Anyone who has more than one child (or anyone who has siblings) will tell you that no two children are alike. I have three of them. And while they are similar in so many ways, they are vastly different in others. My younger daughter briefly dated a guy who has a twin. On their first date, he told her that he and his twin brother looked nothing alike. Then he asked my daughter if she and her sister looked alike.
“Sometimes,” she answered.
“What do you mean sometimes?”
“Sometimes we look alike, and sometimes we don’t. My sister changes her appearance a lot.”
Truthfully, both daughters change their appearances often, but my older daughter seems to be more dramatic with her changes. She went from Afro to locks, from locks to bald, from bald to short and blonde, then back to bald with a tattooed crown. The younger daughter makes frequent changes to her hair as well, so much so that I sometimes forget what they look like for the moment.
One huge difference between the two sisters is that the older one is always running late while the younger one has an arrive-early mentality. From the time she was in kindergarten, the older daughter caused us to rush, rush, rush every morning because she could never seem to get herself ready for school in time. I know kindergarten is pretty young for a mother to blame her child for being late. But I got the child out of bed on time, made sure she got dressed, had breakfast, and had her backpack in order. But every morning, without fail, the child ran back to her room right before we left the house and changed her clothes. She would yell from her room, “I’m coming! I’m coming! Just a few more minutes please….” In her older years, she got up in plenty of time to leave early for school, but she dawdled. The younger daughter, on the other hand, would be waiting at the door—backpack strapped on—when it was time to head off to school. The younger sister takes after her mother. (That’s me.)
The younger sister’s propensity for being on time also applies to her approach to holiday gifting. Beginning at age nine, she started emailing me her wish list in a Word document, complete with links that took me directly to the items—sizes and colors included. When she became a gift giver herself (meaning she bought gifts with her own hard-earned money), she ordered gifts at the beginning of December and wrapped them as soon as she received them. Sometimes, almost all the way up to Christmas Eve, the gifts that the younger sister had purchased would be the only ones wrapped and under the tree. But the older sister….
I’m not really sure when she buys her gifts, but I do know when she wraps them—Christmas morning! While the rest of us wait impatiently around the tree, anxious to see what’s been hiding behind wrapping paper for days, older sister is yelling from her room, “I’m coming! I’m coming! Just a few more minutes please….”
When it comes to holiday gifting, the older sister takes after her mother (that’s me), which really explains why there’s only one gift under our tree.
What I’m Reading With My Son
Confession: Unless it’s a graphic novel, I have to force my son to read books. I’m not knocking graphic novels. I supply him with plenty. He has stacks of them. But in reality, we all must, at some point in life, read what we don’t want to read. Manuals. Contracts. Handbooks. Complicated instructions. And who knows? Maybe even the Constitution someday. So, yes, I force my son to read novels even if he doesn’t want to, just like I force him to try certain foods before simply declaring he doesn’t like them. But I do try to select novels that he might truly find interesting and actually enjoy reading. So….
Why This Book
First, my son is very interested in war history, especially World War II, so I figured he might actually find this book compelling. Second, the chapters are short for a YA novel, and they are narrated by four different characters. The pages have a lot of white space, which I thought would be appealing to a reluctant reader. Third, I already had the book at home—two copies actually, a hardcover and e-book—so it was an easy choice, since we are able to read together.
What We’re Learning
My son is enjoying learning about a different side of the World War II story, i. e., the Russian invasion of Lithuania. He is curious about what made dictators like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini desire world domination and even watched a couple of World War II movies over the weekend to gain more information.
Verdict
We’re reading slowly because I’m requiring my son to read aloud to me, so we are quite a ways from finishing the book. (I’ve finished it, but he hasn’t.) Overall, I think this is a book that he will be glad that he finished.
News that Grabbed My Attention
Which Is More Important? A Police Station or a Library?
Wow, who would have thought that a town would have such a debate? The article initially caught my attention with the headline. Then I saw the name of the town—McFarland, California—and I felt like I knew those people, because I have watched the movie McFarland, USA so many times. It’s a wonderful movie, based on a true story. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. On the other hand, I don’t know whose side to take in the debate. Both the library and the police station are pretty important. Kind of weird that they would have to fight over who gets the bigger space.
Chat with me:
How’s the holiday shopping going?
Read any good books lately?
What do you think—Who deserves the bigger space? The library or the police station?
Have you watched McFarland USA?
Wrapping a Christmas present on Christmas morning - that made me laugh. And I LOVE McFarland.