Release the hounds!

I am this close to having a nervous tick in my eye. As it is, I think I've ground a fair amount of enamel off my teeth.

There are two two-year olds in my house, and will be for nearly 3 solid days.

Months ago I/we offered to babysit Diamond Lil whilst her mom, Mrs. Booty, went off to some retreat-esque type thing at Harbin Hot Springs. Historically, Mags and Lil have gotten along fine. We've taken them camping together, and we've toddler-swapped for a couple of weekends as well. There's always been the usual toddler behavior, but no real blow outs, tears of the damned, or anything like that. And really, that's pretty much where we're at with this adventure so far. Its just bizarre how its almost gotten more difficult the older they get, though.

Things are definitely easier in the facts that they *can* be quite self entertaining, they can feed themselves, they're much less likely to seriously injure themselves, and overall there's just a lot more going on behind the eyes to interact with. Really, so far the issue has been with Mags. There's someone on her turf, using her toys, getting attention from her mom, and just using her air in general. Not suprising, really. Then there's also the fact that it appears that Mags has a bit more of an aggressive personality than Lil, who is much gentler. Every request from Mags to Lil comes out as a bellowed demand, regardless of how begnin the request. And Mags constantly wants to wrestle with Lil, who silently pushes Mags away with all her strength, her eyes filled with confusion and alarm. So of course, Mags is acting out. She's being incredibly bossy, grabs things away from Lil all the time, and is just being difficult and stubborn in general. I've been feeling like a real hag, constantly having to ride herd over Mags; do this, don't do that, do you want a time out?, that's not ok, we need to share -- you get the picture. I've done a real good job of not totally losing my cool, but I'm a lot more taxed than I thought I'd be at the end of the first (half) day. Whew.

This is not to say that there haven't been fun and silly things that happened today. Watching the two of them tire themselves out on the bed was pretty funny. Playing 'ghost' with some white fabric in front of the blacklight was entertaining all around too. There have been many impromptu hugs and kisses from one girl to the other, which warms my heart. They both went down for their naps like angels; the three of us lined up like sardines in the double bed, a toddler on either side (and really, there are few things as wonderful-feeling as the warm, heavy weight of a toddler snuggling with you.) Lil's got some great one-liners, too: "That's freakin' cute!" And now, they are under the magic spell of the dvd player (I am not above 'cheating'. In the event of loss of cabin pressure, place the mask over your own mouth and nose first before slapping your child in front of a movie.)

I think (hope!) tomorrow will go well. A lot of things were closed today, thwarting our plans to do stuff. The library, the park/zoo in Palo Alto, and something else (I forget.) First thing tomorrow: the park. Run 'em ragged. Home for lunch, then nap. In the afternoon, the mom's club is holding a family dance/tea party that I am dragging the girls and Husband to. That reminds me, I need to check the chemicals in the hot tub to make sure its not too funk-tastic to sit in either tomorrow evening or Sunday (Husband and I crawled into it last night in the dark, and lasted about 10 minutes before the smell drove us off. Pretty funky.) I know Mags enjoys 'swimming' in the little pool, and I can't see why Lil wouldn't enjoy it either.

Anyhow, I'm off to have a nice glass of whine, or something. A good night's rest will make everything doable for tomorrow. Oh, and BOY am I glad we didn't have twins! God DAMN!