Happy 5th Birthday Gregorie Ann -- or the Story of the ET, I mean, Tipi

G:  Grandma, I'm kinda scared.
A:  You wanna sleep with me?
G:  I forgot my crown.
A:  That's okay.  You wanna sleep with my sheep?
G:  Okay.  Can I have the moose too?
A:  Okay.
G:  How about an apple.
A:  No, that's for the morning time.
G:  How about we have it in the nighttime.  As a snack?
A:  No.  In the morning time.
G:  Okay.  But what if I wake up in the middle of the night?
A:  If you need a snack you can have some.  But just go to sleep.  NOW!
G:  I can hear the traffic.  I can't sleep.  [there is NO traffic, btw]
A:  GREGORIE, go to sleep now.  [I'm waiting for her to say, "Go the fuck to sleep!"]
G:  This is MY ET.  You don't make the rules in my ET, I mean tipi.  It's my tipi.  My tummy is empty.
A:  That's not true.  You should have eaten more dinner.
G:  It's my ET.
A:  It doesn't have anything to do with the ET or the TE or the TP.
G:  I'm taking the basket outside.  I'll go eat with the coyotes.
A:  MOOOOOOMMMMMMM, can you make Gregorie go to sleep?

Uh, no.  Five years later, and NO, I can't.

Okay, that is not where I planned to start this post but well, as I was typing that is what I heard...

Rewind to yesterday.

I was cleaning the house, sort of delayed Spring cleaning.  Or 5th bithday party cleaning.  Or just cleaning because houses NEED cleaning.  And for once they weren't UNcleaning.  The house.  In fact, they were actually cleaning OUT the house.  Carrying all sorts of stuff to the driveway.  Where they had set up some sort of makeshift camp.  With lots of stuffies and blankets and of course doll clothes (though there were no dolls to wear them).

I had asked Mr. Bubble to fill a galvanized tub with some sand to make a play area for the party.  I meant on the back walk.  But he put it right there, in the driveway camp.  And the Bubbles had obliged by bringing all the sand toys, from the back walk.  The camp was becoming a tent city, without a tent.

Dinner came and went and bath too.  And they said, "We're going to sleep outside in the camp."  With no tent, I asked?

A:  Yes!  You and Daddy can sleep together.  In our bed!
G:  Yes!  It will be ROMANTIC!
A:  Make us a baby sister!

And out the door they went.  And 4 seconds later they were back.

A:  We need a tent.  There are raccoons out there.
G:  And coyotes.
A:  And it's cold!

So they slept with me.

Today I went to the Valley to pick up the bikes Gam bought them.  As I was driving home I passed a small shop I had passed a thousand times before -- right on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, just south of Ventura.  I'd noticed it before -- it sells custom and vintage baby furniture.  There is always something cute out front. Today there were adorable tipis out there.  Hmmm... I drove a block further and then I said, "I NEED one of those.  For Gregorie's birthday present.  Well, I at least need to find out how much they are..."  I quickly circled the block and parked as close as I could to the storefront (as the bikes were in back, spidy webbed in but not locked...).  I walked into a special space, a complete custom boutique.  The owner/designer was speaking in Spanish to a potential vendor about showing his wares.  They paused and I inquired about the tipis -- I got the new price, the price of the older display model, and the price of the new display model.  I considered, for about a second, and took the new display model.

When I got home the girls were at the camp.  I told Mr. Bubble about the bikes and the tipi.  And I asked him if he minded if I gave G her gift early -- I mean, there they were playing the exact game that inspired it.  Why waste a day of her tipi sitting in the bed of the truck????

She, they, instantly loved it.  And made plans for sleeping in it.  They further fortified camp.  Which further emptied the room I have to clean tomorrow...  They pulled out extra covers.  And clothes for tomorrow  (Sherri, the lemon skirts and green t's to match).   Then they packed a picnic basket of apples and eggs and cheese sticks and fruit leathers.  And a jar of dry oats.

And when the time came, they got flashlights and started out and....

they came back in.

But, with it being the Eve of G's 5th birthday and all... I couldn't let it go...

I thought, "This is a moment.  A moment, a turning point, that I can INSIST on to get them out of my bed."  Not that I really want them out.  I love them there.  Most of the time.  But they do not have a baby sister because... And G has really taken to this strange habit of trying to plant her toes somewhere between my knees and my kidneys.  So, yeah, out with you!

At first I just set up the ET, I mean TP.  And they started rolling the stuff back in.  And then I thought, "If I really want them to SLEEP here..."  Duh!  Roll out the bed from under mine!  Genius!  A perfect set up!

Who's doing the work here?

For real!

OK, I'll play too.

We're in!

Making funny faces!

AH, not in, but OUT!  Check out the oatmeal mess though...

G'night hamster!