Pa-curn and other small blessings

As I wrote my last two posts....both about my girls' birthday parties....I reminded myself, yet again, that I want to write about the small things, too. Not just the 'big' things (which, in my world, are holidays, birthdays, first ballet classes and other such annual milestones)...but also all the little things that happen every single day. The random little blessings that bring a smile to my face every day...but are (sadly) soon forgotten if I don't write them down.

Like....

Kate's new obsession with popcorn...or, as she affectionately calls it, every night around 8:30 pm, 'pa-curn.' As in "My wan pa-curn, daddy!" Chris loves this little ritual; and happily takes both girls into the kitchen, every night...plops them both on the counter and waits for them to squeal with delight as his Orville Reddenbacher popcorn machine -- which he purchased on a random trip to the grocery store -- pops and pops and pops more pa-curn.

The girls love the noise. It's like magic to them. And they then come running into the TV room, giant plastic bowls filled with pa-curn...cramming their faces with it until it's all gone. Yes, both girls eat popcorn like I do ... giant fistfulls placed in the mouth all at once, causing several fully popped kernels to fall on one's lap.

Kate's pa-curn appetite is particularly voracious. She eats her whole bowl and then scavenges over to Ella's...which, if left unattended, is quickly emptied by Kate's fast little fingers.

Alice....I've long wanted to show the girls Alice in Wonderland -- the Disney version...pretty and bright and happy and, well, childlike. But alas, I have yet to find it. So Chris randomly showed them the Jonny Depp Alice in Wonderland, when it played on TV one night. I protested...saying it was too dark, too scary. That they'd have nightmares and that it wouldn't hold their attention.

Alas, I was wrong. Very wrong. Now, every night, immediately after they jump onto the couch, pa-curn on their laps, Kate invariably demands "Alice, Daddy! My wan watch Alice!"

They love it. They have memorized all the names of all the characters. They laugh when the Queen refers to her scary dragon as "JabberBabyWalky." Ella laughs at Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and then chastises the Queen for calling them her 'fat boys.'

Most of all, they both love the Hatter, dark as he is....and they love the "fudderwakin" dance he does at the end of the movie.

Bedtime...."10 more minutes, Ella." Then 5, the 2, then....a nervous breakdown usually ensues as Ella laments the tragedy of being 3 years old and being forced to go to bed at 10:30. Sometimes she allows us to comfort her by reading stories and tickling her back. Other times, she kicks us out of her room as she dramatically cries, not unlike a Soap Opera star who's about to be buried alive...only to proclaim, 10 minutes later, that we've 'left her all alone.' Usually, at this phase, a small glass of orange juice is administered to the victim, and acts odly as a sedative. Our Academy Award Winning actress becomes more sedate, smiles, and drifts off to sleep.

Sweet Kate usually goes to bed much earlier than her sister. The telltale sign? This otherwise darling little girl starts knocking items off the coffee table, throwing herself to the floor and, if we don't respond soon enough (i.e. within less than 2 minutes), she promptly walks over to me and pulls my hair or knocks me upside the head. Moments later, we give her a bottle and a binky (both are still required), change her diaper, rock her for about 60 seconds and lay her in her crib with mousy, puppy and both 'bankies' (two identical pink blankets that she absolutely must use at the same time.) She's out like a light until 4 a.m., when she creams like a banchee...until we drowsily walk into her room, get her out of her crib (with mousy + doggy + both 'bankies), change her diaper, walk down the stairs to the kitchen, plop Kate and all of her nighttime friends on the counter, fill a bottle with milk, walk back up the stairs and put Kate, bankies, doggie, mousy, binky and bottle all back into the crib....and stumble back into bed ourselves.

These sweet nighttime rituals will some day transform into new ones. But until then, I'll love today's random nighttime rituals and all that come with them...and I'll try to remind myself to be grateful for pa-curn and these other small blessings...even when I find their kernels ground into my (relatively new) carpet.