They can't "let it go"

We have relaxed quite a bit on the TV-watching thing, allowing the kids to watch Netflix cartoons on weekends, and when Clair is either 1) getting her hair done or 2) getting her nebulizer treatment.

It's amazing to me how well TV glues them to one spot, and personally, I'm not that mad about it.

But we still haven't graduated to movies -- mostly because the kids still seem way too young to me to sit through two hours of plot development. They can sit for two hours, but only when there are changes in episodes or even whole shows. But one thing for two hours? Nope, not my kids.

So color me surprised when one day Dean was walking around our house singing, "Let it Go," the award-winning and oft-imitated song from the Disney movie "Frozen."

The kids haven't seen the movie and he had no idea where he'd heard it. So I showed him -- and the other two -- the video, with the princess, or whatever she is, belting out her therapeutic theme song in an icy tundra.

Now what did I go and do that for?

Ever since then, Lester and I have been forced to play the video - connected to our iPod dock, so it fills the house -- over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (you get the picture). I have to play it in the car, streaming through the speakers, no matter where we're going. And when the car stops, I have to keep playing it, all tinny and small through my phone as we walk to the house. I had to create a Disney playlist on my Pandora account and hope, no pray, the song comes on first in the playlist. NPR in the morning has been trumped by "Let it Go." I used to be able to distract them with Katy Perry ("Look kids, a LION!") or, my favorite, Pharrell's "Happy." But no more. It's all ice cold Disney princess emo all the time.

Kill. Me. Now.

The only saving grace is listening to Dean try his absolute hardest to learn every single word and match Idina Menzel's passion with all his might. And watching Clair do interpretive dance to the song, twirling and waving her hands, ballerina-like, then running through the house on her tippy-toes, dancing. Once, Lester said Clair "caught the Holy Ghost" when the song came on the iPod. I seriously almost choked from laughing. 
[Note: Do you know what "catching the Holy Ghost" is? If not, you won't get why that was so funny. But take my word for it, it was.] 
Even Cary, who is not really a big performer -- even he gets into it, singing whatever words he can make out and doing a little old man jig.

It's hilarious to watch them enjoy a song so much. Truth be told, I actually rather enjoy their zeal for the song. They truly love it (who knows why. what the hell is a frozen fractal anyway?) and it makes me so happy to see them so moved by music.

Maybe one day I'll get them hooked on New Edition!!

Ted the Turkey

Last night, we all went to a pre-school potluck at the boys' school, where we got to eat lots of delicious food and hear the boys' class sing a super cute song about Ted the Turkey.

I think it is so funny how the boys were singing this song at the tops of their lungs in the bed at night when they were supposed to be sleeping, but on stage, they suddenly became bashful.

Bashful or no, aren't these little performances the cutest?! I always feel so proud of my little babies, getting up there in front of everyone and singing so sweetly. I'm so grateful to have them in my life.

I love my little turkeys!

The Crawdad Hole: Showing some Internet love

Last night, the boys were dancing and singing around the house as they always do and I noticed that they were very badly garbling the words to "Fishin' in the Crawdad Hole," which is a song they "learned" in music class.

So I started to try to break down the lyrics for them, saying each word slowly and carefully. But then it was clear that these city kids don't know nothin' 'bout no lines or no poles or no danged crawdad holes. So although they were trying valiantly to repeat the words after me, the looks of confusion on their faces showed me this was making no sense.

So I broke out the ole iPhone. Ole Trusty, I like to call her.

And I Googled "fishing poles." Together, we scrolled through a gajillion images of people fishing, and I pointed out the pole and the line and explained how people use fishing poles to catch fish that we can then eat! (The shock on their faces was priceless! We EAT the fish in the sea?! Say what?!)

After that, we Googled crawdads, but they looked really gross to me -- little wannabe lobsters, but short and scraggly and off-colored. Yick.

So instead, I Googled "Fishin' in the Crawdad Hole," and found an MP3 of a raucous country version of the song.

Then I played that thar song on Ole Trusty and the boys, Clair and I danced and jumped around in our living room, Riverdancing and hollering, "Yee-haw!" and it was awesome. It got even more awesome when the boys went and grabbed their red, plastic guitars and started plinking away on the strings, like they were banjo-plucking or fiddling in the band.

We all laughed and danced and had a hoppin' good time. And I wondered -- how would this night have gone differently in 1983, when no one had Internet access, and certainly not on their phones? I'm not saying it couldn't have happened. I just sincerely wondered how.

I know a lot of people have a lot to say about how "screen time" is ruining children, and how the world was so much better when electronics weren't so ever-present.

But boy, you couldn't have convinced us lunatics of that last night, clappin' and knee-slappin' and jumping around to our very own living room jamboree.

You get a line and I'll get a pole, Honey
You get a line and I'll get a pole, Babe
You get a line and I'll get a pole
We'll go fishing down the crawdad hole
Honey, Baby, mine.

Birthday serenade by the Davis children!

Reason No. 10,576 why I love our babysitter, Michelle.

Because she does stuff like this:

OMG! Best. Birthday present. EVER!

(Love their little slippers! And how Dean stretches out the ends of words like a true R&B singer! And how Cary is so over it. And the newest member of the singing sensations: Clair!)

Like I said earlier, "Happy Birthday to ME!"

Final maternity leave checklist -- and a TREAT at the end of the post

I know you've all been wondering: So how did you do on your maternity leave checklist??!?!

Here are the results (read to the end, because there's a treat at the end!)

• Finish sending out thank-you cards to friends
• Organize and clean out my basement
• Swap out winter and spring/summer clothes
• Figure out what to do with maternity clothes Tahira said she wants them. So I'm holding on to them for her. (Hmmm. I won't say anything about what that implies. But I hope it implies a sweet new friend for Clair, sooner rather than later.)
• Frame (and/or re-frame) photos; hang them in the house
• Find an aesthetically-pleasing (or if not, then cheap and easy) way to organize the boys' books in the living room play area
• Take my bedroom comforter to the Laundromat to wash
• Take my Christmas tablecloth to the dry cleaners (yes, I still have not done that and it's April. And what?)
• Take some things back to Macy's/Target
• Get a pedicure
• Get my eyebrows done
• Go to the Dominicans and get my hair done (This item and the previous two are all part of Operation Bring the Sexy Back. New spring/summer clothes are also a part of that mission, but only after this baby belly has gone the way of the wooly mammoth.)
• Go visit friends with Clair, or the boys, or all 3 (Kelly, in particular)
• Go visit friends all alone! Preferably where a meal and cocktails are present (Angel, Kelly, Beth, Stacey) Saw Beth! Had awesome time. Failed miserably on the others, although Kelly and I did hang out at the New Edition concert!!!
• Go visit Granddad
• Have lunch with Lester during the work week
• Go out with Lester on a real grown-up date We went on TWO dates!
• Take my Dad out for lunch again, this time with Tahira since she missed it last time
• Get Clair on a predictable eating and sleeping schedule
• Get Clair sleeping in her own bed
• Wean the boys from their nighttime bottle
• Get on the pill I've had my prescription for weeks. Gotta wait for Aunt Flo to show before I can start taking them. My hair has just started falling out (inevitable post-pregnancy thinning) so maybe that means my hormone levels are getting back to normal. So maybe THAT means Aunt Flo will show sometime this century.
• Make an appointment with my primary care doctor to get my sugars tested Tested. Fasting sugars were 89, which is good. A1C is 6.1, which is not as good, but not terrible either. So the Doc said let's check again in 3 months.
• Plan and have the boys' 2nd birthday party.  No party, but we had a wonderful day!  

That was all that was on my list, but I also cleaned out my bedroom closet, took the boys to the zoo, went to the NEW EDITION CONCERT!!! and just all and all had a very fulfilling time off.  As you can see, I still have a few things left to do. So I'll work those in over the course of the summer/year.  No stress. It'll all happen.

Even though I  enjoyed my time off, I still feel like it wasn't long enough. And I miss my babies! It's honestly not as heart-wrenching as I imagined it would be, mostly because I know they are in great hands with Michelle, but I do miss them. :-(

Thank goodness Michelle sends me videos like these!

 (I told you there was a treat at the end!)