London Calling

Healthy, normal, happy or House of Yes

My title may be a little dramatic, but I LOVE Parker Posey and honestly, The House of Yes was the first thing I thought of when I walked in on the kids in the shower today.  Then, I was a little more grown up and thought, "wow.  it's so great that Montessori teaches them to do for themselves and that they're helping each other."

Backtrack.  Another Sunday dinner and we're both feeling a little lazy.  We tell the kids, "five more minutes until bath," and they say, "okay."  Maybe 15 minutes pass and we say, "almost time for bath."  And they say, "okay."  Then it's quiet.   I hear a few giggles and the shower turn on in the bathroom above the kitchen.  (aka, THE only full bathroom.)

Blu says, "Hey, I have to catch up on a few things for work."  Translation:  you manage baths tonight, I'm not up for it.  So, I stroll upstairs and walk into the bathroom to see Violet on the toilet -- not even sure how she climbed up there -- and London in the shower.  Clothes are all over the floor and Violet is about to climb into the shower.  

I let them keep going hoping that in 20 years we won't experience a House of Yes reunion.  London washed Violet's hair and they played in the water for a bit.  They were having fun.  

Honestly, I'm not sure when I should stop this kind of thing -- says the mom who doesn't mind when her kids run around the yard naked in the sprinkler.  As I become more comfortable as a mom, I think I'm a bit more European about some things:  public nudity (the kids -- we try to limit ours), food, less "stuff" in our lives ... eh, maybe that's it.  It seemed like a lot when I first started writing.  We're probably more American WASP than we like to believe.

Whoops, I did it again!

Sorry family & pals.  I've let life get away from me again and failed to share my favorite London & Violet stories for over a month!  One of the main reasons I write this blog is to allow myself an opportunity to remember and save details that I may forget so that I can re-live these stories later.   

This morning, before work, I finally finished making a copy of the slide show we shared at my mom's memorial service.  My aunt Barb had asked for a copy and at first I was too sad, then I was too busy chasing kids and when I finally made time, my computer needed a new operating system and then I was busy again, etc.   And so it goes, as Billy Joel says.

So, how did I finally get back to the project?  Well, I volunteered to share my career with London's class.  I brought in a TV and showed them the TV spots I've worked on -- just the ones with the fun music -- and then we made our own "commercial" for school.  (I'd love to share, but can't because of all of the kids in the video.   You'll have to trust me when I tell you how cute it was.)  I needed to edit a bit and burn a DVD for the teacher.  When I was done and the technology actually worked, I decided to try to burn the DVD of my mom's memorial which is a bunch of photos of her from baby to grave.

This morning we put on the DVD to make sure that it worked.  London was glued to the TV -- as most kids are when it's turned on -- and watched closely as images of his "Ya Ya" moved across the screen to a U2 lullaby.  He recognized her and other family members in the photos and he saw himself as a baby with his grandmother.  I loved to see his face light up when he saw the photos.