of Dyeing and children

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at a dyeing class. I'm very happy with what I learned and the results, and I fully intend to do more--once I have a few extra $$ to buy dye. I wrote about it on the other blog.

Then, around supper time, Amber phoned to ask if we could watch the children for a couple of hours, while she and Darren went to a movie. Now, both David and I were tired, but we said yes because we have worked out a bit of a system--divide and conquer. So he watched the little one in the living room, and I took Jessica downstairs to play with beads. This lasted an hour, and then we found a painting kit I had bought on a sale rack, so we played some more for over an hour. When we were done I found black paint on Jessica's beige corduroy trousers. Then we discovered that she had "forgotten" to put on any panties, and that her Mom had not packed any extra clothes for Jess, only for the little one. So she found a pair of Samantha's trousers that fit her like cycling shorts, and we got the trousers washed and in the dryer. This meant two full hours when she wasn't driven to annoy her sister and cause a screaming match. Then I ended up with both of them in the basement, curled up in the chairs under afghans watching Tree House. I was running up and down stairs with glasses of milk and bread and butter ( David had baked bread this week) Have you ever watched Tree House? Probably not. It was interesting! Far more to me than the children. But--you should see the basement!

Once the parents arrived Darren told me that Samantha has spoken to him in , more or less, a full sentence over the past few days. He was pissed as she had asked him a question, but refused to repeat it for Amber, so Amber still doesn't believe she spoke. I believe it because that is exactly what Amber did at about the same age, or maybe just a little older--suddenly started to speak in full sentences. I think probably Samantha has trained everyone in the family to look after her needs so well, that unless she has a question, there is no need for her to speak. There's no question who rules the roost in that house!