Peace & Quiet

What do you do when two of your kids fight or argue a dozen or more times each day over the same silly toy? Mia's coveted pink webkiz horse, Pinky. Ania knows that it's THE toy to touch, love and carry around. She knows that it belongs to Mia. And she knows that SHE wants it. Not one of the other 452 stuffies in the house will do. "Mia's horse," is the one she MUST have. So what do you do? What did we do after days and days of continual conflict? If it were our first and second children having this problem, and we were still living under the illusion that we could produce practically perfect little people, we would have taken every opportunity, hour after hour through the day, to talk about sharing and lecture them about the great benefits of developing good character, maybe even make charts and graphs to help them through this phase.

But, since it was our fourth and fifth children, and we now know that all kids end up a bit flawed in the end anyway (no offense, Kaish), we did what any wise and seasoned parent would do. We went out and bought a second pink horse. Identical, only cleaner. Her name is Bling-Bling. Bill Cosby says that parents aren't really interested in justice, they just want peace and quiet. So, with great calm, we welcome a new horse to the clutter of our house. If I had named them they would have been called Peace and Quiet.

Photography update: Renee ... I've been doing it! Shooting in manual. Not very well, but I'm coming along. My favorite pic so far is the one of Ania at the top.