Lillian the diplomat

Last night, I took Lillian out for some Christmas deliveries. Our conversation went something like this: Me: "Won't it be fun to have another little girl? Five little girls!" Lillian: "Yeah, that will be fun. It will be interesting to see what the new baby is like." Me: "Well, I hope they all turn out like you." Lillian: "The twins won't! That's for sure." Me: "What do you mean by that?" Lillian: "Well, uh . . . I mean, they're special in their own way." {Then we talked about how they certainly don't have her talent for organization and knowing where things go, but that it's fun to watch Eliza develop some of that talent. Eliza's been doing 50 and 60 piece puzzles lately, the first one of my children to show an interest and ability in that since Lillian at that age. And we speculated on who Harmony is most like (a combination of the twins' spunkiness and Eliza's peacefulness). We both agreed its amazing how different each child is in our family and I told her I really wouldn't want everyone to be just like her.} Other fun conversations of late: * Last night: Lillian: "Just a few more days until Christmas. If I can just somehow get through tomorrow, then Thursday will be fine because that's Christmas Eve." * Michael on Monday: "Mommy, I counted 50 presents under the tree. There are really more than that, but some of them I couldn't reach." Michael on Tuesday: "Mommy, there's actually 65 presents. But there's still a few hiding." * Allison on Monday to our dinner guests: "Want to hold my turtle? His name is Tommy. You have to hold him with TWO hands because he can break really easily. He's a desert tortoise!" If someone forgot and held him with just one hand, Allison would remind them, "Two hands! He breaks easily!"