Mimi: The Tween Zone

In July 2008 I became a mother to this beautiful little six year old girl. This was the moment I met her.  Subhalakshmi was so timid and scared and I was instantly in love. 

It took her a while to warm up to me but her little nearly 3 year old brother was having none of that.  So we took them to the park and let kids do what they do.  This is the first hint of a bemused smile from her toward her little brother.  It would not be the last.

It was a lot of work and time and patience (maybe even some blood, sweat and tears) but slowly she warmed up as she acclimated to her new life and learned to trust us.  By the age of 7 her personality was in full effect:

Then came age 8 and I began to see the beginnings of a feisty little mini me developing! 

By 9 there was NO denying it.  She was a full-on Diva!

And a bit of a drama-queen.  No, really... she even admitted it!

Next came the double-digits and as she turned 10 she seemed to immediately blossom into a young lady, yet still maintaining her youthful innocence. 

And now here we are.  Mimi is 11 years old.  I cannot believe how far we have grown together in these past 5 years.  She came into my life so scared and confused and developed into a spirited, sweet, loving, sensitive and compassionate young girl who always gets in trouble for being "too social."  She has more friends than I can count and it is because her spirit is as bright as her smile.

I am in awe of my daughter. 

It's all about the Lincolns, baby....

On the day of the sleepover, Mimi lost her tooth.  As she is nearing 11 I am not exactly sure if she believes in the "tooth fairy" or is just milking it for what it's worth (current rate: $5.00 a tooth).  However, I did not want to potentially embarrass her by having the fabled fairy exchange enamel for cash while her friends were over so I set it aside for another day.

Which means.... I forgot.

Cue to tonight when Mimi and Max returned home.  I approached her with a $5.00 and explained that since she was busy with her friends the tooth fairy didn't want to bother her so here.

Mimi looked at me and the money with a smile and ran to her room to put it in her piggy bank (which is really a ceramic cupcake, but, whatevs.....)  About five minutes later she walks into my room and hands me the baggie containing her tooth and with a hint of a smirk she said:

"Here, Mommy.... make sure you get your money back."

Who needs sleep?

Saturday night I hosted a sleepover for mutual friends of Mimi and Max and preparations were under way... After shopping for all the required elements to ensure a successful party,

Max helped to ready the house for our guests:

And then our sleepover guests arrived.  There were six children in my home.  It was loud with laughter and squeals of excitement and delight.  To say they had fun would be an understatement. Here are some highlights that were captured.

 

 

 

 

How did Mama get through the night?  With a little help from my friends at Clorox, of course!

Smashing Good Time....

Every Friday when I have the kids it is "family night..."  We have dinner and then watch a movie.  Tonight at dinner, the conversation took a turn for the awesome.

Mimi: Who is your fave... Batman or Hulk?

Me: Batman.

Mimi: Hulk is mine because ... Wait Mommy! You be Captain America and say "it..."

Me: Hulk, smash.

Mimi: NO!! You have to pause for the count of 4. Do it again.

Me: *points* Hulk *1...2...3...4* smash!
 

 

Mimi: *makes Hulk fists then turns to Max* Who are you?

Max: Thor.

Mimi: Where is your hammer?

Max: *raises his corn dog high*

Mimi: What does Thor say to Captain America?

Max: *in a gravely voice* I'm Batman!

--- signed, Proud Mom

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Three Cheers for Family!

Tonight we had the joy of dinner with Grandma Martha, Aunt Dawn and cousins Jessica and Alyssa, all of whom were in town for a cheering competition!  We met up at OK Cafe in Atlanta for great and easy conversation.  It was so good to see my NY family, however brief it was. 

Wordless Wednesday

Clean Water is a Human Right

This post will have nothing humorous in it.  No witticisms or funny anecdotes.  This post contains nothing more than the plea of this mother for you to help her honor the life of her only son's birthmother who died because she did not have access to clean water in Ethiopia. 

This is my son's birth mom (Etenesh) and his maternal grandfather (Ermias):

Etenesh died in the fall of 2012 from Amoebiasis, a condition caused by living in unsanitary conditions and drinking contaminated water.  She was only in her mid-20s.  To read my entire letter about how this has impacted my view of the world, please read my story here: I Am Not The Babysitter.

This woman gave me THIS incredible gift when she placed her only son up for adoption so that he could have the chance of life with his "forever family":

And now I ask you to help me honor this woman while literally saving thousands of lives by donating to Project-Ethiopia, the fundraising effort that WILL bring a clean water filtration system to the village of my son's birth family. 

Clean water is not a privilege.  It is a human right.  Together we can fix this.  We can make an actual difference.  So let's do this.  And please share this post with your friends and family. 

Class Pictures

Max, First Grade:

Mimi, Fourth Grade:

Wordless Wednesday

This Is America.

Last night while driving home talk naturally turned to the issue of the day.  The election.  It went something like this:

MAX: Mama, you made a big mistake not voting for Barack Obama. 

ME: Why do you feel that way, Max?

MAX: He will give us money and he likes Sesame Street.  I like him, Mama.  Barack Obama is a nice man.

ME: Well, those are certainly matters to be considered and I agree he is a nice man but I just have a different view of government and felt I want our country to run differently.  That's why we all have the freedom to vote and why it is so important.

MAX: You voted wrong, Mama. 

ME: Mimi, what do you think about this?

MIMI: *shrugs* I really don't care one way or the other.

--

This has been America, as seen from a Japanese made vehicle, in 60 seconds or less. 

The End.

Flip the bird...

So.. do you think Big Bird watched Max's video plea for me to vote Barack Obama in order to save Sesame Street?

Max Rocks The Vote!

Blow Hard.

I think everyone who reads this blog is well aware of my issues with g-u-m, right?   This makes Halloween a very difficult time for me and it is even more so challenging because Max at some point realized he is not allergic to it.  And he apparently loves that stuff.  *sighs* 

To her credit, Mimi continuously explains to Max that "Mommy is allergic and she gets sick when we chew it so we cannot do that."  Thankfully, I traumatized trained her early on so that she is well-aware of the repurcussions of me seeing them with this in their mouths. You can click HERE for that story.

So last night all was quiet on the home front and Max opted to have his dessert come from his Halloween candy stash. He chose a lollipop.  As I quickly learned it was not a lollipop.  It was a BLOW-POP. 

It is simply impossible for me to describe what happened next as it would require tranquilizers to calm me but I was visibly horrified and gagging uncontrollably.  No, really.  I was gagging.  Thankfully Mimi assisted Max with the disposal of the product in a manner by which I would not be subjected to seeing it.

Mimi then looked up at me and very calmly said: "It's okay mommy. I will make sure we throw all of it away now."  

Come to think of it, she was talking to me as if I was a mental patient.

Witch Way Did Mario Go...?

Another Halloween has come and gone and I have two pillowcases filled with candy to prove it.

This year Max and Mimi were joined by some of their friends who helped them pillage the neighborhood.

 

Max had a little mishap with his original costume at after-care so we ran out to buy him something new.  He chose Mario.  I think he looks SUPER!

 

And my not-so-little girl who stunned me when she came out in her witch costume.  Mimi has such an effortless beauty that actually radiates from inside her.  I am constantly in awe of my daughter and how she carries herself.  Consider me charmed by this witch:

I hope everyone's Halloween was as magical as ours was.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh rats....

Last night Max and I noticed that one of his gerbils (Carla) was looking a little, ummmm... stiff.  The thing is that she was only mostly dead so we left her there hoping she'd recover. 

Around midnight I found myself wide awake in bed researching gerbils on the internet.  Somewhere around 1:00 a.m. I determined the only logical conclusion was the gerbil was hibernating because it got cold so suddenly.  To combat this condition I moved the cage from Max's room (where they were by the drafty window) to the family room, placing them directly under a lamp (you know, to warm her up and get her out of hibernation mode).  Feeling pretty darn accomplished I returned to sleep.  When the alarm sounded I rushed to check on Carla's status and there I found one really completely and totally dead gerbil.

Let's all take a moment to remember Carla as we once knew her. 

Alive:

Came home on August 15, 2011.  Died on October 30, 2012.

Mom The Mystery Reader!

Max's first grade teacher offers various ways for parents to be involved with classroom activities.   One of them (and my favorite) is the "Mystery Reader."  I was scheduled for today.  Keeping this from Max was not easy but I did it! 

I arrived at the school just as Max was lining up in the lunchroom readying to return to class.  When he saw me there was no masking his absolute surprise. Once he recovered from his state of shock (a I offered a quick wave to Mimi and her friends in the lunchroom still) he escorted me to his classroom with great excitement and much pride. 

As we're so close to Halloween I decided to read three books with that general theme, including The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, There's No Such Thing As Monsters, and Room on the Broom.  I had a little extra time after finishing the third book and at the children's begging (and the teacher's okay) I read one more book that Max chose from the class library.

I encourage all parents to make plans to visit your children's class.  It is so rewarding for all involved.

Zoinks! It's zombies...!

This afternoon I took the kids to a neighboring town to catch some of the "walking dead" with a couple of friends who are (last I checked) not zombies.

Max's strategy was to try and blend in:

Mimi's strategy was to "act as if..."

As usual Max had to fend off the ladies:

Mimi clearly relied on her cute-factor to avoid infestation:

Thankfully they both made it out alive with their brains in tact:

The night was capped off with Halloween movies and the first fire of the season: