Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

None of us knows what happens before we become conscious on this earth.  I will be the first to admit that I know very little about anything.  All of the girls at my house, however, like to believe that we come from the same place to which we will return when we leave this earth.  My little girls like to imagine that they were all friends in a different realm before they met on Earth as sisters.  We like to collectively tell the story of how the three of them looked down from heaven where they were probably seated on a cloud and surveyed life on the earth below. "Look," one of them says, "Those two are going to be our parents.  They seem nice."  The other two agree.  Emma, being the dominant, adventurous type, decides that she should be the firstborn child in our family.  We pause to reflect on what a stubborn, grouchy, and serious baby our beautiful Emma was, and she reminds me that she was obviously just missing the sisters that she left...

Once upon a time things were easier at my house.  Sure there were more diapers to change.  There were even more messes to clean up and there was lots of urgent "Feed Me Now, Mama" crying, but when we had two children under the age of two, everybody loved everybody ALL of the time.  (The littlest one didn't know she loved everybody, but I'm sure that love was in there.) Today things are less labor intensive but far more emotionally complicated.  Today those two girls are seven and nine.  They share the same space, hunger for the attention of the same haggard mama, and they look at life through the lenses of very different personalities.  (Don't forget the fact that we have also added another very spirited, cutie-pants baby sister to the equation.)  One moment Emma and Sophie may be lying on their tummies, side by side, coloring a beautiful picture together, and the next moment they are furiously screaming at each other.  This is foreign to me sin...

A great big sister will take you by the hand (or hoist you up onto her hip if the the terrain is too rough for your tender little feet) and lead you into the forest.  There she will show you all sorts of enchanting everyday miracles.  She will point out the hidden spots where fairies dance when no one is looking, and she will show you a humble, unassuming hole at the base of a tree which just might be the entrance to the underground lair of a tiny (and very kind) dragon.  She will encourage you to stomp your feet in the crispy, crinkling leaves.  Then she will help you find a stick that is the perfect size for grasping in your toddler-sized hand and casting magic spells on the fat black squirrels that scurry through the trees overhead.  That big sister will watch as you take each moment in through your wide-open eyes.  She will take pleasure in your glee and astonishment, and she will stay with you and show you "more, more, more" until Mom calls and says ...

Sophia got something very special for her birthday this year: A new doorknob. The previous hardware on her door was one of those fashionable French door handles, and that simply would not do.  You see, Lili has mastered the art of opening a French door handle, and therefore Sophia could frequently be heard screaming, "OH NO!!!" upon discovering what that little monster had done in her bedroom whilst she was away at school.  The logical request came about consequently... "Dad!!  Can I puh-lease have a new doorknob for my birthday so that I can keep Lili OUT?!" Sophia is obviously pleased with the alteration. Lili, on the other hand... Not so much. "If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child."  ~Linda Sunshine

Earlier today I walked into my lounge and found two very cross looking girls sitting on either side of our long sofa.  "What's wrong?"  I asked, and, of course, Emma chimed in: "We have put ourselves in a Time Out.  Sophie and I were being really mean to each other and shouting at each other, so we have to sit here in silence until that timer stops."  She indicated a three-minute hourglass style egg timer on the coffee table. This was all news to me.  Several minutes earlier when I had been in to check on them, they had set up the card table and were playing a very civilized game of Go Fish.  I completely missed the mean behavior and shouting, but I was extremely impressed by this unusual display of conflict resolution.  When the sand ran out, Sophie stood up and cooed, "Sorry, Emma." Emma was also sorry, and the two girls hugged and decided to play a different card game next. Was I in the Twilight Zone?  What happened in my living...

It's the summer holidays here, which explains why I have been absent from my blog a good bit. My time has been consumed by my constant companions, two little girls who have a love-hate relationship with each other. (Cue the Haynes Sisters singing..."Sisters, Sisters, There were never such devoted sisters...") The weather hasn't exactly been stellar either. Yesterday I read an article that said British weather forecasters were revising their predicitons of a "barbeque summer." Now, they say, it is likely to rain throughout July and August. George and I thought it was a bit funny that they were making predictions about what July's weather would be like during the last week of July. So... the girls and I have been trying to stay busy and entertained in the unpredictable British weather. We are often inside together all day. We are often getting in each other's space and on each other's nerves. (Don't forget I've got the hormones working on m...