The Amazing Gracie Lu-Who

Gracie and Luke are amazing! It's not like I'm surprised by it or anything. After all, they are related to some pretty fabulous people.

But recently, they've been even more amazing that I first thought. Gracie, in particular, has knocked our socks off with how Amazing she is.

Yesterday, both Gracie and Luke were sick. Daddy and Grandma took them to the doctor's office and then they stayed home with Grandma instead of going to school. About lunch time, Grandma decided to treat them to lunch at McDonald's. They drove over, had lots of fun eating chicken, french fries, and apples, and got to play in the Fun Zone. Grandma did have to go on one rescue mission after they made it to the top of the tube maze and were too scared to move.

On the way home, Grandma made a mistake. She put Gracie and her purse into the car and did not strap her in. Instead, she walked around to the other side and put Lukie into his seat and strapped him in. As she closed Lukie's door, Little Miss Lu-Who showed Grandma how fantastic she is at pushing just the right button. She pushed the ALL Lock button and locked Grandma out of the car. At first, Grandma started to panic. How was she going to get Gracie and Luke out of the car? She kept telling Gracie to unlock the door, not realizing that Gracie doesn't know what "unlock" means. (I said she was amazing, not all knowing!)

Just as Grandma was going to call 911, a stranger stopped to calm her down. She reminded Grandma that it was cool outside and calling 911 would result in some high fees. (Grandma forgot that she is a AAA member and could have had someone there in 15 minutes).

When she reached a point where she wasn't hypervenilating anymore, Grandma decided to try to direct Gracie on how to open the door. She started asking Gracie to come to the door and asked her to push this button, then that button. Five minutes after she started, Gracie showed Grandma for the second time how amazing she was. After following all of the directions spoken in Spanish, Gracie pushed the Unlock button and Grandma was able to get inside.

Can you imagine? Everything Grandma said was in Spanish and Gracie knew what she was talking about!

So there you have it. Further evidence of the Fantastic and Amazing Gracie Lu-Who!

The Screamer

Be very thankful I could not find my camera.

I am almost obsessive about where the Twinsies spend the night. I know that if they stay up too late, they won't be able to handle the next day. One place they have never spent the night, well, until yesterday, was Grandma and Grandpa's house. There are just too many exciting people and too many exciting things going on for them to be able to go to sleep and stay asleep. If they are hanging out there, I am always careful to pick them up by 6 - 7 pm. It is never pretty if they are there too late.

Yesterday, however, Grandma offered to let Gracie and Luke spend the night. I have report cards to write (don't ask me if they are done) and I'm sick. On top of that, the Twinsies got immunizations at their Friday appointment and are sick, too, so times have been rather trying in our tiny apartment. I grabbed the chance to get some sleep and packed them up for a night with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma promised that she would not call unless there was an emergency and by 5 pm today, there were no phone calls.

When I got to their house this evening, about 6:15 pm or so, the first sound that greeted me was crying. Gracie crying. Lukie crying. They weren't crying for me, they were just crying. Grandma admitted they had been very sensitive all day, crying and upset, inconsolable at times. She'd managed to get them down for short naps, but they just wouldn't sleep.

That's when the screaming started. Gracie has been testing her vocal cords for the past few weeks, so I know she can scream. I wasn't prepared for the level of screaming that came from her tonight! Wow! She reached some decibels I thought only huge stereo systems could hit!

The screaming continued on the way home, but I had known from the moment I looked at them that the real culprit in their behavior that day was that they were both exhausted. Puffy eyelids and the inability to keep your eyes open are huge indicators that one is tired!

We made it through the bath, just barely, before the hitting and crying/screaming resumed. We got our jammies on, drank most of our milk, snuggled with Mommy and attempted to play. Luckily, I'm too smart for them now. I wrapped my arms around them and snuggled them to me. They were out in 15 minutes but I stayed for a while to make sure they were really out.

They may wake up. They may not. Maybe they are just so exhausted that they will sleep the night through. Either way, I need to record that scream. No one will ever believe it is coming from an 18 month old who stands 30.5 inches high!

Girl pants on a boy, a side ponytail, more markers

When I packed the bag this morning with Gracie and Luke's clothes, I put a pair of jeans in for each of them. One pair had little silver hearts on each pocket and the other pair was very plain. I figured that the silver hearts would be the indicator that they were girls' pants. For a split second, though, I thought "What if they put the girl pants on Lukie?"

Sure enough, when I picked them up from day care today, Lukie was wearing the girl pants and Gracie had on the boy pants.

You'd think someone would have noticed the hearts.

The other thing I discovered was that Grandma Rosi did Gracie's hair today. Normally, I do a giant center Pebbles kind of pony tail or 2 pony tails. Today, Gracie was sporting the side pony tail.

Well, as "side" pony tail as it could be given that she has so little hair!

Finally, it was clear that the markers came out again today. Lukie colored with blue and green...on himself and on Gracie. I'm starting to suspect there was no paper.

It took a half an hour letting them soak in the tub and then scrubbing their skin to get the marker off of their hands and arms. How are these things "washable?"