Hadley is visiting from Greenville today. She came back with my mom and Margaret. She'll be here till Wednesday. I had been thinking all weekend that I don't have enough children to make demands of me, to complain and to argue, so I invited another one to visit. The kids pulled me into the pool with them this morning, fully clothed. Since the summer is almost over I figured it was about time I fall into the pool. They began splashing at me as they usally do, but this time, as I reached down to get a bucket to toss at them, Max dumped a second bucket of water my head. So I gave up and "fell" in. Together they heaved buckets of water over my head and splashed me in the face. Little Mark was funny because the only pouring device he could find was a Dixie cup which he poured on me with as much joy as if he were personally drowning me.
Then Rose had to join us fully clothed too. But that's not too unusual for her. She "falls" in the pool almost every other week. If I were a more suspicious person, I would consider the possibility that she does this to avoid her math lesson...Once she fell in with her cell phone in her pocket, but she might say that it was I who pushed her...
She leaves for Niagara Falls on Saturday. She is a favorite travelling companion of her grandparents (on both sides), so she travels more often than your average kid. As much as I need her around for her skills as a babysitter, mopper, duster, laundry maid, and conversationalist, it is always something of a relief to have her leave. It allows me to spend uninterrupted time with the other children, which they need in terms of education, behavior, and play.
Yesterday we were at Miss Anne's pool and we ran into Gwynneth of the gold hoops again. Unfortunately Margaret hadn't returned from Greenville yet to continue her lessons; however Gwynneth seemed to have progressed well enough on her own. She latched herself onto our family (as often happens to us). It seems that she was as not familiar with the word "Papa" as synonym for "Daddy". Since our kids yelled out "Papa this!", "Papa that!" or "Papa look at me!", she began doing the same. "Hey, look at Papa!", she yelled, "Go Papa!" At first it was embarrassing. Then it became very funny. It reminded me of the time Ella was introducing people to a new person at church: "That's Papa!" she said of her father, and then about Antonius (Bridget's father), "...and that's DADDY!"
