13 | March | 2013

Dear Grown Up Piper,

Once upon a time in kindergarten you fell down. You might remember it. You tripped over Daniel’s foot and landed on your chin. It was a gaping cut. Your poor teacher was traumatized. An ER visit later, you were the proud bearer of four stitches.

A week later you fell again. You busted open the SAME stitches. I swear it’s true. Daniel’s foot was nowhere in sight. You were running in your socks during P.E. Even though I write fiction, I can’t make stuff like this up. Again, back to the doctor. They recommended more stitches.

Here’s the part that you may now be blaming me for. I didn’t let them stitch you back up. There was no medical reason to do so. New stitches would have been purely cosmetic. I did take you to the eye doctor for a full exam. I also had your hearing and ears checked. I also took you to your pediatrician. You’re fine. You’re silly. You bounce around a lot. You fall. You seem rather resilient.

If all of your supermodel dreams have been crushed by now and if you’ve been turned away by potential suitors because of the scar underneath your chin that no one can see, it’s my fault. Blame me. When you’re a mom, you might understand.

Love,

Mom

I like to make lists. I’m a Virgo with German heritage. Let’s just say I prefer order to chaos. But I also like to put a little something fun on my list of drudgery. Here’s my list for today:

1. Grade 15 research proposals

2. Update course grades in Blackboard

3. Summer course design

4. Email FWR transcript

5. Meet with Caron

Did you see what I did just there? I don’t have to meet with Caron. I get to. We’ll go to a fancy French cafe and pretend to talk about a conference proposals. We’ll laugh and gossip. It’s work. Of course it is. But it’s also a little fun on my to-do list.

I do the same on Sissy and Piper’s chore list. Check out chore number 3.

That’s right. Making music is required in our house. Daily. You have a choice, though. Sissy can practice piano, guitar, or flute. She’s a three instrument kind of girl. Piper can play her drums, bongos, tambourine, or sing. Making music is so much more interesting can cleaning out your lunch box or setting the dinner table. Both have to be done, of course, but somehow the not-so-fun becomes more fun when there is a carrot waving in front of your face. Even with the incentive, Piper tries to find creative ways to get out of being told what to do.

“If I set the table in the American Girl world, does that count as a chore?”

“No, Piper. It doesn’t. We can’t all eat at the American Girl table. Can we?”

“If I eat all my food and lick out my lunch containers, does that count as clean?”

“No, Piper. It doesn’t. That doesn’t sound very hygienic.”

“If I sing to my stuffed animals with my microphone, does that count as Making Music?”

“Yes. I think it does.”

We have to let something slide.