Boopie

I've told mostly stories about Megan, my oldest grand daughter in this blog/diary/book. She is just plain outspoken and gregarious. I can always guarantee one amazing thing to come out of her mouth every time I see her. I was talking to my daughter about this and telling her that I wanted some stories about Mandy who will be 4 in September so that years from now, she won't feel left out and will have some history that she may not remember.

Amanda, as she was named at birth, was immediately dubbed as 'Boopie' by Megan. This baby was incredible from birth as she was beautiful, but she was difficult for me to learn. She didn't seem to want the normal baby things...she didn't especially want to be held....she didn't cry much and she was just an all around happy baby. Boopie was quiet. The fact that she was immediately claimed ownership by her sister Megan was cute. Mandy never seemed to mind Megan bossing her around or doing things for her....a lot of times she relied on it. Mandy is sometimes like a 'sleeper'....she just goes about her quiet way and pretends (well, sometimes deliberately) to not be quite so smart in order to get people to do things for her. It wasn't until she was about 3 1/2 did she become a cuddly bunny. She also started accidentially showing intelligence and cunning ways. She will take just so much of Megan and then just reach over and yank the heck out of Megan's hair....or throw something and break it faster than you can blink...or just plain 'mow' Megan down....if she decides that going into an immediate hysterical scream/crying tantrum won't work. Mandy precisely calculates which tactic she thinks will work for the immediate situation.

Both Megan and Mandy are artists. Megan is the picture artist and Mandy is the tactile artist. Megan understands the concepts while Mandy has to just get in and immerse herself with the material....become one with the clay. Mandy will be my potter. Both girls have a vivid imagination. Megan is very verbal about her imagination. Mandy just immerses herself in whatever she is playing with and ignores the world.

One night this spring, I was getting the girls ready for their bath. Megan got undressed but Mandy....you have to strip her down. Megan did this for me that night. I turned around from the tub to see one naked child who had drawn with permanent markers a complete bra on herself. It was the funniest thing I'd seen! I wanted to take a photo of her but in today's world, one is very careful about such things for fear of being considered a pedophile. I didn't take the photo. Now I wish I had.

Well, here is the story my daughter send to me about Mandy:

well, if mandy would do something other than sit and play quitely by herself or pulling meg's hair then you would have something to write......i'll discuss it with her.
actually, i have one really good story. one night we were watching a movie in bed getting ready to go to sleep. meg sleeps in the middle, mandy on the right and me on the left. i looked over at mandy and she was holding her favorite dog in the air. i asked her if her dog was watching the movie and she said yes. i told her that if her dog wanted to watch then she needed to turn him around where he was actually facing the tv and by the way, that meg and i really weren't enjoying looking at the dog's butt. mandy said ok and turned the dog around. then a few seconds later she casually turned the dog back around, butt facing meg and i, and lifted his tail. then she grinned an evil little grin. meg noticed and screamed "oh gross!!" and mandy started laughing like crazy. then for the next half hour or so, every so often when no one was paying attention, mandy would put the dog in the air with it's butt in meg's face until meg would say "oh gross! i don't want to look at a dog's butt!!" then mandy would laugh and put the dog down.