Riley and Avery

So Avery learned to walk backwards last Sunday. She was pretty proud about that. This kid can really move. She goes through a hyperactive stage in the evening where she runs around panting like a dog. Just runs and runs. It's so cute. She also says "uh-oh" regularly.

Avery was so cute the other night. She likes to take my hands and clap them together, but one of my arms was wrapped around Riley and my hand was under Riley and the covers. I watched her eyes go up my arm and back down to where my hand should be. Then she holds up my other arm and studies my hand, and then her eyes go down my arm and back up, and then she looks at my other arm again, knowing here my hand should me. She's studying anatomy. How adorable. She was so confused. Then she figured it out. It was fun watching her brain work.

In the car last week, in an aborted attempt to take Riley to school (she started coughing uncontrollably half-way there) Riley says "do you know what I want to do when I am big?" I say "No, what do you want to do when you're grown up?" She says, "I will clean and sweep and do laundry and carry my baby and cook and wash." So my little girl aspires to be a housewife. I don't mind if she chooses to be a SAHM, but I would like her to have other options. Obviously I know the benefits of a mother staying home and the sacrifices involved.

Last Thursday when I was driving Riley home from school, she says "Malachy said I couldn't sit next to him because he doesn't like me (Malachy is usually Riley's friend, but I think he was with older boys so girls aren't cool) and Christopher (an older boy) said I couldn't sit next to him either." And my heart just breaks. I tell Riley that Malachy probably didn't mean it, that he was just joking with the other boys, and so forth. Then Riley says "That's okay. The boys don't like me but the girls like me."

So I was already feeling defensive of Riley when we went to Barnes and Noble for storytime. After the story, Riley and Avery were sitting by me and another mother, pointed at Avery and says "That one is a doll, an absolute doll." And I'm like, what about my other beautiful daughter who is sitting right here? Why do people worship the blond haired blue eyed idol? I know that Avery is a cutie, but Riley is equally cute. That's what sucks about having two girls. They'll always be compared on their looks first, not their intelligence or their abilities. Boys, on the other hand, are hardly ever compared first on their looks. It's always math and science and athletics for boys, which they have some control over (suck at sports and math?-try harder!; ugly?-get plastic surgery (??)) Do people ever think that constantly gushing over Avery's blue eyes to her brown-eyed mother (hey, she obviously didn't get my eyes) might be ever so slightly offensive? I guess that since I have two girls that look as different as night and day I'll always be defending one of them in my mind. I guess some people prefer one eye color over another. I still get a lot of compliments on Riley's eyes, mostly that they're huge. As I already said, I was feeling defensive of Riley that day.

This is the best picture I could get of Avery's habit of running away while scratching her butt as soon as I take her diaper off. I'll try to get some more.