80 Percent Fun

 I took the girls to an aquarium and the beach this past weekend. It was about 80 percent fun; I think sleeping in the same bed as a two year old who magically morphs into a giant slug that slowly pushes you off the mattress accounts for 10 percent of fun loss. The other 10 percent was lost by losing Morgan for about three minutes.

Our hotel was right on the beach so we marched right on down to the shore. The first time was great. We found shells, put our feet in the water and called it a day. The second time, Halle plopped herself in the ocean, Morgan fell in it, and we were all so sandy and dirty that I quickly remembered why we rarely visit the sea.

Near the hotel entrance, there was a hose you could use to wash yourself off with. While I washed Halle's pants and feet, Morgan hid behind a bush. Looking up and not seeing her, I panicked and started calling her. I told Halle to stay put while I started searching the area. Some people from a balcony started yelling directions to my lost daughter. It would have been helpful had they been directing me toward the correct child. As it was, it was only irritating and distracting. Morgan popped out from behind her bush a few minutes later and asked me what was wrong. "What happened, Mommy?" I told her we were not going back to the beach for a very long time.

Morgan has done this once before; while Halle is two years older and terrible at hide-and-seek ("Mommy! You're missing a little girl! I'm over here!"), Morgan is a master at it. While my mom was visiting, we went shopping in Raleigh. Both of us thought the other adult had Morgan, and thus shopped in peace until we realized our error. We started searching for her, and then I realized if Morgan was hiding, she would never reveal her location. When we found her, she was smiling and barely containing her delight. She couldn't believe how well her trick had worked. Funny, I didn't think to threaten not taking her shopping for a very long time.

The lacquer thinner is surprisingly working. It's exciting to think of living in a house where it doesn't feel like Barbie snuck in and graffittied the couch. While I was scrubbing the couch, trying not to pass out from the fumes, Halle commented on the improvement. "So you were just teasing me when you were so mad and said the couch was ruined!"

I assured her that I had not been teasing her, but that I was glad the couch wasn't ruined. I also told her that she was more important than any couch. I'm never sure if I get through. But I hope if something gets through, the more important thing does.

Besides, Willie seemed to be on board with having a pink couch. Maybe I should have just bought more pink and doused the whole thing.

Clean Harder

We are going to a superhero birthday party today. I'm kind of feeling like a villain, but we're going in spite of that. It's not like four year old boys can do anything to villains, anyway. Yesterday, I made a cape for Halle and thought I would save us 5 dollars and a trip to the store by making a bag for the gift. When I was almost finished sewing, I took a break to paint the girls' toe nails. It seemed like a nice motherly thing to do since I hadn't paid a lot of attention to them while I was working on my projects. After the toes were decorated, I went back to the sewing machine to finish up. I smelled something funny.

Jumping up from the machine, I saw that my couch had been murdered. There was bright pink fingernail polish EVERYWHERE, which of course does not come out. Furious, I sent Halle upstairs. (Morgan hadn't had time to make much of a mess, so she skirted most of the wrath.) When I had calmed down, I asked her to come downstairs. I explained that the couch was ruined, that nothing could get out the stains and that was why I was so upset. "Is there anything you would like to say?" I asked.

"Like... maybe you should clean harder?"

That was not the "something" I had wanted. Her blue eyes blinked up at me innocently. "Then maybe you should tell me what I'm supposed to say."

"Sorry. You're supposed to say you're sorry."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Mom."

I'm looking into lacquer thinner today, but it would take Superman to get this out. That's what you get for trying to save 5 bucks. Next time, I'll just buy a bag.