The Best of P&TY: It Had to Be Lu
We still have this chair, so if you ever come over for dinner, don’t lean back too far. We also still have Lu. So if you ever come over for dinner, be ready for some entertainment.
Originally published: January 6, 2011
I’ve always called Lulu “Trouble.” As in, “Here comes Trouble.” Or “What’d Trouble do now?” My mother hates it. She thinks I’ll give her a complex. But what about me?
I bought wrinkle cream this week. I blame it on the trampoline sprained ankles.
The peanut butter-coated couch cushions.
The hummus hand lotion.
The child-sized mug of hot chocolate she finds a way to take a bath in.
The sleepwalking that ends with her breaking into her chocolate advent calendar at 3 am.
The flight of stairs that I have to climb twice because I held her hand the first time she went down and she wants to do it herself.
Trouble.
Tonight Trouble took her name to a whole new level.
We were just finishing up a delicious quinoa pizza casserole. You’ll get the recipe when the sawdust clears. Lulu had been wiggling and putting handful after handful of toppings on her bowl of casserole that she never intended to eat. She fidgeted around in her chair while Gigi was telling a story about how a girl in her class brought a Slim Jim for snack time, when suddenly Lu quite calmly said, “Oh no, my leg is stuck!”
Pea Daddy gave a quick pull, I gave a quick push, and it suddenly became very clear that her leg was not going to come out. Instinctually, I turned to Pea Daddy and said, “You have to get the saw.”
As Pea Daddy went to the garage, I tried to explain to Lulu that we were just going to cut the dowel and slip her leg out and she would be just fine. Pea Daddy returned, saw in hand and approached the chair.
And then the screaming started.
Ear-piercing, blood curdling screaming, as Lulu sincerely believed that Pea Daddy was going to in fact saw her leg off. And Gigi was no help. She started shoving Pea Daddy’s arm away with one hand and pulling desperately at the chair with her other hand saying, “No, Daddy, no!”
Pea Daddy went back to the garage and quickly came back with a large set of yard clippers and before anyone knew what had happened, he’d ripped the dowel completely from the chair and Lu was free.
As Lu fell into my arms crying hysterically after the scare of her life, Gigi grabbed the dowel, ran to the living room and started using it as a dancing cane, tapping and singing, “Hello, my baby, hello, my darling, hello, my ragtime gaaaaaal!”
I feel a bit guilty because my uncontrollable laughter at Gigi wasn’t comforting Lulu in the least. She continued to sob as I hugged her, laughed and hugged her some more.
And then I told Pea Daddy to take her for ice cream.
Trouble.
I remember this! Poor Lulu, but ice cream sure makes a girl feel better.
oh lulu, such a menace. jk. I think i did that 2-3x growing up. Anything for dad to take me for ice cream. hehe.
haha oh no!! peanut in the ear, leg in a chair…. it did have to be Lu!!
she is precious!
I can’t believe it’s been a year. I remember that leg stuck in chair photo like it was yesterday!
That is the cutest trouble I have ever seen, lol.
I am HOWLING with laughter and it is 5:52 am. I’m pretty sure my fiance thinks I’m insane.
I also distinctly remember getting my leg stuck in a chair when I was little and my mom getting out the soap. Less terrifying than the saw!
I am crying. With laughter – not at poor Lulu and the chair situation, but at Gigi deciding to use chair dowel as a dancing cane … and that SONG! THAT was a funny story despite the few moments of terror.
You made my morning start with a really good laugh!
Sometimes I feel like that situation is my day to day life! Always something going on. Infact we have those same chairs and both of my kids have got arms and legs stuck multiple times. We’ve never had to cut anything off but it always ends up a traumatic experience. Shouldn’t there be a recall on those so I can get a new dining room set
oh my gosh, this story just made me laugh out loud! what a hilarious memory!
So cute and funny! At least she keeps you guessing what will happen next. Sounds like it’s never a dull moment in the Pea Family!
LOL – I forgot the bit about Gigi grabbing the dowel and doing a little soft shoe and singing with the dowel!!
HAHHAHA love this. Been there, done that
Okay thw hole dancing cane thing is pretty darn funny. Poor Lulu. I just bought some wrinkle cream too. Hope you’re having fun!!!!!
I can’t remember if I did that as a kid, but it seems to be something many people do at least once. Why is it so darn easy to get in, but impossible to get out?
The rule of parenting is that you will have at least one child get at least one body part stuck somewhere at least once. My stepson once got his head stuck between the rails of the stair way. We slicked him up with vaseline and forced him back out. Let’s just say I’ve been using wrinkle cream for years…
I’m pretty sure I have that exact same picture of myself as a kid. I distinctly remember the reaction I used to get out of my sisters when I did this to myself…it was worth every sticky part!
HAHA is that how lulu usually eats ice cream??
OMG, I laughed so hard thinking about Gigi dancing with the chair dowel…thanks for the laugh today Mama Pea!
You write so, so well! I was dying laughing reading this.
I remember getting my head stuck in a bannister as a little kid. My parents told me that if it had gone in, it had to be able to come out. I cried and squeezed my head back through, but I probably should attribute any memory failures to my brain being squeezed in as a young child.
No worse then my 3 yr old son getting his head stuck in a wooden banister….oh wow….you think you would learn after the first child, if not the second child would def teach you a lesson. By the third, well its your own damn fault! I kick myself everyday!
I love the chair photo picture lol…It reminds of when my brother stuck his head in our staircase banister when we were kids and he got it stuck. My mom ended up having to call the fire department to saw him out of it haha
Ohhh the good times being a kid, I miss it!!
This is so cute! I have (too many?) memories of me and my sisters getting our heads caught in a banister. Why do kids like sticking their bodies through things?!
My younger brother so did this — but it was his HEAD that got stuck in the stair railing. He was seriously stuck and screaming for like 2 hours. (My parents are cheap and refused to harm the stair railing to cut him out! They didn’t want to pay for a replacement rail.) Somehow, after having all sorts of things (soap, butter) poured on his head, my parents were finally able to squeeze his head out. Thankfully, there don’t seem to be any long-term consequences from this as it was about 20 years ago =P
Aww! sometimes you can’t help but crack up at the most inopportune moments. I can’t imagine what Lulu was thinking when her dad came in with the saw!
This happened a year ago?! Holy moly, time flies! Yet I haven’t lost any interest in your blog since, keep it up Peas! Have fun on vaca
It is not in the best interest of winding down and getting ready to head into blissful slumber to be calmly reading your nutritious post, and . . .
scroll down to the photo of Lu with her leg stuck in the chair.
i literally burst out laughing – I know, I know you weren’t laughing at the time – as I saw that tinee leg hanging off the back of the chiar. I continued to laugh as I read – dancing in the living rooom with the slat?? Totally hilarial!
It’s a good darn thing you have such a great sense of humor – and – the ability to laugh at yourself.
I needed that – thank you – and please thank Trouble for me, too.
Oh my gosh. That is hilarious. Poor little Lulu. But I would have had trouble not hysterically laughing at Gigi too. She is such a ham!
OMG! this must be a second child thing. This made me crack up!!!
One of those insane parenting moments that now you can look back and laugh. She is the cutest!!!
ha ha, that SAME thing happened to me when I was her age – saw and all! I’m 31 and my parents still have the chair. My dad still reminds me about it more times than I’d like.
Hahaha, you had me laughing out loud to myself. Which I should know is simply a side effect of reading your blog, but I still think I sound a bit crazy!
I’m glad everyone was okay, and hope you have a wonderful time in Hawaii!
~Emily~
Oh my! What a saga – glad she was OK! Enjoy the trip
My first time to your website site. Your girls are adorable and your recipes look wonderful and inspiring. Thanks for sharing your secrets. I love the tofu dippers.
We call our little guy ‘Varmint’
bahaha!! This is AWESOME
I;m just giggling at your dancing ragtime gaaaaal 
Thanks for the chuckle … I, too, have a Trouble and spend many days going down stairs twice! (as well as opening/closing doors twice, etc).
My Trouble has a big sis too … I could see her doing just what Gigi did … protecting Trouble. So funny.