Nature vs. nurture...both can stink

Addison's favorite part of the day...when Amelia gets home from school.  

Amelia loves being a "teacher" so this is the kind of play she enjoys with Addison.  That afternoon, they worked on opposites, addition, subtraction and all of the states.  Some of my favorite moments are when I am in the background observing my children interacting.  Well, let me rephrase that; when they are interacting positively with each other.  It is very fulfilling as a parent to see my children love each other, even for a moment.

Oh Mimi.  This genetic experiment of her parents may have gone terribly wrong.  A little history here is needed.  I was the child that did assigned projects the day they were assigned.  Even through college, I would have reports done weeks before they were due.  It was the only way to control my anxiety.  I was annoyed with myself if I got a question wrong on a test, one question.  Anxiety to me meant that I earned that "A."   My darling husband was the child who came down the stairs at 10 pm on a Thursday night and told his mom he forgot he had to write a 12 page paper on the history of Indiana farming by tomorrow and oh by the way, I need a posterboard and some glue.  He would still earn that "A" but the only anxiety felt would be by his poor mother.  Amelia, we realized has the worst of both of our traits.  She has my terrible, over-achieving anxiety and Stephen's ability to "forget" about projects until the night before.  In the case of the Severe Weather Report, she gave us two nights, and oh by the way, "I need a posterboard and some glue."  She pounded it out though, a poster and a two paged typed report on Tornadoes.  But it was late nights around here for Mimi, late nights and tears.  Okay, so the tears might have been by me when I thought the computer had lost all of her research but one frantic phone call to the ER to talk to Stephen and that little glitch was solved.  I also got a reprimanding text that day, "When you called, hysterical about the computer, I had three critical patients dying in the hospital."  Whatever, dude, this was a critical home emergency! Crisis averted, project done, hopefully lesson learned about preparing ahead of time.