'Tiny' The Tornado

Veronica's latest nickname - given to her by her siblings - is "Tiny."

It belies her destructive nature, which has been pretty evident the past two days while Mom battled a flu/fever/nausea illness. Dad wasn't much help (as usual), so "Tiny" whirled her way around the house to:

- Spill a box of paper clips all over the stairs.
- Cut open a bag of baby wipes and spread them all over the family room.
- Raid the pantry, opening bags of chips, cookies and granola bars (she must have been hungry.)
- Spill hot chocolate all over the kitchen table.
- Cut up paper into tiny scraps that are all over the floor of Dad's office.

What are we leaving out?

The other - less destructive - side of Veronica is her "night owl" demeanor. While everyone else is starting to call it a day, "Tiny" is just getting warmed up. It's not uncommon for her to still be awake around midnight. Since Mom is usually still up at that time, it must be something Veronica gets from her. We're trying to make sure Veronica doesn't take late-day naps and that she wakes up when the rest of us are getting up, too.

Emily's Helen Keller Project

Emily had to read a book and do an "alphabet" project on it. In other words, she had to come up with 26 (A through Z) connections to the book.

Unlike Lauren, Emily would rather not spend her time with her nose in a book. Need some proof? Lauren read Emily's book ("Helen Keller") in about two hours. It took Emily about a week to get through it and we're still not sure she actually remembers what she read.

Wednesday night, Emily was feverishly working to get her alphabet project completed. Coming up with 26 things and then deciding how to illustrate them (and color them) is a time-consuming process. At 10 o'clock, Emily told Dad she was calling it a night and to wake her up in the morning.

Seven hours later (at 5 a.m.), Emily was up trying to finish it. Even with some help from Dad, it came down to coloring the final drawings on the way to school. All that hard work and lack of sleep apparently was for naught: the report was due the next day.