Salsa Cinderella

Guillermo, over the weekend.

As I've said before, Guillermo loves knights (guarders, as he calls them) and since knights protect castles, he likes them, too. And, because kings and queens and princes and princesses live in castles, he likes them too. So, persuading him to see the puppet show "Salsa Cinderella" today at the library was pretty easy. 

I'm so glad we went. 

Grey Seal Puppets put on the show and it was hilarious. Cinderella was a red chili pepper and the prince was a green chili pepper. ("I'm a pepper, too," he said to Cinderella when he met her). The step sisters were an onion and a bulb of garlic. The show was funny, had good music (salsa, of course) and the puppets were great. Maya was a bit scared of the green chili pepper prince, and, really, I don't blame her. He wasn't the prettiest prince charming I've ever seen. Maya loved the mouse as the narrator, though. The show ran about 45 minutes and Guillermo and Maya sat through nearly all of it before we left to get books. After watching the princess tale, Guillermo made sure to pick out some manly books: Two Incredible Hulk comic books (for kids). I read them to him before he had story time with Will at bedtime. He then asked Will to read them to him. He went to bed a happy, happy guy. 

Easy sleep

Maya, at the birthday party

This was the kind of weekend in which bedtimes are easy. No crying. No pleas for more books or another drink of water. Not even an extra trip to the bathroom. A simple good night, sweet dreams and they were out, fast asleep.

Saturday started with Guillermo's swim lessons. Maya, dressed in her swim suit and coverup, was pretty disappointed at the Y when she learned she could not swim too. I hope I don't have to take her back, but Will was out of town so I had no choice. We left swim lessons and went to a birthday party for one of Maya's friends. Maya was so excited about the party she woke up Saturday morning and immediately started talking about it. "Birthday party?" "Present." 

It was a swimming party and my kids were great. Guillermo must have missed Will because he splashed and squirted and played with the birthday girl's father nearly the whole time we were in the pool. Most of the kids at  party was 2 or younger and he didn't have much use for them. After the party, Guillermo's good friend came over and not long after he left, Will came home. That night at bed, I asked Maya the question I ask her every night. Did you have fun today? What made you happy? Her response that night: "Cake. Birthday." Funny. I asked her on Friday what made her happy and she said the same thing. "Cake.  Birthday." 

Today, we took the kids to Jordan Lake. I love lakes. I think I like them more than oceans, which is probably strange to people here since the ocean is so close. But, every summer growing up, we would spend at least a week at the lake, camping, skiing, and playing. And making s'mores. Ahh, s'mores. Yumm. 

Today, we found a shady spot under a tree and hit the water. Guillermo had so much fun and felt pretty confident in the water. When he got tired, we built a castle and a moat, though the moat was the more impressive feature of our creation. Maya spent most of the morning with Will. We came home to watch the Euro Cup (Yeah Spain) and Will was giddy with Guillermo cuddled up next to him, cheering on Spain. He even skipped his radio show so you know he must have been enjoying himself to drop his two-hour dose of jazz.

Orange Otto

Guillermo's bus trip was cancelled today. Rats. His teacher was sick. I think I might have been more disappointed than he was though. I gave him the option of staying at school to finish his cardboard car or come do something fun with me. He chose me. Of course. 

We explored a new park and Guillermo played tether ball with a kid from a preschool camp while Maya sat at a kids picnic table and played with a girl named Natalie. It was fun, but hot, really hot. And I was tired, really tired. Maya woke up at 1:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep on her own for the rest of the night. We slept for 40 minutes at a time and then she woke up for good at 5:30 a.m. Ugh. I'm exhausted. 

This afternoon we went to the comic book store to see if it had any kids comic books. Guillermo loves reading the Spiderman and Superman comics his friend checks out from the library. The store had kids comics, but the Marvel and DC Comics comics weren't as kid-friendly as I was wanted. Instead, we chose a comic book about a cat named Otto who wished that the world was orange. Perfect. Guillermo is not as crazy as he once was about orange, but it's still his favorite and he still wants to move into an orange house and paint his bedroom orange. 

Bus trip

We're going on a bus ride tomorrow and I can't wait.  Maya, Guillermo and I took the bus downtown with our friends once since we've been here and they had a great time. This time,we're going with Guillermo's class for a field trip. All week, he's been studying transportation at school and to end the lesson, they will spend an hour on the bus that stops outside is his school. I am so excited. I live for this stuff: field trips, hanging out with Guillermo's school, helping. Guillermo is pretty excited, too. He'll have so much fun and he'll feel so proud and grown-up. Maya loves spending any time she can at Guillermo's school and with his class. Tonight she was saying "Maya, bus" over and over again. I hope we get to sing "The Wheels On the Bus."

Sick day

Two sick kids equals one long night. 

Both kids were up several times last night with fevers. At one point, I woke Will up from Guillermo's twin bed and urged him back to bed. Later, I realized I had slept for two hours holding Maya in her rocking chair. Luckily, the kids slept until 7:30 a.m. 

Both were pretty wimpy in the morning but by the afternoon, Guillermo was much better. I could tell because Guillermo said he wanted to do something that didn't involve moving his head much, like soccer. When I questioned him about that, he said we could be on the same teams and just kick the ball back and forth nicely. 

Maya was still sick, though her fever was pretty low, and only wanted me. I dragged them to the grocery store to get out of the house in the late afternoon, but mostly we spent the day on the couch, reading and watching TV. 

Happy chicken

Maya, the happy chicken

Last week Maya came up with a new way to show she's happy. She clucks like a chicken. But, only when she's really, really happy, like when she's wearing her yellow jammies or when she makes it through the tunnel on the playground by herself. One day, she clucked like a chicken and said "gabba, gabba, gabba" over and over again with huge smile on her face. Silly girl. 

Goodbye

One of the first friends I met in North Carolina moved today. I didn't get a chance to tell her I still remember that day, when she introduced herself when I was pushing Guillermo in a stroller near her house and she was headed to the park with her family. I didn't get a chance to tell her that being a stay-at-home mom was so much easier and so much more fun because she was around. I didn't get a chance to tell her that I valued our friendship so much (but I've told her many times I hope she moves back here). I didn't tell her how much I would miss her and that Monday afternoon at the park would be lonely. I couldn't because when I hugged her goodbye I started to cry. And, I know that she knows all of that anyway. 

Guillermo, whose best friend moved today too, assured me we would be OK. "Soldiers don't cry," he said. We had been playing American Revolution and I was George Washington and he was Moses (from a TV show). "What will we do Monday?" I asked Guillermo. "We'll play with friends" he said, naming off a few.  OK, I said, and I thanked him for making me feel better. "Now, let's play," he said and we were back to the map to find a trail to our next target.