Strange
It's been kind of a strange weekend.

I believe I've mentioned before that Mimi can talk a blue streak a mile wide on a cloudy day with monkeys. Or whatever. If she is awake, she is talking. To me, to Frank, to the wall, to her stuffed Ernie doll . . . . She talks a lot.

We actually had a babysitter show up here so that Cory and I could attack sorting and packing on Saturday, and she even offered to work into the night, but despite her assurances to the contrary, she clearly was not experienced at all with babies. Which was fine. She's really sweet - she works at our church and is wonderful with Mimi. And Frank, for the most part. But we couldn't leave them alone. So it was nice to have them close by and still get work done. I was bummed out I didn't get to see Byrneout's last bout of the season, but I am glad Cory and I realized the sitter's limitations. Not to mention that at 8pm on the nose, I was ready to collapse and way too tired to even grab dinner around the corner as we had planned. We JUST moved a year ago next week, and yet here we are, going through all of our earthly possessions again.

You know what I loved about having a babysitter? After 8 hours, which included frequent interventions by me and Cory to take care of Frank or Mimi, and to make and serve lunch and dinner and cleanup thereafter, the sitter was EXHAUSTED. And she's like 19. I tell you, keeping up with these two kids is not a cakewalk.

Anyway, so today was a family day. They had a children's thingy during the service, which they are doing pretty often these days, and Mimi loves to go up and hear the other children sing and listen to the little sermon. She so desperately wants to sing with the other children. She's always lip syncing. And when they have a separate service for kids (called "short church") and they give the kids their own bulletins to follow the service, Mimi totally fakes knowing what's going on by pointing out to all her other little preschool friends where they are in the bulletin and pretending to read along.

Mimi's teachers brought the preschoolers into the church for communion, and it is so awesome to watch Mimi candidly in her element. She's social and sweet, and she listens to directions, but she so desperately wants to talk to everyone. It's so hard for her to sit quietly. She tries so earnestly. I could just eat that girl. There are 5 other little girls in her sunday school class, and they are so sweet and lovely - if I could handpick friends for her, I would pick these sweet, gentle girls. They are so supportive and kind to each other, getting crayons for each other, and helping and holding hands. I will miss this Sunday school. We were so lucky to have found it.

(Much like Mimi's class at daycare, her Sunday school class is nearly all girls. But the nursery is full of little boys (not a single girl anymore), as Frankie's class at daycare is nearly all boys. Very strange.)

We went to visit her great-grandma after church, Cory's grandma, who is recovering slowly from her hospital stay and illness. We broke the news to her about going to Greece, and she was sad but very talkative about her childhood during the depression (she was orphaned at age 8, and told us today that in the first grade she worked in the cotton fields after school - after her mother died she bounced around from relative to relative). She is very acutely aware of the looming financial crisis and seemed to understand that we were tightening our belts a bit as well as giving Cory some space to get his work done.

From there we came home while Mimi napped and Frank, whose fever was 102.1 when we got home (who knew he was sick again/still/already?) sat quietly on my nap while Cory and I watched National Treasure 2 (guess who put that on the netflix list? Not I, said the pig.) We went to the park, where Mimi has mastered every inch of the playground. She can even hang from this turning ring thing by herself. She is fearless, this girl. And she's so friendly. She wants to ride the teeter-totter, so she just finds kids her size and invites them to get on it with her. Usually the kids are probably closer to 4 or 5, and they get on the teeter totter with her. The dynamics are so fantastic to watch - like some kind of social experiment.

We got home from the store, and Mimi had three yogurt tubes. After the second one, we tried to bargain with her to eat something else instead of a third tube.

"Daddy, can I please have another yogurt?"

"No."

"Mommy, can I have another yogurt? Please?"

"No."

"Daddy, actually, I need another yogurt."

"I said No."

"OK, well, go ahead and get me one."

What?

"Go ahead and do it. Go ahead and get me my yogurt dad. Do it."

We got her the yogurt.

Tonight we read some books and got ready for bed after Mimi's second solo potty poop of the day (she disappears into her room and comes out holding the potty tray with her pants around her ankles yelling, "I got poops! I made poops! Are you impressed? Are you so proud?" She was so tired.

Then she said, "Mom, God and Jesus are not my friend."

Me: "Mimi, why would you say that? That's not true."

Mimi: "They're NOT MY FRIEND."

Me: "God and Jesus take care of us and help us. Do you remember taking communion today? Did you have the bread?"

Mimi: "We all share the bread. Mom, put your hands together and say, 'Thank you God for my cars I gave my friends'." And I did. She said, "Put your hands together and say, 'Thank you God for my friends giving me cars'." And I did.

Mimi said, "OK, now, Mom, put your hands together and say, 'Thank you God for all of my toys and my Crocs.'" And I did.

"Mom, tuckle me in." And I did.

"Mom, I'm so stirsty. I need some cold water." So I got her a sip.

"Mom, my feet are out."

"Mom, leave the door open this big much, okay?"

"Mom, let's say a prayer."

Me: "We already said a prayer, remember?

Mimi: "OK, now let's speak Spanish."

Me: "What?"

Mimi: "Let's speak Spanish, Mom."

Me: "I don't speak Spanish."

Mimi: "Mom, let's say our prayers in Spanish, OK?"

Me: "Mimi, you're stalling."

Mimi: "Actually, the boys are actually the boys and I'm actually a girl."

Me: "Goodnight, Mimi."

Anyway, it was I guess a normal day full of strange things.