Party Girl

Maria slept over at her friend’s house last night.  Her friend turned seven and had Maria and two other girls over for a birthday party/sleepover.  She wrapped her friend’s presents (two barbies) in Christmas paper (I never buy wrapping paper besides Christmas time); signed her card, and found a big party bag to place all of the goodies.  These are the times that I think she could make it by herself in her own apartment better than most 20 year olds.  When I told her she could call me or dad if she got scared, she looked at me with an exhausted look.  “Mom, pleease!”  And sure enough, Jon and I never heard a peep from her until we picked her up.  She had gotten a manicure, perfume, and made up with her girlfriends. 

Meanwhile, Jon and I had chilled with little Mario all night.  He wanted to play on my iPhone or ipad all night long.  He is completely and totally addicted to all things electronic.  He could sit on the floor, legs crossed, head cocked downward to see the screen, and tap on the iPad all day long.  He is mesmerized by whatever he is playing.  You could call his name ten times and he still doesn’t hear you.  Scary stuff.  Was I like that when I played PacMan on Atari?  He gets away with murder when Maria is gone because Jon and I let him stay up while we watch a show or read.  He plays the iPad the entire time.  I figure he is in school all week with no electronics so why not let him live it up on the weekends. 

Mario and his iPad

In any case, after we make him turn off the electronics, I read to him for at least 20 minutes.  He enjoys that time with me, which is good. At least he is not crying for more electronics or covering his ears yelling “I’m not listening!”, which is how he reacts anymore when he gets mad at you (learned behavior from his sister, I believe). And he understands the books we read – he can tell me the main idea of the story every time.  So, his fixation with electronics doesn’t concern me… yet.  

We picked up Maria from her friend’s house this afternoon and visited our old neighbors, Doris and Kim.  We had not visited them since we moved in our new house (we are so bad that way).  They always welcome us into their house, and the kids love them.  They hung out with Kim outside while we talked to Doris.  Kim does anything they want; today she let Maria act like she was driving her car and let Mario toss a ball to Gunther (their dachshund). 

As soon as we left and walked in our door, Maria asked “when am I going to Alana’s house”  My brother-in-law invited her to spend the night tonight through Monday since they are going to watch Maria on Monday while Jon and I work.  Jon and I are chopped liver anymore.  The girl likes to get her party on.  We packed her up and Jon took her over.  She’s gone until Monday. 

Mario, meanwhile, loves having his sister gone for a day or two (any longer and he misses her like crazy).  He gets Jon and me all to himself.  I play baseball with him (he has got an arm on him and can hit pretty good, too).  I take him for a bike ride and he is in the lead the entire time (when Maria goes with us, she always gets in the lead).  We go to the library and he gets all my attention while he plays his computer games (usually I read to Maria while he plays).  We play Wii  table tennis and he kicks my butt!  We play Hi Ho Cherry-O, and he refuses to stop playing until he wins a game.  No, he’s not competitive at all…. 

Jon and Mario  play hunting games on the iPad.  Mario yells “Dad, I shot the bear right in the heart!”  Jon gives him the rock and then takes a turn.  Mario watches in awe.  They are hilarious together.  I think Mario will be supplying the meat for the family in no time.  Meanwhile, Maria will be busy having sleepovers and partying it up til the cows come home.