Flowers

Every year (in lieu of grass) we get tons of purple flowers all over our front yard. This year we noticed these two yellow flowers out of nowhere.

Toy problems

Genevieve went to the dentist yesterday while Imogen was at school and a received a small gift from them in return for allowing them to stab needles in her mouth and drill holes into her teeth in a violent effort to fix them. Imogen doesn't deal well with this type of thing. We pick her up from school and she gets into the van and sees Genevieve with some insignificant trinket which becomes very significant during the rest of the afternoon while I listening to screaming "negotiations" concerning the balance between the virtues of sharing and the rights of ownership.

And I reflect once again that only children don't have this problem. Or children born eight years apart. My children are eighteen months apart, to the day. In some ways, this makes life easy. They like all the same toys. They borrow each other's clothes. Or, at least, Genevieve borrows Imogen's clothes. Which is always good for a laugh.

But on the other hand, they like all the same toys. Which means they argue over all the same toys. And while they might, on occasion, play nicely with each other, fights are frequent and passionate. It doesn't help that Genevieve doesn't believe in solving any problem calmly. At the first sign of a disagreement, her eyes fill up and her voice gets all squeaky.

Yesterday, in the car, while Imogen was eyeballing Genevieve's new toy, she said, "Can I have a turn with it?

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a yoyo," Imogen said.

"No, it's not," Genevieve said.

"Yes, it is," Imogen said.

"What is it then?" I asked.

"I don't know," Genevieve said.

I glanced over my shoulder. "It's a yoyo," I said. When we got home, I demonstrated how to use it, then carefully put the loop of the string over her finger and the yoyo in her hand. She let go and it clunked onto the floor. The string was too long. But she took it to school for show and tell today.

Over dramatic

If Imogen had her way, all the pictures that I took of her would be of her standing up straight, smiling right into the camera. I've had the hardest time convincing her that this is very boring. But this time she finally seemed to get it and tried to be dramatic and pouty for me.

Mix match day

Today was mix match day at the girls' school. They get to go in clothes that don't match.

Haircut

Before.

And after.

Genevieve's flower and excess of knowledge

Today, as Genevieve got into the van at pick up time from school, she handed me a flower she had made. She said, "My flower has a realistic stem." Only she pronounced it "wee-alistic". I examined the flower. Imagine my surprise to find that it was an exact replica of that type of flower (whose name escapes me at the moment) that has a stem that is exactly like a neon yellow pipe cleaner. I was suitably impressed.

Yesterday Genevieve told me that her teacher sang the "ears hang low" song. You know... "do your ears hang low, do they wobble too and fro, can you tie 'em in a knot, can you tie 'em in a bow..." etc. Anyway, she was upset because she already knew the song. Imogen had taught it to her. Now, Genevieve pretty much knows just about everything she knows because of Imogen. I've taught her nothing, mostly because by the time it's time for her to learn it, she's already picked it up.

Now, here she is saying that Imogen should avoid mentioning anything that Genevieve may learn in the future at school so that Genevieve can learn it from her teachers instead of her sister. This is so wildly misguided that I didn't even bother arguing about it.

I just said, "Even if I could get Imogen to stop telling you things... I wouldn't."

Renting Books

Libraries are a wonderful invention. However, there are some people who should never be given a library card.

I love books. I adore books. I read a lot, or I do when I'm not in school, and I miss reading while I am in school. I like to own books. So it is my preference to buy books. I like Barnes and Noble and I like Borders. I still haven't found a good used bookstore, but I haven't looked very hard. I keep saying that I'll go on a quest for one some weekend but I haven't gotten around to it. I'm busy.

There is, however, a library very close to my home. Unfortunately, I'm reeeally disorganized when it comes to library books. The girls and I will bring home a stack of books, some of which get read, the rest of which get lost. They get found again, and put in a neat stack to be returned. The stack get buried under laundry or backpacks or an avalanche of junk mail. Or the stack of books gets accidentally put on a bookshelf and mixed in with normal books. Pretty soon the library has sent me a bill for the books and really, I don't want to pay $150 for these books because if I wanted them I would order them from amazon.com or something. Plus, I don't think a lot of my kids' taste in books. Genevieve picks out a book because it has a cool looking tiger on the front and it's some idiotic story about cave people. I don't love books indiscriminately.

Really, I would rather go hang out at Barnes and Noble. I can buy each of the girls a book for around four or seven dollars. It's cheaper in the end than the late fees.

Motivated

After trying various remedies to get Imogen to stop biting her nails, I gave up. They're her fingers.

But then, on a whim, I said, "If you let all of your nails grow out, I'll give you five dollars." One thing Imogen is fairly motivated by, is money. Her nails are almost all grown out, except for one pinky nail that kept getting chewed on. I'm making her grow out all ten, because I figure... I'm paying for it, so I get to make the rules. Besides, the longer she resisting chewing, the more likely the habit will be broken. And if I can break her of chewing her nails till they bleed, it's five dollars well spent.

Inadequacies

In the car, I'm a captive audience. The girls know they can talk to me and I can't run away.

So today, Imogen was in hypochondriac mode trying to describe (at length) something that was hurting her. "It's not my lungs, it more like... by my heart... right here, but it's not my heart. It's my soul. Yeah, my soul hurts."

"What?" I said.

"My soul hurts," she repeated. "Right here."

I glanced in the rear view mirror to get an idea of where one's soul is located. I didn't know what to say. I can't tell her that the soul isn't real, nor can I tell her exactly what or where it is.

"Your soul is like... your spirit. It makes you alive..." I said. Or is it a heart that pumps blood and a brain firing off it's neurons or neutrons or whatever that makes you alive? An insect is alive. Does an insect have a soul? I continued to stumble through an explanation but thankfully she got distracted and I dropped it quickly, not wanting to have this conversation. How do you quantify the unquantifiable to a child who wants to quantify everything.

Recently Imogen asked how I knew something (that dentists turn into fire breathing dragons when you aren't in the room... but that's another story) and I told her I read it in the big instruction book that they give you when you have a baby.

"Some people don't have children," she pointed out.

"That's true," I said.

"So they don't know about that?" she asked.

"That's right," I said.

I wish I really did have an instruction book.