Back to normal

Things are slowly getting back to normal after a lovely visit from my sister-in-law and her two kids. They live in Tokyo, so they had been in the States for about six weeks this summer; we were their last stop. My niece will be four in October and my nephew turned one this past March. Needless to say, the house was a ZOO. We did things like story time, Terhune Orchards, the park and Princeton. I must say, my niece, while the oldest of the cousins, is the most demanding. Maybe it's because she's a girl, maybe it's because she's three. I don't know. She definitely knows what she wants when she wants it and isn't shy about it. Bless her heart, my sister-in-law is working so hard with her please-and-thank-you's. She says some really hilarious stuff; she's very intelligent and has a great vocabulary for her age. Perhaps the funniest thing happened when Mike took the three kids to the swings (brave soul!). My niece was wearing Crocs and discovered how fun it was to kick them off while swinging and have Uncle Mike retrieve them for her. The first time it happened, she said, "Go get my shoe." Mike asked her to say please, which she did; then, as he went to get the shoe, it dawned on him that she had kicked it off on purpose. He asked her if she had; she said "yes," and he told her that if she did it again that he wouldn't get it for her. Well, lo and behold, she did it again. When he refused to get it for her, she said, and I quote, "Well, I'm gonna tell my mom, and we're gonna take your swings and ruin your way of life!" It was all Mike could do to keep from laughing. "Ruin your way of life"??? Where in the world did she pick up THAT?!