentist than making cookies.

Work Request

Salem is going up to see her best friend Lola today. This event has been on the forefront of her mind for weeks, as Lola has been on a summertime odyssey visiting grandparents and the like.

As I woke her up this morning the first thing out of her mouth was,
"Is it Lola day? Are we going to Lola's? Today?!!"

me: "Yes, but not until mommy gets off of work."
her: "But you could go to work and work fast to get all your stuff done, then come get me and we could go!!"
me: "It doesn't work that way, babe. I have to stay there until my work day is over."
her: "Well, your boss is out of town, right?" (This is true, my boss is indeed out-of-town.) "You could just leave early...he won't even know!"

I thought to myself, gee, this kid is years away from being employed and she already has a ditching-work plan in place. Greeeaat.

me: "Well kid, bosses are smart. They always know if you're doing your job right. Just like Santa Claus; he always knows."

her: "Except Santa Claus is nice!"

I left it at that.

Rainbow Painting

Salem made her daddy a father's day painting. It had some green hearts with blue dots inside them, a green grassy hill, pink sky, a purple cloud, and a giant rainbow-filled hot dog.

her: "Because daddy likes hot dogs and rainbows."
me: "Who doesn't?"

Dessert?

The kid's favorite after dinner treat (most of us call this dessert):

"I want Cheetos, please mom. The big puffy kind. Not the skinny crunchy kind. The big puffy orange curls."

Swimming

Salem swam underwater across the length of the pool yesterday. She stopped intermittently to catch her breath, but continued on, edge to edge. I'm so proud of her!

This is the little girl who not too long ago whould scream when I washed her hair, she hated water on her head for any reason. Now she's full-on swimming like a little fish.

Backseat Confessions...

Salem and her friend in the backseat of my car yesterday:

Friend: "I'm older and have an older sister thats, thats, 14 years old, so I get to talk, talk way more than you. You have to listen to me."
Salem: "Okay, but I have a story to tell you...Uh...I have an older sister too! She's nineteen and she um, um, she died."
me: "Salem! It's okay to make up fun stories to tell your friends but it's quite another thing to make up stories like that, that kind of story sounds like it may be true and is confusing to people. Lets not do that, okay?"
Salem: "Okay mom." (she turned her head in embarrassment but snapped back with a new topic.)
"This one time, um, my mom, she um, cut herself!"
Friend: "Really? My mom cut herself too! She was cutting fish."
Salem: "Well my mom cut herself opening a can of Speghettios. And! And she screamed soooooooo loudly that it split my eardrums open!"
Friend: "Whoa! Can I see the blood?"
Salem: "She cut herself a long time ago, I think. The blood is all dried up and the scab I think fell off at Mommo's house."
Friend: "No, no. I mean can I see the blood from your eardrum splitting open?!"
me: "Okay kids, that's enough."

Playtime!

Last weekend, at the Sylvester's, the kids were outside playing. After a while the heat got the best of them and they came inside to play in their room for a bit to cool off. My friend Venessa and I were chit-chatting and drinking coffee. We grew suspicious when the ruckus quieted down; I was hopeful in a nieave way that they had conked out for a nap, but that was just a silly thing to consider.

Venessa put on some more coffee as I went to investigate. From the kitchen she overheard my discovery:

"Hey kids what's go... Hey! Put your shirts back on! Why are the lights out?...Aiden, what are you doing with that rubber glove??!!"

From your point of view, gentle reader, these kids sound like they're getting over their heads in projects that would be of a mature nature. However, I assure you it was innocent.

The facts:

• There are 3 boys, 1 girl. The boys removed their shirts as it was hot outside, Salem didn't want to be left out of this activity.
• It didn't occur to them to flip the light switch as the shades were open, letting in a bit of light.
• Aiden had a dish glove and was fruitlessly trying to pull it around several stuffed dinosaurs.

During this exchange, I heard Venessa's futile attempt at curbing her laughter in the kitchen. It was classic.

Sleeping Habbits

Each night I tuck the kid in, read her a story and give her a 'good snuggle'. The recipe for the 'good snuggle' is as follows:

1. Position the pillows around her head so that they are in the correct spots for ultimate 4-year-old-comfort. She has a system.
2. Make sure that the comforter isn't too hot. If it is, she has to stick one leg out to regulate the temperature.
3. I have to lay next to her, "Not with your feet on the floor, mom. You need to get in here and really, REALLY snuggle hard!"
4. She holds her arm out so that I can gently scratch her skin. She likes the way it feels.
5. We talk quietly about the day. Usually the conversation goes like this: "Today at school, Parker pushed me down." or "Today, Claire stepped on my hair!" She then reveals an old scabbed over scratch or a mosquito bite as proof of said trauma.
6. I give her a good night kiss, turn on her humidifier with 'the blue night light' and carry on with my evening.
7. I always check on her before I retire. Usually she's in some grotesque position, with her arms bent backward or her head hanging off the bed or the covers wrapped around her head with her feet touching the headboard. I then reposition her gently without waking her up into a more comfortable sleeping arrangement.
   

Each morning she wakes up and immediately asks me,
"Hey mom! How was I? How was I last night when you checked on me?"
 She really gets a kick out of hearing about her strange positions when she sleeps.