They're Insane

It's Thursday morning, which means no-one has to go anywhere until Delphine's school starts in the afternoon. This is good news because it's minus ninety-five outside and I don't want to go out, but it's bad news because the girls have to negotiate each others' company all morning.

This morning they were doing Arts and Crafts. Delphine is miffed because there's an Arts and Crafts afterschool program and I didn't sign her up for it, but fortunately she's pretty sensible so she deals with it by doing Arts and Crafts (you can hear the capitals when she says it) on the dining room table with Cordelia. This goes well for a while until Cordelia doesn't comply with some requirement of Delphine's and the yelling begins. Delphine is quite bossy: "You have to draw a face on this person or I won't make you another person!"

Cordelia is very stubborn: "I don't want to draw a face!" Except Cordelia's voice is very high and loud, and she isn't so good with consonants, so it's more like "I DON WAN DRA FAY!" Which is enough to get anyone's ire up, and Delphine has a short temper as it is, so Delphine crumples up whatever it was that needed a face and declares that she doesn't want to play any more.

I point out that if they don't want to play together they each have their own bedroom, so Delphine goes upstairs. Cordelia starts to follow her. "Don't follow me! I don't want you!" Delphine slams her door. Cordelia tries to open the door and then yells "I can't open the door!" Well, "I CAN' OPE' THDAH!"

I yell up "If Delphine has her door closed she can have some privacy!" and Cordelia starts up with her heart-rending sobs. When this kid cries she puts everything into it and you'd have to be made of granite to not feel bad. She collapses on Delphine's door. "I love you Delphine!", she wails.

And then the door opens. "I love you too, Cordelia." And they hug, and now they're making worlds out of buttons and Lego and cotton balls.

Friends, enemies, friends, enemies. I think the only thing harder than parenting sisters is being one.