Mimi's Home!

Mimi left for the States yesterday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. (our time) and just emailed me (at 10 p.m. today our time) that she's safely home. She'll post about her long trip back at a later time, but I just wanted everyone to know she made it.

The girls are missing her already, but are handling her absence well so far. They both had minor meltdowns over the weekend when they saw Mimi packing her bags and realized that she was leaving so soon. But Mimi gave them each a kiss on the hand and told them they just had to put that hand to their cheek each time they thought of her and they'd feel her kiss. In the taxi on the way home from the airport yesterday, Maya kept looking at her hand and saying,"I can still see it!"

The strongest evidence that Mimi has left is that, according to the girls, I can't seem to do anything right. That is, I can't seem to do anything like Mimi does it. Why can't I give them separate showers like Mimi does, instead of making them both take showers at the same time? Why don't I walk them home from school the way Mimi did (a way I call THE LONG WAY!)? Why can't I wash their faces the way Mimi does it? Why do I want Maya to sit quietly to listen to a bedtime story -- Mimi didn't mind if she stood on her head in the bed while Mimi read!

Ah, well, this continual shower of criticism is probably good for me. At least it's good training for when the girls are teenagers!