like a fire

I am really lame. To start with, the first app I downloaded to my iPhone was the lightsaber. Not particularly useful, but impressive. Proof in the pudding is that when people see it, they don’t care about all the other really cool things it can do.

So here I am one afternoon entertaining my girls with the lightsaber app and Jane asks what it is. After a brief description followed by doe eyes from Jane, I can tell she doesn’t get it. So we watch some Star Wars. I edit some of it through fast forward, but she is enamored. Anytime I need a buddy to watch Star Wars, she is in.

So what’s better that Star Wars with your daughter? THIS!

Nothing says I love you like chocolate carbonite.

Quite an eventful day at the Martin’s. Elizabeth is potty training which makes the rest of the house extra sensitive to her dance. She has actually done quite well with one BM (Boomer if your from western PA) and two more viscous outbursts actually making it into the potty. We did have two accidents, though.In typical Elizabeth fashion, she is doing this the hard way. She also has a cold.

In a respite from potty training, I took Jane to get some lunch for us all. We had a great break and a bit of funny conversation. It went something like this:

J: Daddy, do you know what? I have you ever seen a rainbow mouse?

P: Uh, no.

J: Daddy, did you know I have a rainbow?

P: Is your mouse rainbow colored?

J: Yes, it’s a mouse.I have three mices. Their names are Squeaky, Micey and, uh… Rainbow.

P: Is rainbow the rainbow colored mouse?

J: Yes, but Squeaky is a white mouse, and Micey is mouse colored. Daddy, did you know what? They are all superheroes.

P: Well, that’s cool. What are their super powers?

J: Well… Squeaky’s super power is to make unicorns. Miceys super power is to make princesses. Rainbow’s super power is to… make rainbows.

P: Cool!

J: And I have a super power too.

P: OK, what’s your super power?

J: I can make everything good, even God and Jesus.

P: Awesome, that’s the best super power.

J: And I can make lowercases.

That was it. Apparently making everything good isn’t enough for our little four year old.

Today, I pick up Cathy at the airport and end my time as a solo Dad. I had a really great time and learned a lot. So here are my lessons learned.

1. Jane is a Pirate, Elizabeth is a ninja - We have said it before, but it was proven again this week. Little E can wreck a room in zero seconds, proving her ninja speed.

The scenario that played out was during a game of hide and seek. I am hiding and Jane and Ella come in to the room. I hear the sound of skin htting skin and hear E start to cry. Jane is hitting her, so I take her aside and am talking to her and correcting her. While this is happening, I put on a youtube video for E. After correcting Jane I come back into the room. Now this is more my fault than Elizabth’s because I left it out, but when I get back, she has turned a sketch that I have been working on more time than I care to admit into a piece of black paper.

2. Jane needs a Mommy, bad - Jane is a great little girl with high social needs. Sometimes, we just can’t get her to stop talking. The first day she was alright and didn’t notice Cathy’s abesence so much. The second day, her behavior and social needs started showing the absence of her mother. Last night, she just cried in frustration after having a night of attention seeking behavior. Jane just needs her mother sometimes.

3. I am ADD when I don’t get my social needs met - I generally think of myself as a fairly self-sustaining person. I dream, occassionally, of moving to Montana and living as a semi-hermit. Mid-day Saturday I was craving some adult face time. I had talked on the phone a couple of times with friends and Cathy, but I hadn’t had any relating in proximity with an adult for three days. I was going a little lot bonkers. I realized I have some pretty high social needs s well. Big tells for my needs are: low attention span (I couldn’t even make it through a movie without losing interest), manic conversations when I see an opportunity (I was more social than I have ever been at church Sunday morning just because I wanted conversation with someone older than 4), and a willingness to eat just about anything.

After all, it was a great week and I am really glad Cathy got some time to herself, but I am really ready to see her again. We pick her up today at 10:48. You can bet I won’t be late.

As a mother’s day gift, I encouraged Cathy to take some time and spend it with her friends and let me keep the girls. So, yesterday morning Cathy flew down to Orlando and my weekend with my two daughters began. What a bittersweet time.

I really love my wife and we affectionately call ourselves Team Martin. We really work together to make things happen, and, while we can defintely make do with half the team, it isn’t nearly as easy as it normally is. Having said that:

We had a really great day yesterday. After droping Cathy off at the airport (an adventure in itself for Jane), we did our normal Daddy daughters time - a Target run. I picked up some fun for Jane later and then it was time to get home for lunch. The girls had pizza but I had, of all things, a salad. Those of you who know, this is not my normal preferred meal, but my wife has been inspiring me to eat better, so…

After a short nap, Jane and I made pie. Well, we kind of made pie. We actually used premade crusts that were 3 inches in diameter and used the mixer to mix powder and milk to make Jello no-bake cheesecake. We then made a library run, movie run and grocery run. We got back, did some coloring and art (like Mommy) and then made some dinner (breakfast burritos and waffles for Ella). Then we got the big treat of mini-cheescake. For entertainment, we watched most of Dumbo, which Jane picked for her movie, baths and then bed time.It was actually a really great night.

I have no idea what we are doing today. I had planned on a trip to the grandparents, but they are going out of town. I then thought of the Zoo, but I think it is going to rain today. I miss Cathy right now. She usually has a couple of ideas at this point.

I don’t talk a lot about Jane on here, and I realized that I really should. She is just this really sweet girl with a big heart. She loves her family, as evidenced by the picture, and she is generally just lots of fun.

Jane is also very spiritually tuned. She often says things that make Cathy and I think. She’s the first to say, “This song is about Jesus.” So we are fairly used to her spiritual side.

Lately she has been praying prayers that are a bit mature for her age. She prayed for Cathy to get better the other night and for her sister, who hasn’t had a BM in about a week, to be able to go. She also prayed that God would take all the monsters from her room.

So it was a bit strange yesterday when she wrote “No” on her hands and arm. She has been a little irritable after being sick and that is probably contributing to her mood, but that was just a little scary. As her father, I feel so bad for her. I can’t imagine what possessed her to do that, and the symbolism of it really hurt us to think about what she might have been thinking when she did it. If you get a moment this week, pray for Jane.