1 Mother 2 Another

Yesterday afternoon I picked the girls up
from school, then rushed to get Maddie ready for ballet and an
appointment afterwards. I ran out of the door with Maddie in tow
just a half an hour after the girls had gotten home from school,
with only a quick kiss in Cora’s direction as she settled in
for an afternoon with Grandma.


By the time I got home a few hours later, Cora had done her
homework and eaten dinner and I felt like I’d just missed the
whole afternoon with her. So I scarfed down a quick bite and said,
“Hey, Cora, want to go for a bike ride?”


A smile split her face and she screamed, “Yeah! Just you and
me!”

Well, I thought we were finished with
saying goodbyes this year, but apparently the year’s not over
yet.


At least this time, it’s not a person, but a place.


One of the reasons we bought our house was its close proximity to a
neighborhood park – two short blocks. I spent nearly every
day those first few years walking those two blocks at least once a
day. Cora learned how to, well, everything on that playground, and
for the past five years it’s been the girls’ go-to
spot. As they’ve gotten older we’ve gone from me
scampering over the equipment with the girls, to a posse of kids
running wild together as parents sit on the sidelines. Just a few
weeks ago we met up there for one last hangout with a friend who
was moving, and Maddie and her friends sequestered themselves in a
secluded spot to giggle and sing away from the ‘rents. When
Maddie was in school and Cora was still home, Cora and I would walk
over there nearly every day after dropping Maddie off, and play on
it, just the two of us. Cora would beg Daddy to head to the
playground on the weekend, and they’d go crazy for a couple
hours at a time.


But yesterday, it was torn down.

This weekend we were having a time of
rather intense cleaning: I’d allowed the girls to have
several “games” running at the same time, and nearly
every room in the house was overrun with toys and story set-ups.
I’d warned the girls ahead of time, and they knew they were
in for a good hour of nonstop cleaning up. They weren’t
grumbling, but I could see they also weren’t thrilled.


So I provided incentive to my youngest, who was working on the
downstairs portion.


“Listen, Cora, you’ve only got an hour before we need
to head out of here. If you can get all the clean-up done in time
– and done WELL – you may clean the downstairs
bathroom.”


“All RIGHT!” Cora yelled, and began moving at top
speed.


And then from upstairs floated, “No FAIR! Cora gets to clean
the bathroom! If I finish fast enough, can I clean the upstairs
bathroom?”


“Oh, I supposed,” I said.


Not kidding. This is what makes them happy.


Wanna borrow my kids for an afternoon?

Recently I spent a few quiet moments
downstairs one weekend afternoon, blissfully working away at
getting a headstart on the upcoming week. Daddy was taking a
well-earned nap, and as I plowed through the menu planning and
grocery list, I gradually became aware that I hadn’t heard
from the girls for a while.


At all.


Not one peep. Or outraged scream.


So I went upstairs to investigate, and found Cora’s door
closed. Peaceful murmurs could be heard behind it, but since I was
there I decided to look further. I knocked on Cora’s door and
opened it.

Cora’s had a lot of milestones
recently, and you can see one of the results almost constantly:
she’s bursting at the seams with pride, and in her head is
practically a different person that she was two weeks ago.
We’ve joked that relatives won’t recognize Cora any
more, and that she’s so grown up that there’s nothing
left for her body to do now until high school. As we drove home
from church the other day, talking in this vein, I heard Maddie say
to herself quietly, “I haven’t done anything at all
recently. I’m not any bigger in anything.”


I started to think about this, going back over the last few weeks,
and realized that while she may not have had any spectacular
fireworks moments in her life recently, Maddie is indeed a
different person than she has been.