1m2aSandbox

You know I’m one of the biggest
anti-gadgets people out there, right? You know I roll my eyes when
Brian looks at our television that was old twenty years ago and
talks about getting a new one, and I say, “But this one works
just fine!” You know that, right?


Ok, good. Because I’m about to tell you about an electronics
website and I don’t want you to think I’m that kind of
girl.

Every afternoon, Maddie and Mommy and Cora
pile into Maddie’s bed and read books together as part of our
naptime routine. After a few books and some prayers, Cora and I
leave Maddie to go to sleep and proceed to Cora’s room to
finish her own nap routine. Usually, Cora’s sleepy enough by
that time that she wants me to carry her to her own room.


Yesterday, though, Cora wanted to walk so she could shut
Maddie’s door, and as she and I crept out of Maddie’s
room Cora turned around to a drowsy Maddie and said, “Wuv
you, Maddie!”


Now, this is part of Maddie’s sleep routine –
whoever’s leaving the room calls out, “I love
you!” and Maddie says “I love you!” back. But
Cora’s never said it before, and you could tell it delighted
Maddie, who sang out, “I love you too, my little
sister!”

Maddie’s got a responsibility chart
that she fills in at the end of the day: for everything she
accomplishes she gets to put a magnet in the space. Her
responsibilities include a few concrete things like clearing the
table, but are mostly intangibles like no hitting, no whining,
being obedient, and no teasing. Most days she loses one or two
magnets, but a few days out of the week she’ll have a perfect
day.


Saturday was one such day, and she came running into Cora’s
room where I was reading to Cora for bedtime. “Mommy!”
she shrieked, coming to the chair, “I had a perfect
day!”


“That’s fantastic!” I cried, “Give me a big
hug!” And I leaned down to hug Maddie.


Right as Maddie jumped up to hug me, thereby driving her skull into
my nose.

Summer’s here again, and we’re
back to hot-weather pursuits, namely, swimming. And with the return
of chlorine and pool toys comes Maddie’s good friend, Fear of
Putting the Face in the Water.


If you’ve been with me for a year or more, you know that last
year we ended up putting Maddie in private swim lessons most of the
summer; the group thing didn’t work out when Maddie’s
grave concerns with the water took up most of the
instructor’s time. By the end of the season Maddie was
happily jumping into the pool – as long as Daddy was there to
catch her and make sure her face didn’t go under water.

I’m afraid Cora’s turning into
a little biter – though pretty much limiting her culinary
excursions to her sister. Whenever cornered or frustrated, she
turns to biting to try to get Maddie out of her face, and sometimes
she actually succeeds.


Over the past year we’ve started to get a handle on it,
partly because she’s learning to deal with her frustration in
more productive ways, and partly because the girls are learning to
compromise, to give and take more graciously, thus avoiding the
“need” for biting. But just the other night Maddie took
a train away from Cora and refused to give it back, and after a few
tense seconds of both sets of hands trying to hold onto it, Cora
leaned in with a red rage and bit Maddie – hard – on
the stomach.

We did it! We survived Take Your Daughters
To Work Day!


Mostly.


So I took a couple (very) large bags of toys to the studio, along
with lunches, snacks, and the girls’ activity boxes replete
with crayons and stickers and paper. And how much of that did we
use?


Well, at least they ate the lunches.

I’ve been teaching for a local
theatre camp this summer, and the girls have had a fine time
playing with Gamma a couple mornings a week. Unfortunately for them
(and me), Gamma’s starting her own summer teaching schedule
today. And I’ve exhausted my short list of
babysitters/neighbors that Cora approves of and is (reluctantly)
willing to be left with at my house. Which leaves me with one
option:


It’s Take Your Daughters To Work Week at my household.