Motorcycle Mama

"Yahoo! I’m riding my motorcycle. Yahoo!" I could hear Lauren outside singing the other day and opened the door to hear the above song. She was riding her bicycle and had the handle bar turned around backwards. When I asked her why they were backwards, she responded that it turned her bike into a motorcycle. She loves anything that is even slightly "tom-boyish" and would spend all of her time outside with Thurman ( our dog) if she could. Poor Thurman...he's so patient with her despite the fact that in an effort to keep him by her side, she locks him out of his room, bungee cords him to the jet ski and occasionally tries to ride him like a horse. I walk outside to find them in some of the funniest situations. Usually when she comes inside she smells like she's been rolling around with Thurman. Anna will refuse to sit by Lauren because she says "Ooh, she's tooooo stinky". Lauren has two responses to this...she either breaks down into tears or attempts to sit even closer to Anna in order to harass her. The two of them love each other but have such different personalities. I read a quote that said, "Sisters are different flowers from the same garden" and that is definitely the case in our family. Anna loves to be a princess and wants to wear a dress every day. Lauren's outfit of choice is a pair of underwear and her wellies. At the toy store, Anna asks for the life-sized doll while Lauren wants the monster truck. Lauren likes dogs, and cats, and horses, and lizards, and bugs. Yet, when you brush her hair and say, "Turn around and let me see.", she asks, "Do I look beautiful?" She seems so strong-willed most of the time and Anna even calls her "stubbo-ren" (Anna's pronunciation). At the same time, she can be extremely sensitive and sweet and lovable. She gives the best "monkey" hugs and just likes to say "I love you" through the day. Every morning when she wakes up, she calls (screams more like it ) from her bed, "Come pick me up while I sleeping, sing me a lullaby and carry me downstairs". Her tone will become more and more plaintive until you get there but as soon as you open the door, she flips over and pretends to be asleep. She dances like she's a contemporary, hip-hop B-girl and ends the performance sitting on the floor with her index finger pointed at you and her thumb sticking up. Her two favorite songs to sing are currently the "wedding song" and "Ring Around the Rosey". She's started a game called "Roly Polies Save the Day" and has started talking about the "Cana-g-ian geese" that she saw flying over the house. I asked her the other day how she got to be so smart. I was surprised that she knew the answer to a question I had asked. She replied, "I didn't know and then I knowed". Having children is like that. Before they're born you can't possibly begin to imagine how much they'll change your life or how much you'll love them. That happened to me....one day I didn't know but the next...I "knowed". :)