Pbenjay's Blog

Tuesday – Or in this case waffles as that seems to be Francesca’s breakfast favorite. Well as you know, Pedro did not show up today so the only TV working is the one leaning up against the bookcases in the family room.  Of course the kids don’t mind because Bubble Guppies (Seriously?) is in full view for them. Tuesday was a day filled with empty boxes which we broke down out of deference to the recycle rules and the sun was out and it was hot!  Chiara wants Francesca to play outside but wants me to watch her.  Watching her meant actually pushing her around in her pink taxi, that’s how she refers to the  bubble- top plastic ride-around car that is powered  by her feet. No battery-operated vehicle for her.  But don’t feel sorry for Frankie because she also seems to own or have access to a pedal car in the shape of a pink vintage convertible as well as another ride around toy with her name emblazoned across the back and then there’s the Radio Flyer red wagon and Finley’s scooter! The ONLY one of these that she really operates on her own is the ride-around  toy.  Everything else was, “Push me Gigi”.  The highlight of our outside playtime was finding lizards which scoot across the sidewalk regularly and up the bushes.

Then Peter called me and asked me if I had a moment to talk; If ever there was a sentence full of foreboding, this is it for me.  On Monday morning Peter had to move the car at 7:30am and when he got to the car he noticed a dent in the front passenger side fender.  How the hell did that happen? The passenger side in on the sidewalk side!  He got into the car to move it when the street cleaner came through and it wouldn’t start. Oy! So he called Triple A and they came out and tried to start it with jumpers and even a new battery but no good. So up on a flatbed truck it was hauled away to a garage to have a new alternator installed to the tune of $800.  With the $250 deductible for the fender, Monday turned out to be a pretty pricey day!  All I can say is thank God I’m here and not there because I would be making my husband’s life a living hell at this point, screaming we should sell the car.  I’m not a New Yorker at heart when it comes to cars.  I hate what happens to the car while parked on the street.

Finley arrived home, the AT+T guy finally left and since there was still no food in this house, we made off to the grocery store. with 2 kids in tow (one of which has NOT had a nap in 4 days) and oh what a treat it was!!!! Two kids, two carts – who wants to hold this, no, who wants to hold that? Mommy has to buy two cellophane packages of brightly colored straws and two aisles later there is a downpour of straws as Frankie has managed to rip open her package. Like a rainbow waterfall the straws drop through the slots in the carriage and bounce around the floor.  If that wasn’t enough the little napless-one threw a fit as we sailed through the candy aisle1 “Down, down, down” she wailed , only to be placated with Monkey Smoothies, Dora the Explorer yogurt and a humungous box of rainbow-colored gold fish, I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Do you think Francesca is working the cause?

Check-out was as much fun as only another mother of two kids two years apart knows! There was a minor skirmish over who is helping to put the food on the counter but before it could escalate, Mommy yelled loud enough to put the fear of God in them for a couple of minutes.

Pretty NOT Practical

I was to give the girls a bath and Chiara would put them to bed. Sounds simple right? Sounds not too difficult, right? WRONG!  Finley is crying because she doesn’t want her hair washed, Francesca wants to control the water flow and I’m trying to figure out how to keep the water in the tub.  The drain has some weird  mechanism that I’ve never seen before, as its stopper. BUT that’s minor compared to actually trying to bathe them because the bathtub has been designed with one of those fixed glass panels that shield one half of the tub area, the area where the faucets and shower head are located.  It was NOT a pretty sight of me trying to lean around the glass and grab onto a soapy slippery wiggle-worm of a kid.  On top of which I was in a fairly smallish bathroom with two entrances, two step-stoos and well two of just about everything,  Finally they are out of the tub and while trying to drape Finley in a towel, Frankie takes off wet and naked running down the hallway.  You see this is really why my generation knew you should have all your kids before you’re thirty!