I know all parents think their kids are the smartest kids ever to walk the earth, so of course Christine and I believe that about ours. We even think we have some good reasons for believing it, like Eve the wonder three-year-old who is already reading somewhere beyond the first grade level, or
Laine already curious about the origin of the Roman alphabet and regularly asking deep probing questions into the nature of reality. James we're still not sure on, he mostly just walks around grunting, and most of the time when I ask him to point to his nose he puts his finger in his ear, but two out of three isn't too bad.
So why do these girls of our that we so often think are so bright still do such colossally stupid things?
Eve, on the one year anniversary of
Laine getting in the biggest trouble of her life for painting up our old house with Mom's nail polish, cleverly decides that it's her turn to do the same and gives our master bathroom a full service pedicure, including toilets, mirrors, and air vent covers.
Laine's mouth runs 24-7 with no end in sight to the constant stream of questions, trivia, and nonsense. One evening last week, after a particularly hard day at work I was in the downstairs play room blowing off some steam playing a game on the computer.
Laine, following her usual pattern, pulled up to the chair next to me and started up a conversation. I say conversation, but what I really mean is she started talking in my general direction and only paused once every 5 minutes or so ask a random question about geography or why the color red is called red. After about half an hour of this I was done. I was ready for some quiet time. I gently explained to her that I was very tired from working and I would like to have just a few minutes of quiet.
About ten seconds later the mouth started up again.
I explained to her a with a little less subtlety that it was time for daddy to have some quiet time and I really really needed her to let daddy have quiet for about five minutes.
About ten seconds later the mouth started up again.
I explained to her rather forcefully that if she couldn't be quiet for five minutes there would be very big trouble.
About ten seconds later the mouth started up again.
I'd had it. I was through. A huge ham fist slammed down on the desk with a resounding bang and the fierce roar of Dad was heard throughout the house. Little tears welled up in
Laine's innocent eyes and she
whimpered out, "I just wanted to talk to you Daddy." Well what's a dad supposed to do with a response like that? I held her on my lap and consoled her and explained to her that I loved talking with her but that I had had a very hard day at work and I needed some peace and quiet. She nodded understanding and settled down next to me in companionable silence.
About ten seconds later the mouth started up again.
To my credit I did not kill her.
I would really like to think that our girls are brilliant, but I'm starting to wonder if that's just standard wishful parent thinking. The evidence against it just keeps piling up almost as fast as the toys on the living room floor.
James is a good boy at bedtime (and at pretty much all times). He doesn't like to nap, so by the end of the day he's exhausted. Sometimes he'll whimper for a minute while Chris carries him up the stairs, but usually he waves good night, folds his hands for a little prayer, and zonks out. Tonight he fell asleep with his Sunday shirt on.
The girls are a whole nother story. They will do annnyyyything to get to stay up later and play. If you give them an inch, they'll take a mile, which is why Chris has always been the boss of the bedtime. He rules with a firm hand, and this results in slightly less craziness. He usually lets them read a little bit before bed as long as they brush their teeth in a timely manner. They really like this, but it can get out of hand. Lately, they've been sleeping in the basement guest bedroom to beat the heat, and the other night, Chris heard a horrible sound like a flock of seagulls gone mad. He goes to check it out and the girls had invented a game called "Scream Reading." Instead of reading the words in a normal voice, yup you guessed it, you scream them while the other child has a fit of giggles.
Oh, I almost forgot I have some sad news. Laine's two front bottom teeth are loose!!! =*( I'm so sad. I thought I had at least another year before she started losing teeth and looking all goobery. I'm too young to be a tooth fairy! I'm going to take a lot of pictures this week so that we can remember Laine with all her little baby teeth. 
Hehe ha Dadadadadadadadadadadada. Arghooooooo. Dada! *smile*
Our Dad is the best dad in the world. He's always taking us on really fun outings, like to Costco or Trader Joe's where we get free balloons simply for having the cutest dad ever. Daddy is also the world's best cook. And when dad cooks, it's always FUN! Like for example, today for a special treat, Daddy made me a bunny jello jiggler.
And here's 
