My Mysterious Girls

I am sooo in trouble in about 8-10 years. My girls are GIRLS. I was never much of a girl. Very much the tomboy more interested in baseball and basketball than any social drama or boys. Ick. I'm afraid my girls are not at all like me. Here's the conversation I had with Paxten today (should I add that she has worn a crown for the last two days?):

PJ: Momma, I wanna marry Ben. (Steve's friend, with whom she is totally smitten).
M: Well, baby, you can't. Ben's already married to Cher.
PJ: Oh, well can I marry AnnaWen?
M: No, you can't marry family. (Well Steve IS from that mountain, but let's not carry out that tradition).
PJ: Hmm, well Amy's already married too... Could I marry Camille?
M: If you want to, and she wants to...

We had a friend over today with her two year old and PJ pushed her down the slide. Not an aggressive push, but a 'let's see where this will get me' push when A was hesitating at the top to decide on going down or not. Luckily A was game and came out the bottom thrilled to do it again, but PJ? She's got a mean streak! Not all that mysterious in second thought, just mean!

AnnaWen is the mystery. Sometimes I'd give my last dollar (well, my last dollar on credit) to know what is going on behind her eyes. She wiped sunblock in her eye as she sat down for lunch and was crying that her eye hurt. After trying to get her to sit still with it closed, to blink it and allow the natural tears to get rid of it, I resorted to lying her on her back on the counter and pouring water over her eye. I told her exactly what and why I was doing, she still cried as I expected. But what I didn't expect was the attitude when she got up. She was MAD at me for doing it - she said so when I asked! She huffed and puffed and threw darts from her eyes for quite a while - but at least she could keep them open without whining.

We packed up the bikes and went to a bike park and playground today. They rode around in circles for a while and played in the park. AnnaWen was quite serious the whole time, sullen and annoyed, it seemed and I couldn't figure out why. She kept to herself, ignoring the others and riding her bike. Later we took a turn on the swings and an Asian woman was pushing her charge (I think it was a nanny/kid relationship b/c there was a mom there too). AnnaWen was staring at her - wouldn't even turn to look at me for a picture, and the look on her face was not nice. It's not like we don't see Asian faces around - she sees several at church, and is taught in Mandarin class by two Chinese ladies. One of the teachers at the pool is Chinese and while none of her closest friends or classmates are Asian she sees lots of kids in swimming classes and other public events. I really couldn't hazard a guess why the stare... I'd love to know what she was thinking. I have to be careful how I ask though, b/c she shuts down if I ask too much or use the wrong approach.

All in all we had a fantastic day hanging out together... but by the end of the day they were getting tired and bickering over little things. I'm glad they're in bed and the house is quiet... one more day of the weekend and it's back to routine.

N