Buying the Things

This story as told by Isabel (pictures chosen by her as well!):

One day, my Mom went shopping for new clothes for her daughter, Isabel...that's me! She bought some new clothes for me to wear for back to school. That's good.

She bought me TWO kinds of pajamas and one is called,

"I feel PURRRFECT!"

with a picture of a cat.

The other kind is

"Dance"

And that's it.

And she bought me pink, purple, white, blue...even chips. That's the end of my story.

The end.

Hiccups

No story today. Just a funny anecdote.

My angel had the hiccups yesterday. From early morning till late afternoon. It was a long, hot day and around 4 pm, Isabel threw a tantrum. She's 5 1/2 so they are pretty rare nowadays...but this was an all-out, 10 pointer. I was proud of her ability to put it all out there. Not often you see what fourteen years old will be like so early on.

In the middle of the tantrum, when it seemed like eardrums might pop, I went for tantrum stopper number 2 (TS2). (TS1 is to send her to hang out by herself, in her room, until she has control...and then she can come out. This usually works in less than a minute, since she doesn't want to cry all by herself.) TS2 is engaged when the tantrum lasts more than 5 minutes. If she hasn't stopped crying and screaming by 5 minutes, I know that another Mummy strategy needs to come into play.

TS2 involves going over to my child, looking her straight in the eye and telling her we are going to have a conversation. I gently help her get up, walk her into the living room and then gather her into my arms for a cuddle and "good cry." Now TS2 does NOT work if you use it before TS1...it would simply cause her to tantrum in my arms for 5 + minutes. TS2 is the strategy of last resort.

In this case, she was crying and hiccupping. And it didn't look like she was going to stop. So I calmly said, "Isabel, it's time to stop crying now." And with a look of utter distress, she said, "But Mummy, I can't stop HICKING UP!"

And I said (trying not to laugh), "You can't stop HICKING UP?"

And she said, "No Mummy! I can't stop HICKING UP!!!"

And very quietly, and very respectfully (because I have great respect for the tantrum wizards), I said, "Do you mean...HICCUPPING?"

She stared at me. And we both cracked up. And cracked up again.

End of tantrum. New word for our family.

Hicking up.

Isabel's Pizza

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Isabel.

She thought she loved pizza.

So she and her Mummy went to the store (they called it TJ's) to pick up some pizza dough, some pizza sauce and some shredded mozzarella cheese.

They were going to make homemade pizza.

At the same time, her Mummy bought flour tortillas, some ketchup and some Kraft cheddar cheese. And strawberries. And green apples.

As soon as they got home Isabel raced into the kitchen and lickety split put on her chef's apron.

"Mummy, Mummy, QUICK," yelled Isabel. "Put on your apron!"

So her Mummy put on her apron too. And the two of them started to sing, "Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY! Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY!"

And then Isabel sang "Biscabo, bisgaba, bisgabababa...HEY! Biscaba, miscaba, giscamiscabata...HEY!"

Well, by this time, the flour was rolled out into a big, big circle of pizza crust. But now, it had to be flipped and tossed.

And the two of them started to sing, "Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY! Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY!"

And then Isabel sang "Biscabo, bisgaba, bisgabababa...HEY! Biscaba, miscaba, giscamiscabata...HEY!"

They flipped, plipped, and nipped the pizza crust and put it onto a pan. Then Isabel spooned pizza sauce all over the crust. Then her Mummy AND Isabel plopped tons of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce.

With that, they were ready to put it in the oven. While the pizza was baking, Isabel set the table ALL by herself, singing, "Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY! Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY!"

And then her Mummy sang "Biscabo, bisgaba, bisgabababa...HEY! Biscaba, miscaba, giscamiscabata...HEY!"

Finally, finally, the pizza was ready. Isabel's Mummy took the pizza out of the oven, cut it into big slices and put them on the table. They waited a few minutes for the pizza to cool down, but while they were waiting, Isabel was SO excited that she kept jumping up and down.

The pizza was cool. Isabel sat down and took a big, big bite.

"BLEEEAAAAHHH!" groaned Isabel as she spat the pizza back out onto her plate.

Her Mummy looked at her in amazement and a little bit of horror!

"Isabel? You told me you LOVE pizza."

Isabel began to cry. "I guess I only THOUGHT I loved pizza. I HATE it!!!!"

Her Mummy gave her a hug and began to laugh. "Come on," she said. "Let's go make a tortilla grilled cheese sandwich. We'll put a little ketchup on it and call it Isabel's pizza. What do you think about that?"

"Great," stated Isabel. And they headed back to the kitchen.

And Isabel and her Mummy started to sing, "Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY! Ya ta da ta, ya ta da ta, ya da da ta ta TA....HEY!"

And then Isabel sang "Biscabo, bisgaba, bisgabababa...HEY! Biscaba, miscaba, giscamiscabata...HEY!"

Monster Bubbles

Tonight, for some reason, Isabel was afraid to be alone in the dark. She was worried about Monsters. She knows that there are no such things as Monsters...but I guess, at 5 1/2, lying in the dark, Mummy's arm wrapped around her tiny little chest, seems like mighty protection from any lurking Monster types that may be lying around in wait. So we had to get rid of them...quick!

Once upon a time, a long time ago, a little girl named Isabel, lived in a pretty little house in California. It was called a bungalow because the house was all on one floor. There was no upstairs and there was no downstairs. No attic. No basement. Just floor and then the ground under the house.

So, for a little girl, like Isabel, the only place that any Monster could be, was in the closet or under the bed. There were no other hiding places at all.


In fact, once upon a time, when Isabel was really, really teeny (about 3 years old or so...) Mummy yelled out under all the beds in the house. She yelled, "There are NO Monsters allowed in my house. And I'm the Mummy. And this is my house. So IF there are any Monsters, this is your LAST chance to leave...OR ELSE!!"

With that, Isabel's Mummy THREW open the front door to the house and yelled out REALLY loudly, "LAST CHANCE, STINKY MONSTERS...I'M COUNTING TO THREE. BY THE TIME I SAY THREE, YOU'D BETTER ALL BE OUT THE DOOR!!"

Now Isabel KNEW this was serious business, because when her Mummy counted to THREE, you listened pretty darn fast...or ELSE! (or ELSE could mean no TV, no VIDEO and the worst...NO chocolate chip cookie.)

"ONE!" yelled Isabel's Mummy.

"TWO!" she yelled even louder. She gave Isabel a BIG smile. And together, Isabel and Mummy yelled, "THREEEEEEE!!!!" And then Mummy shut the door with a bang and a crash.

She smacked her hands together.

"There!" she said. "All gone."

And Isabel and Mummy climbed right into bed and had a great sleep. But now, Isabel was 5 1/2 and for some reason, tonight she was really, really afraid that a Monster would be in her room in the dark. So her Mummy told her the secret trick to REALLY, REALLY getting rid of Monsters even faster than counting to THREE.

"Isabel," Mummy said, "Why do you think Monsters are SO big? Why do you think they act SO scary?"

"I don't know, Mummy!" exclaimed Isabel, her eyes a little bit wide.

"Because, silly," laughed Mummy. "They're TICKLISH!!!!"

"No way!" exclaimed Isabel.

"YES, WAY!" said Mummy. "When a Monster is being big and scary, anyone, even a little kid can get rid of them like this!"

And she snapped her fingers. Isabel snapped her fingers too.

"When a Monster is trying to be scary, just tickle them in their armpit! They'll giggle...teehee! Then they turn into a bubble and pop! No more Monster."

Isabel looked at her Mummy in amazement. "They turn into a BUBBLE?"

"Mmm-hmm," said Mummy. "And then they POP!"

And two seconds later, Isabel was asleep. With a humongous smile on her face as she dreamed of tickling and popping Monsters.

The end.

Copyright Wendy Spiegel, Los Angeles, California 2005. All rights reserved.