family: ... put your hand in the hand of the man...

L's hands, in my hand

She wanted to show off her "toe polish" which tends not to last long on her hands and feet. Whatever it is, the size of her nails or the workout she puts them through, the polish chips and flakes almost immediately. One night we had a near catastrophe when her beautiful nail job (she's got a live-in manicurist in M) all floated down the drain.... She was disconsolate, even with the promise of a redo. But then L and "disconsolate" frequently go hand-in-hand when things aren't proceeding exactly the way she would like (be that no chocolate milk before dinner, lost "toe polish," having to share something with her sister....)

I sometimes look at the size of the girls hands/feet/arms/etc. and marvel that these tiny fingers/toes/shoulders are going to some day be adult-sized.

And it's even more amazing when I look back to when they were newborns.

Same hands, smaller version
(L, getting her first taste of the harsh light of the world
12/3/07)

What is it we're doing here as parents?
I have no idea.
I'm faking it as I go!