Paula, Giada, and Bambi

Yesterday we went with Laurie to see her girls. We spent the day at Cammy's swimming and had a great time. How can you not have a great time with Laurie and her girls? They are so much fun and Laurie showed up with donuts, Candice showed up with sodas, Cammy showed up with Subway, and the pizza man showed up with pizzas. These are the ingredients for a great time, and we almost missed it. I wasn't planning on going, but Laurie called at 9:15 am and The Littles insisted that we go. They were packing their towels and bathing suits before they even handed me the phone- my new working phone- and by 9:30 we were on our way because I am a Pure,Western, Softhearted, Give-In -To and Don't -Disappoint The Children- Kind of Mother.

I'ts January but it feels like the middle of summer. Yesterday was 88 degrees and beautiful. It was a little disconcerting and I almost asked Justin what grade he is in now, forgetting that it's not summer and he won't be moving on to a new grade because he's still in the same grade as last week.

Everyone had lots of news, and funny stories and Candice has been listening to a Cd about parenthood called Love& Logic. It's all about letting the children choose for themselves and learning from consequences. Amery who is only 2 years old chose not to wear her floatie. Candice warned her that this was not a good decision but Amery did not care. Candice allowed her to not wear her floatie and to go where she wanted, which was straight into the pool. We were all watching with interest and Candice, wise mother that she is, went straight in after her.

Which brings us to Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentiis and Bambi. Whenever Candice's kids watch Bambi they fight. Want to know what they fight about? They fight about being Bambi. All of them want to be Bambi, and it's very upsetting to them if someone else is Bambi, too. Candice can't understand any of this because if they're pretending to be Bambi can't they just pretend everyone can be Bambi? None of us could understand this either and decided that children are just plain territorial.

Which brings us to Paula Deen and Giada. The Littles used to fight over being Paula Deen. They loved her Southern accent and both of them insisted that they were her when they watched her show. Their arguments were loud and Erin was little and used to cry if she couldn't be Paula.

The only other character's on her show were her husband and sons, and it was beneath my girls to pretend to be boys. I know. I suggested it. Candice could offer Thumper or Flower, at least they were cute cartoon characters. My girls only had Paula.

Finally after months of having to take turns being Paula and being put on a Paula Deen schedule, Jordan announced that Giada was beautiful. Well, we all thought Giada was beautiful, but Jordan reeeeaaalllly thought she was beautiful. And that's when the spatula turned.

Erin Leigh decided from that time forth she would be Giada, and thankfully Annie Laurie wanted to remain Paula Deen. Everyone at our house was relieved and Annie felt new freedom in her role as the one and only Paula Deen in the family. Harmony flowed and we could finally watch The Food Network in peace.

Candice felt better that her children were not alone in their pretending, and Laurie said only my children would pretend to be on a cooking show. I told her I like to pretend I'm on PBS,

which isn't true, but sounded funny and brings us to this conclusion; Logic does not apply to children. They are illogical, fascinating, determined and territorial little creatures. If you try to use logic on them you'll go crazy. Mom used to always say that raising children was like being at Bellevue, and that in order to keep from ending up there you had to keep your sense of humor.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember that when the job of raising children is so serious, but for a brief moment we had a good laugh at how hard it is to be logical with the illogical. Especially when they're two years old.