Balancing Act

There are six months between the ages of our two daughters. No, they are not twins. No, they are not biologically related. No, we did not plan it this way.

Those were the answers to some questions we USED to get when people saw them together. For those of you who have seen them recently, you know that there is no way we would field questions like that now.

Samara, who is the older of the two, comes from, shall we say, very solid stock. She is very tall for a second grader - only trailing Evan (who is in fifth grade) by an inch or so. Sierra's birth mom is very petite and has passed along those genes so that Sierra is now tipping the scales at a whopping 46 pounds. It used to be that I could put Samara's out-grown clothing straight into Sierra's dresser drawers and then weed out her too-small clothes. Not anymore - there are about three sizes between the two of them now, and Sierra requires size slim pants with the elastic pulls tightened to the full extent and sometimes with a belt.

Besides looking nothing alike, their personalities are also very distinct. Samara is the drama-queen-slash-mother-hen of the family. She LOVES babies and also LOVES to baby, which sometimes can look rather domineering and pushy. And the drama carries over when she is disciplined: the pouty  lip, the waterfall tears, stomping and dragging feet - all to let the world know how unfairly she has been treated.

Sierra is not interested in drama, only in having the last word. She is convinced that she who hollers loudest and last is the winner. And so when she is disciplined, it's almost never over until SHE decides it's over.

So the other morning as we were getting ready to head out to the bus stop, the girls were putting on their jackets - light spring jackets which had just been traded for the heavy winter coats - and Samara noticed that Sierra had been bequeathed a jacket that Samara had previously worn. And the conversation ensued innocently enough, but quickly spiraled into an argument about who wore that jacket and when, and why the zipper sticks - or doesn't, that someone wore it in winter, but it's not a winter coat... and it got louder and followed us out the door and into the driveway.

Being spring-like outside, the neighbors had windows open to let in the fresh air and the noise of my girls. Pulling the girls to the side of the driveway, I pointed out the open windows and asked them to stop aruging, but if they would rather continue they would need to do so in their room after school instead of playing outside. And here is where the balancing act comes in.

True to form, after hearing my plea and ultimatum Samara chose to walk waaaay far behind us while stomping and dragging the toes of her shoes (another pet peeve of mine - shoes cost money, you know!)  while Sierra dove into a rant about how it wasn't her arguing, only Samara, and "you didn't hear it right, Mommy!" After another warning to Sierra - this time about speaking respectfully and not 'talking back' - she took off like a shot up the driveway waaaay ahead of the the rest of us.

So with one girlie lagging behind and one out in front, Evan and I enjoyed a peaceful walk to the bus stop. It's all a balancing act.