Happy Monday!

My littlest gal is sportin' some fancy new footwear.

Mothers of girls, please tell me I'm not simply the victim of a psychiatric illness. Exhibit A: I love buying  clothes for my girls. With great difficulty, I restrain myself -- and buy most items secondhand. Exhibit B: I hate buying them shoes. Summer shoes are fine; we do very little that can't be accomplished in a pair of cute flip flops or tennis shoes. But fall/winter footwear? This eats my lunch. Kicks my hiney. Because unlike boys, girls cannot simply have a single pair of high-quality shoes that covers 95% of their life situations. And I feel like having at least one pair of shoes that offers arch support and decent longevity PLUS cuteness in is important. (And yes, I'm aware that having this dilemma in the first place is a luxury denied to millions of mothers worldwide.)

So we breezed into the local shoe store intent on finding a pretty yet practical shoe for the fall, one that would go with dresses and jeans if they would ever consent to wear them, and Caroline sees this pair on the shelf. Instantly, that pair is THE PAIR OF CHOICE. No other pair even received more than a passing glance. She assured me that yes, she would wear these with everything and yes, she would tie them herself with no complaints. Apparently, these are to shoes what Truman is to boys. End of story.

I envy her that decisiveness. Her sister is more like me, the decision ever eluding her, the possibility of some other, better, choice out there constantly plaguing her. "Whatever you think, Mom," she told me after we ran our eyeballs over every single pair in the store and proceeded to leave, unsatisfied.

They're like that with their newest project, too. Caroline was bound and determined to learn to knit, and her God-bless-the-man-for-his-abiding-patience daddy finally sat down and taught her. Five days later, she had this:

Notice the quantity. Notice the expanding rows of stitches. Notice the holes -- but remember she's four.

Eliza, not to be outdone, asked for a lesson. Her work now looks like this:

One works slowly and carefully. One's fast and loose. The yin and the yang. They complement one another to perfection.