Exciting weekend with a visit from Grandmommy

My mom came to visit this weekend (on Wednesday), and to help me with the girls while Doug was on a hiking trip with his brother. We all had a wonderful time, but no one had more fun than Elisabeth. She loves it when Grandmommy comes to visit, and this time was no exception.

Among the more humorous things that happened was the invention of a game called "performance" in which Elisabeth uses her "announcer voice" (which is very deep and quite announcer-ish) and gives herself a stage name. As an example, she says: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I have changed my name. I am now Elisabeth the Jumper who Jumps Off." My mother sits on the couch and pretends to be a circus announcer and says things like "Ladies and gentleman, Elisabeth, the Jumper who Jumps off, will now sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider while jumping on one leg!" And Elisabeth performs. The tricks get sillier and sillier, as do the names. And heaven forbid you get one of the names wrong. My mom accidentally called her Elisabeth, the Jumper Who Jumps (leaving off the "off") and was instantly and forcefully corrected. So now, she has informed my mother that she needs to practice her announcing skills before she returns.

As foreshadowing of things to come, this past Friday we were at our neighborhood happy hour when I suddenly looked up and noticed that Elisabeth wasn't around. All of the kids ride their scooters and bikes around the cul de sac while we sit around and eat and drink. Immediate panic set in, as I've never looked up and not been able to find her. I said to my neighbor, who has a little girl a little older than Elisabeth - who is one of Elisabeth's closest friends, "Uh, Paula - our kids are missing." We pop up and start hollering, up and down the street. No kids. Then she says, "I bet they're in your house." Sure enough, there were two little scooters and two little helmets neatly lined up in the garage. We burst inside to find three little girls heading our way with buckets FULL of water from the bathroom sink. Paula yelled enough for the both of us, saying that they were not to come into the house without an adult. And no, they could NOT bring their buckets outside. So Paula and I turn around to walk out and we hear little voices behind us saying, "Let's sneak it out." THEY'RE THREE. What am I going to do when they're 16? Oh, and later? Elisabeth says, "Mommy, I didn't want to come in the house when you weren't here. The other girls did." Uh huh, sure.

The rest of the weekend was filled with a trip to the Reston Zoo, lunches out, and a visit from my good friend Sam. We were all very happy when Daddy returned though - things around here just don't work as well when he's gone. Let's just say I'd make the world's worst single parent.

This weekend also marked the first time that we're positive Charlotte is saying a word. She says "cat" consistenly when we see a cat. And we're almost certain that she says "dog" when she sees Maggie. She is also inventing her own sign language. We have a sign that means "more," "that," "give me that NOW," "I'll have that please." It is all one sign, arm extended towards the item in question, with hand opening and closing. If you don't respond it is quickly followed up with the double hand sign and hollering. That sign is most closely interpreted as, "I don't know WHAT your problem is, you see me, you see what I'm doing, you see what I want, yet you're not giving it to me, what is WRONG with you??"

Oh, and although Elisabeth might look like Doug - she is definitely my kid. She refused to get in the pool at swim lessons today because the water was too cold.