How Can You Argue With Such Logic? What's Next? The "I'm Rubber, You're Glue" Defense?

Brigid and Margaret are both suffering from a head cold and cough. Margaret felt so bad on Friday she stayed home from school, and she never stays home from school. Brigid is having trouble breathing through her nose, and when she's nursing, she sounds like she's deep-sea diving, coming up for gulps of air after every few seconds. So we've been sailing along on tylenol and benadryl.

Brigid is starting to string words together in very cute sentences. We had a "conversation" in the car the other day over my cup of iced tea. It went something like this:

Brigid: "Dink?" (Drink)
Me: "No, this is Mommy's tea."
Brigid: "No, mine."
Me: "No, it's not."
Brigid: "Es it is. Mine."
Me: "No, it's not."
Brigid: "Es it is. Mine."
Me: "No, it's not."
Brigid: "Es it is. Mine."

Well, you get the picture. The word "Mine" has been seeping into her vocabulary with increasing clarity and frequency. Sometimes, it is hers; sometimes it's not hers. But she makes a good argument.

Our latest news is that we have a spot at Sibley Hall -- the Plattsburgh Childcare Center where both Margaret and Patricia went as toddlers. They went part time, but the center doesn't have part-time positions anymore, so we'll be paying full-time tuition and sending her part time. It's a great program and she needs some structure and "networking" with kids her age. The only down side is she can't get in until March 24. Until then, we'll have to rely on the YMCA babysitting, which isn't day care -- it's more stick the kids in front of the TV. But Jack doesn't start teaching until Jan. 28 (he's teaching M-W-F at the college, a newspaper design course); there's a week in February when the girls are home; and spring break in March. So there won't be too many times we'll have to rely on the YMCA. Once Brigid is at Sibley, she'll be able to be there straight into kindergarten, which is what we did with the other two. They were well prepared for kindergarten. And with the center being on campus, it will be very convenient for me to bring Brigid over when I go to work and pick her up when I leave in the afternoon.

We've been very fortunate with all three girls not to have to have them in full-time day care from morning to night like so many people do. She will have the best of both worlds. Margaret and Patricia both have wonderful memories of their Sibley experiences. We hope to have many, many more.