Coming of (r)Age

Our children grow up in all different quirky and wonderful ways. Some milestones we embrace warmly -- the first steps, the first lost tooth, the first crush. Others we don't even like to touch with a ten-foot pole. Like, for instance, make-up.

This morning I was reminded it was picture day at school. No problem, I thought. I just did laundry yesterday and most of it was even folded. So everyone had good clean clothes to wear. All done, right? Wrong! Okay, Milo was easy: throw clothes at him and make it a race to see how fast he can get dressed. No different from any other morning. I suspect the same will be true when Willa goes to Kindergarten after lunch. However, not only did I have to send Neva back to change out of the seasonally inappropriate outfit she had first picked out, but I had to deal with the thorn in every "tween" mother's side: make-up.

She came to the kitchen looking like she had Fifth Disease, cheeks as red as beets. I did my best to gently tell her that you need to learn how to apply make-up before you can wear it and to please go clean up. I also did my best to gently tell her that I didn't think it was either appropriate or necessary for 10-year-olds to wear make up other than for play.

After she stormed from room to room, yelling about the likelihood that I'd never let her wear make-up, that she was going to look ugly in her picture just like every year, how I was the worst mother ever, and she wasn't even going to school anymore, the only thing I could do was pull her into my arms and love her. She cried. She yelled. She hurled insults. But we could discuss it all later, when everyone's calmer.

Sometimes you just need to hold your kid. And your tongue!

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Cookie Capers ...

We have a rule in our house: no sweets or treats until you've had a piece of fruit or a vegetable. For the most part the kids are good about following this rule, even to the point of letting their friends know when they come over. Going to a friend's house, on the other, is different entirely. They still know my rule, but if another parent doesn't care, my kids certainly aren't going to insist on a piece of broccoli before accepting a cookie. Would you?!

This morning, Willa was playing at her friend Marc's house. Marc's mom baked cookies with them and made macaroni for lunch. I picked Willa up after lunch to take her to school.

I just a call from Marc's mom. She was cleaning up after we left and noticed two cookies left on the plate of four she'd put out for Marc and Willa. She asked Marc if they'd only eaten one cookie each.

"No," Marc replied, "I had two. Willa didn't eat hers."

"Why not?"

"You told her she had to eat her apple first and she wasn't finished it when her mom came to the door."

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Back to School ...

We're half way through the second day of school and it is only now, as I sit here, that the house is finally quiet! Milo missed his first day of Grade 2 yesterday due to highly contagious pink eye. And Willa doesn't go to school in the mornings. But now that all three are gone, I think I can finally concentrate on work for more than 3 minutes at a time.

Working from home while all three of our children were home for the summer is challenging at the very least. While 7-year-old Milo kept himself occupied for long periods of time (if a very noisy time), our two girls seemed to be at a loss if they didn't have a playdate or an activity planned.

My youngest daughter, Willa, typically started asking if she could call a friend about 17 seconds after she'd finished eating her breakfast. It was like that every day for the 9 weeks of summer holiday. (No, really, I'm not kidding.) One day last week, I had to endure what seemed like hours of "who can I call now?" before she finally found a friend who was available to play that afternoon.

"Marc's coming over," she told her dad.

"Is that a good thing?" he asked.

"Yes! Cuz now I won't be following you and Mommy around all the time!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

A Story By Willa

One day there was a Dad walking in his garden. He was harvesting vegetables from his garden for his Granny. And then he went off and found a basket. And he found a big bad wolf in it. So he took the wolf out and put his food in. And then he went through the fireworks and he stayed for a little. When he was sitting down he found a ginormous toilet. [Here she snickers] So he sat on it.

Then he went off to the woods. And then he started walking again and found a college school. He went behind the college school and found a big ginormous tower. At the top there was a toilet. [more snickering] And he sat on it again. And then he started walking again.

At the end of the forest, he found his Granny's house. They were in the back. He went behind Granny's house and said, "They forgot about my birthday!"

When he sat on the toilet, they all jumped out and said, "Surprise! Happy birthday!" And they had a wonderful picnic birthday.

The End

Happy sweeping!

Willa Gunther, as told to Kathleen Gunther (Ed).,
Most Junior Writer in Residence, ContestHound.com