The story of the three flowers . . .

We've been having some night-time drama. The girls sleep together now, since Emma has suddenly decided that her room has scary shadows at night. The girls naturally pester each other during the day, (I'm told by people with siblings that this is perfectly normal) but put them in a confined space at the end of the day when they are both tired, and YIKES! There's touching, and poking, and laying on each other's hair, and just general irritating madness! So, here's my creative mommy solution: today we went to the store and bought 2 cute purple vases, and three cute fake flowers for each girl. They are now on the dresser in Grace's room. By day, they are a sweet accessory. But, by night, a tool for discipline. It's basically a warning system. Act ugly, and a flower gets removed from your vase. When there are no more flowers, well, not a good night for you.

So, you knew there had to be an Emma story coming, right? Here it is:

Grace needed to know the ins and outs of this plan, and to clarify the rules, and she's on board. Of course, she knows she's not really the source of most of the problems, so she feels pretty safe.

Dwayne is discussing this whole plan with Emma. He says to her, "now, Emma, we are going to keep all three flowers in your vase tonight, right?" She nods in sort of an unsure way, pauses to think a bit, then replies, "Daddy, after you spank me, will you put all of my flowers back?"

oh, dear.