"Come on, Elias!" I call. Noah is on my hip, because he's all about mama lately, which is just fine with me because he's the youngest of the three. I'm okay with keeping him a baby as long as I can, even if he's two years old now and no longer really a baby.
"Coming, coming! Ben, do you have pants on?" Elias yells. "Where's Mia?"
Our four-year-old stumbles out of his bedroom wearing a t-shirt, pausing in the doorway to shake his underwear-clad rear end at us. "See it? It's my BUTT!!"
"If you don't get in your room and put pants on your butt, you're not getting dessert tonight – and I stopped by the bakery for cupcakes, too," I tell him.
“No cupcakes? Bummer, dude," Elias comments. "Where is Mia?"
"I don't want to go to the play!" Mia wails. I set Noah down and he goes careening through the living room, followed by Elias. I find Mia sitting in a little reading nook that we put in under the stairway. We intended for the space to be for all three of the kids, but Ben and Noah don't seem to be wired to sit still for longer than two seconds, so Mia has claimed the spot as her own little hideaway.
"It's the kindergarten play, baby. You're one of the trees. It's a very important part." Mia is dressed the part of a tree– brown tights and a green long-sleeved tunic dress and felt leaves dangling from the ends of her arms and adorning the shirt. Sitting inside the reading nook in her homemade tree costume, she's the cutest thing I've ever seen.
"I know!" Mia squeals. "I'm not going to remember my dance."
The kindergarten is putting on their first performance of the year – I Love The Seasons. Mia is part of the 'spring' scene as one of four trees waving their tree limbs in the breeze.
"Adrianna and Caroline will be up there with you. Even if you forget your dance, they'll help you."
"But there will be so many people!" she wails.
"Come here." I extend my arms out and she crawls from the space and wraps her arms around my neck, just as Elias walks into the living room hand-in-hand with Noah.
"Is she okay?" he mouths.
I nod. "Stage fright," I whisper as he chases down Ben, who's undoubtedly getting into mischief in the five minutes he's been alone in his room putting on pants.
"Mommy, what if I'm shy when I go up there?"
"Everyone gets shy when they get on stage. You know, mommy used to get on stage all the time, and even after I did it a whole bunch of times, I still got butterflies in my stomach."
Mia sniffles her response. "You did?"
"Totally. But do you want to know what?”
"What?"
"Let's go in my room. I have something for you."
"Okay."
I pass Elias, who's carrying Noah in one hand and a washcloth covered in green paint in the other. "Ben painted his face."
"In the last two minutes?" I ask, incredulous. "Where did he get face paint?"
Elias shakes his head. "He went into the playroom and climbed up the shelf on the wall to pull them off the top."
"Ben! How many times have we told you not to climb the shelves?!" Thank goodness we bolted the wall shelf units to the wall when we got them, because apparently our son is part monkey.
"Five minutes, River," Elias reminds me. "If we don't leave soon, there won't be any parking."
"Got it." I rush off to our bedroom carrying Mia on my hip and deposit her in front of my vanity, which is pretty much guaranteed to stop her tears, since one of her favorite things to do is sit at my vanity and put on my makeup. Reaching into my jewelry box, I pull out one of my necklaces, a simple silver piece with a locket. "This is a magic necklace."
Mia cocks her head to the side and looks at me. "Really?"
"Promise. Mommy used to wear this when I went to auditions."
"What are auditions?"
"Before I got to act in movies, I'd have to go try out being in the movie first to see if the director liked me in the part."
"What's a director?"
"You know how Ms. Baker tells you guys where to go on stage and stuff?"
"Yeah."
"That's what a director does."
Mia sniffles her response.
"This necklace gives you bravery," I tell her, slipping it around her neck. "That's why I'm giving it to you to wear tonight."
"Trees don't wear necklaces."
"Let's tuck it into your costume. That way no one sees it. If you get nervous during the play, your dad and I will be right there in the audience and I'll be right there next to your heart."
"Okay."
I wrap my arms around her. "Now, in the car, I want you to show us all how you're going to shake your arms in the play."
"They're tree branches, mommy."
"Excuse me – shake your tree branches." I wrap my arms around her. "You're going to do great."
During the play, Elias reaches for my hand, his face beaming. "She's doing awesome,” he whispers.
"I knew she would."
He squeezes my hand. "I love you."