Sugar And Spice

Last week was vinterferie (winter break).  None of you noticed, of course, because all of your kids were off to school, merrily not bugging you.

I survived it.  It came and went without a peep of complaint out of me.  Would I be tarnishing that accomplishment by pointing out that they all went back to school yesterday, and it's been ever so----peaceful----since?

I had some comments on Boy's rhymes.  Wanna hear the best one to come out of vinterferie?  There were several, but this one got the most play:  "How much longer must we eat everything we defeat?"  Followed by a chant:  "We must, we must, we must defeat our meat!  We must, we must, we must defeat our meat!"

He should totally be a cheerleader when he grows up.

Sometimes I find Boy so sickenly sweet that I have this overwhelming urge to decant him into a tiny crystal vile so that I can use him, like peppermint Schnapps, to spike my hot cocoa on a cold, wintery day.

Of course all my kids are chock-full of yummy, sweet goodness.  But I find their sweetness varies by degrees of usage. 

Missy's sweetness, for example, is flashy and stylish, something to be worn.  It's a vintage stole in plum velvet, wrapped around your shoulders, and shown off to all your hoity toity friends over tea and cakes. 

While EM's sweetness is far more subdued, more comfortable.  A flannel quilt, maybe, with which you curl up and fall asleep every night with a feeling of utter peace and safety. 

But Boy now--Boy, like I said, is all pungent and spicy.  Boy's sweetness must be eaten, devoured entirely.

I laugh at first-time mothers who dither and worry about having a second child, because how could they possibly love another like they love their first?  Pfft.  Of course you won't!  You can't!  It's not possible to love a liqueur the same way you love a quilt.  It is not possible to enjoy a cherished quilt the same way you enjoy an expensive wrap.  But you can and will love and enjoy them all--equally, if differently--and sometimes on different days--depending on the phase of the moon--and possibly the weather--vinterferie will have something to do with it too, but anything can be endured given enough Schnapps.

So go forth and multiply people!  Because zse babies, zsey are so sveet!