The Dichotomy of Daughters

There are nine years between my daughters. The only real con is that they kind of missed out on that sibling-as-peer thing, although Mary and I are only separated by two years and we actively disliked each other for most of our childhood (although my sister is absolutely my best friend now ... go figure). For the most part, I think this is a good thing.

Belle is five, and she utterly adores her sister. Whenever she gets sad or mad or any other emotion she feels strongly (and Belle is kind of mercurial ... she feels all emotions strongly), she'll wail, "I want my Addie!!!!!!!" And Addie, of course, thinks it's pretty cool that someone thinks she walks on water. She takes Belle to a lot of places and includes her to a surprising degree with her friends, who all think Belle's adorable, of course.

They are both on school vacation this week, and it just occurred to me how funny it is the different ways they're spending it.

This morning, for example, Belle had her requisite two cups of chocolate milk (it's like adults with coffee, I swear), put on her butterfly wings (don't ask), and danced around, putting on various shows. She's currently painting at the kitchen table. She has already trashed and cleaned her playroom this morning, something that happens repeatedly with Belle. It's kind of ironic that she's wearing butterfly wings since she's kind of like a butterfly, flitting from place to place, sampling the nectar and then moving on. She's a free spirit and a real character.



Addie is currently furious with me for waking her up early--I have a follow-up doctor visit from my pancreatitis hospitalization, and she's babysitting, but I got the time wrong and woke her up two hours before I needed to. Not to worry, though ... the next thing I know, her friend has pulled into our driveway with a cup of coffee from Dunkin' Donuts for her (I don't advocate giving my children caffeine, by the way ... this was a combination of guilt at waking her up early the one morning she could have slept in and the whole, "Eh, it's vacation" mentality). Anyway, Addie is already on the computer talking to people and doing the MySpace thing ... while she's texting other people on her cell phone ... while she's blaring her iPod ... while she's making plans for the rest of the week. She's such a teenager : ) (Oh, and I feel like I have to explain that the reason I don't post pics of Addie here is that she'd kill me. Slowly. In great pain.)

It's funny, though ... I'm probably going to go paint with Belle for awhile now and, when I'm ready for a break from the pre-school thought process ("What happens if you mix red and yellow? Do you know, Mommy? Did you know it makes orange? How about if we mix everything? Can we try? Can we try, Mommy? Huh? Huh?"), I can go upstairs to Addie's lair and hear the latest and the greatest in adolescent angst (I exaggerate--knock on wood, Addie's absolutely amazing).

Delectable dichotomy : )