The Tidbits of Our Lives, or A Glimpse Inside the Rome Household

You know, sometimes I just feel the need to share. I imagine you other moms know what I mean. I want to tell you how awesome my kids are! The things that make me burst with pride and amuse me and other wacky, fun things.

So pull up a chair and get ready for a glimpse inside the recent inner workings of the Rome household. =)

*cue adorable picture*

This is WonderGirl (almost 2!!) and SuperGirl coloring in Daddy’s office in the basement one morning when my husband let me sleep in (I know, right? Amazing husband award right there). Forget the coordinated pajamas! We just throw together whatever random shirts and bottoms we find each night.

Preschool

I guess the biggest change in our lives recently was the start of preschool for SuperGirl at the end of August. Although she’s only 3, because she’s had a speech delay (diagnosed at 18 months), her therapist recommended we put her into preschool a year early so she can continue receiving therapy there and try to get caught up with the other kids her age before next year. She loves it! Every night before we go to bed we ask the girls what their favorite part of the day was, and 99% of the time, even if SuperGirl hadn’t been to school that day, she still says “preschool”. I also ask her when I pick her up what she learned at preschool that day, and the only thing she ever tells me is “I learned my name.” So impressive that she can say an entire sentence! Last year this time she was putting only a couple of words together. However, this reply does make me wonder if they work on names every single day. =) Melt-your-heart moment? As soon as WonderGirl sees SuperGirl in her classroom when we pick her up, she waves and says “Hi, sister!” with the biggest grin, and then they give each other hugs and kisses.

Good-bye, summer!

I really hope you guys had a better summer than we did. I don’t know what was in the air but, as my husband says, it was the worst summer on record for us. There was my unexpected gallbladder surgery, in-law hospital stays, a concussion for SuperGirl, broken air conditioner and, on the very last day of August, a car wreck where someone rear-ended the girls and me. And those are just the highlights! (Lowlights? Er…) Fortunately, THANKFULLY, no one in the car accident was hurt and we have another car now (although we’re still waiting for new carseats *nudges insurance*). But even with all that, I’m a little sad to see summer go. Yes, even with the extraordinary heat. We’ve loved walking the girls pretty much everywhere in our small town–to the library, the post office, restaurants, preschool, parks, etc.–and I know this will become more difficult as the weather cools. I have to find new ways to get rid of all their energy! But the girls (at least SuperGirl) is at the age now where she is understanding most things, and now we talk about the changing of the seasons and how the leaves turning yellow/orange and falling from the trees mean that fall is here. One thing I’m really looking forward to this fall and winter? Attending an autumn festival with a hayride, making our own scarecrows, pumpkin catapults, and a corn maze. I’ve been wanting to do it the past couple of years, and this year I think the girls are finally at an age where they’d really enjoy it. For the winter weather, I can’t WAIT to create snowmen and snow angels with them. We didn’t really have enough snow last year to do it (even though we live in Colorado), so I’m hoping for a little–just an eensy teensy weensy more (native Texan here! *grin*)–for that to happen.

Superheroes rule!… As do kitty cats, and baby penguins, and awesome imaginations

My husband is a huge superhero fan, and so when I came up with the nicknames for SuperGirl and WonderGirl, it seemed a fun way to tie that together with my wish for them to be strong and independent women. Well, over the summer SuperGirl has also fallen in love with superheroes. It started when we went to the Denver Comic Con for Fathers’ Day and she picked out a little wooden figure of Captain America (only because he was blue and her favorite color is blue, mind you). Then my husband bought her a Captain America mask and shield (he’s in heaven with all this, let me tell you *grin*) so she could pretend to be the real Captain America. Now they love to play bad guys versus good guys, her favorite cartoon is The Superhero Squad Show, my husband took her to the comic book store to buy her first Captain America comics, she wants to be Captain America for Halloween, and even without her mask and shield she loves to pretend from time to time that she’s her beloved superhero…

That is, when she’s not a kitty cat or a baby penguin. I have NO IDEA why she suddenly decided at the beginning of August that she was a kitty cat. Maybe because of my in-laws’ cat while we were house-sitting? Who knows. Either way, from the beginning of August until just today, every day she’s pretended to be a kitty cat who only answers to “kitty cat” and who eats “cat food” and “scratches” the walls and your arm…and, yes, sometimes even licks her “paws”. But the best part? We’ve had to say “Good night, kitty cat” and “I love you, kitty cat” about a dozen times each night before she’s happy. I kid you not. =)

However, today I was watching Go Diego Go with the girls (WonderGirl’s current favorite show, although “Elmo” (aka Sesame Street) is close behind) and it was the episode about the baby macaroni penguin. I hugged WonderGirl and asked her if she was my baby macaroni penguin and I was her mommy penguin, and SuperGirl overheard. She LIT up. Her entire face just GLOWED, and she immediately came to see me. Since then, she’s been a baby penguin all night and I’ve been her mommy penguin, and we talk in these really high, sweet voices, and my husband is now “Papi”. Lol. He’s accustomed himself. So instead of telling kitty cat good night a dozen times tonight, we said good night to baby penguin a dozen times. Of course, she did say at one point that she was pulling kitty cat out from behind her ear, so who knows what she’ll be tomorrow. I might have to be careful lest she develop a multiple personality disorder. =)

Finally, the girls have fine-tuned their imagination play. They’ve played doll house for quite a while, and like to have their stuffed and plastic animals talk to one another, but just recently they’ve become waitresses who take our orders in the living room and then go to the fireplace to pick up our imaginary food and drinks so they can deliver them to us. And you know what? Asking for an imaginary slice of apple pie and “eating” it has actually helped me with a craving. THIS IS THE DIET CURE OF THE FUTURE!!! =D

Until next time…

This has been a glimpse inside the recent inner workings of the Rome household. As you can see, we’re a normal, crazy family composed of crazy, adorable kids…much like yours, I’m guessing. =) Stay tuned for the next episode, courtesy of…

BATMAN! (Captain America’s alter ego, apparently =)

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I’m Elise Rome, AKA Midnight Mama because I’m usually burning the midnight oil. If SuperGirl (3, with a speech delay) and WonderGirl (1, my very own hip attachment) aren’t getting up in the middle of the night, then I’m busy working on writing and writing-related business until morning…usually 5 am or so. Both my husband and I stay home with the girls (he’s a writer, too! www.lukasholmes.com), but usually I’m focused on them throughout the day and only get started working until after 8pm when they’re both in bed. I’m a former Texan now living in Colorado who desperately misses no-snow winters, and my parenting goal is to raise my daughters to be strong, intelligent, and independent women…much like the heroines I write, as a matter of fact. I’m a recovering perfectionist, recovering procrastinator, and perpetually aspire to keep the house clean (because it never actually is). When I’m not chasing around my daughters or adoring my cooking/cleaning/diaper-changing husband of 8 years, I write historical romances about women who fascinate me and men who somehow always remind me of Rhett Butler, the first literary hero who captured my heart. www.eliserome.com

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