Mare and Ren are each getting one activity this summer. Mare picked ballet right off. Ren did, too.
“I don’t think you really like ballet, Doodle,” I said.
“I DO!” she said.
“Really? — I think you like it because Sissy likes it. But I’m not sure you actually enjoy the class much. […]
We’re in the Loser Cruiser hauling to Marley’s horseback riding party. We’re late. I’ve chucked Mare a pair of jodphurs and boots and she is trying to squeeze into them around her dress with her seatbelt on.
“I can’t … I can’t …” — and here it comes. A Meltdown.
My shoulders are […]
I should have gotten the iPod a long time ago.
I have always loved music. The car radio blasts, and whenever I cook, the small boombox propped in the living room window serenades me. But for the last several years I’ve been reliant on local radio stations. My CD collection is in heavy black […]
Sunbeam is back from vacay. The girls lost their minds when she came in the door, covered her in loves, and within minutes Mare was making art, Doodle was naked, Sunbeam was supervising, and all was well with the world.
And then this:
“Sunbeam? Could you please get me da scissors?”
“Oh, such nice manners, Ren. […]
And yes, she wore the footie pajamas to the hairdressers.
“I wanted it to be stylish. Like a cow,” she says, blinking piercing blue eyes at me.
“Like a cow?” I repeat stupidly.
Ren had cut the front and sides short. Not bald, but short. She had bangs. I cried. I think it was the hormones.
So I waited until I was calmer […]
“Ren — what are you wearing?”
“I want to!”
“It’s your sister’s nightgown.”
“I like it!”
“Fine. But you must wear underwear.”
“Noooo … I don’t really feel like it.”
“YOUMUSTWEARUNDERWEAR.”
“No, thanks.”
“Tights then.”
“The ones with sparkles.”
“Fine.”
She came home from school with a large rubber band holdng up the excess fabric on the nightgown. I can only hope that today […]
“Mare, let’s go.” I am waiting by the door for her. She comes out in her polka-dot skirt, pink sweater, and two caps — one for the Celtics, one for the Bruins.
“Greta can wear the one she wants,” she says. “And I’m bringing my book and my toothbrush … do I need […]
“My Teacher says I can’t come in tomorrow,” Ren said when she climbed into the Looser Cruiser yesterday.
I panicked. The upper-respiratory infection that Teacher likely was referencing has been going around this family for the last month. Watching movies all day has lost its charm, and I am so tired of cleaning up the house […]
“Hey, don’t you think your daughter is cold?”
We’re walking into the market. Doodle is happily dressed in sister’s dress (three sizes too big and backward) a pink mop cap (hand-me-down from Cousin Raina) and red lady bug rainboots.
She is not wearing a coat.
“Don’t you think she’s cold?” the man asks. […]
