Another big change in junior high: a strict dress code. The first couple days of school, Sophie was excited to wear her navy polo dress or a shirt and a khaki skort. By day three, she was rebelling — wanting to wear forbidden leggings, refusing to tuck in her shirt — and by the first […]
I can’t believe Sophie’s in fourth grade. Neither could the girl behind the counter at our bagel shop. “It’s the first day of school,” I told her. “Cool!” she told Sophie. “What grade are you in?” “You tell her!” Sophie said. “Fourth,” I said. “Really?” She peered over the counter to take a closer look. […]
It wasn’t til I had the curling iron in my hand yesterday morning that I realized I’d never tried to curl Sophie’s hair before. It’s not about Sophie — there’s not a lot of time for any sort of hair primping in our house. With only minutes to spare til we absolutely-positively-had-to-leave-the-house-or-we’d-be-inexcusably-late, I unearthed the curling iron […]
In honor of the approaching heat, Annabelle got out the duct tape and made shoes for herself and Sophie. She says dresses are next.
A while back, I was having dinner at a downtown Phoenix restaurant with two of my best girlfriends. Someone who knew someone at the table stopped to say hi. “Hey, what’s with the book club?” he asked, laughing. We looked at each other. It took us a minute — he was making fun of the […]
Thinking about what I would say in this post, I realized that I write more about the people Sophie bonds with than the ones Annabelle does — maybe because Sophie is so direct in her declarations, maybe because Annabelle doesn’t give her heart quite as easily. But tonight I find myself thinking about Annabelle and […]
I knew Sophie would not be disappointed to learn she needed glasses. But I was a little surprised when Annabelle asked, plaintively, “Can I have some glasses, too?” She’s not having trouble seeing. She’s just a slave to her own particular brand of fashion — inspired in part, she acknowledged, by Harriet the Spy. Turns […]
“When I’m on Project Runway, I’ll be able to tell them that my first fashion show was when I was 9,” Annabelle announced the other day. Ah, youth. Although I’m not sure I was that confident at any age. For Annabelle it’s not “if,” it’s “when.” And I hope it always stays that way. If […]
To be honest, when I set out on my question-asking mission this week, I only had three. But I knew a fourth would come to me and sure enough, it did. “Let’s see if you can both be dressed by the time I get out of the shower,” I called to the girls this morning, […]
