Going Postal*

Came up with a line today that will become a parenting staple for me:

"Just take everything you know you're not supposed to do, and don't do it."

Come to think of it, I don't know why this should be limited to parenting.

Had a good day today. Got ahead on housework, got some stuff mailed, fed the kids very ripe/soft/sweet bananas while we waited for our pizza, and hit the park. They've both gained serious levels in playground skills over the spring; Grace can climb nearly to the top of the swing (by the "legs" that anchor the swingset to the ground) and Eve can climb almost anything, and can actually get out of the little-kid swings by herself through shear gripping power.

Post office was fun. Grace met a little boy about her age, and started telling him stories about her life. "One time, I was saying to Eve -- this is Eve -- 'Do you love Mommy?' And she said..." He responded to the amusing ending with guffaws that sounded a bit like he might have been sucking up to the pretty girl with the ponytail, but who knows; she's got a knack for delivery. She was telling another story when, in typical 5-year-old manner, the boy got distracted and started commenting on something else; she waited for a moment and broke in, "Excuse me... excuse me? Can I finish this?"

Eve did some more scary-genius-looking things again. They were watching Beauty and the Beast clips on YouTube (Netflix doesn't have it, for some reason) for awhile this morning. Well, while at the library, Eve goes into the stacks at the children's section -- with no help from anyone -- and comes back with... Beauty and the Beast. NOT the Disney version; the artwork was completely different (Mercer Meyer, in fact). She's always done these things, just rarely enough to be almost certainly coincidence, but just regularly enough to creep people out. (Like saying at two weeks old something that sounded exactly like "hellll-lo!" -- twice. Like at 7 months, after someone calls "Eve!" looking up with a grin and saying "What?!" -- only once. Freaky stuff.)

At home, leftover bananas, now too soft from travel to be enjoyed on their own, got mashed into banana-cornmeal pudding -- which did not go over well with Grace, unfortunately. Ah, well, I kinda liked it, and Eve will eat almost anything.

Got Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men out of the library; this seriously needs to be made into a movie. Grace is going to love it, I think -- and if she doesn't, hell with her, I will, and I know Erin will when I'm done.

* Going Postal was a recent Pratchett novel. And I went to the post office. So, it's like a double entendre, see? Yes, I thought you'd appreciate it.