sugar and spice

While my son was away at camp, I was able to spend some time with my daughter and her friends. Being the little sister, she has not had too many times in her life without some boy-energy in the house. She was the girl in kindergarten who knew all about Legos and Pokemon, because she had learned about it from her big brother. He has been quite an influence on her, and I looked forward to sharing a testosterone-free zone with her for a while.

After an all-girl day camp, Mika came home with two of her friends, "P" and "C". I wondered what sweet little girl things they would discuss ... or, would it be pre-teen girl stuff that I might not want to hear? They sat down excitedly to eat a snack of brie and baguette. The conversation went something like this:

P: "Can you armpit fart?"
C: "No. I don't know how."
P: "Are you right-handed?"
C: "Yes."
P: "Well, then you take your right arm and go like this -- (demonstrates armpit fart technique)"
(Giggles all around.)
M: "I can't armpit fart. But I can eye-fart!"
P: "Really? Let's see. Do it."
M: (Cupping her eye with her hand and clapping gently against her eye socket) "Did you hear it? You have to be really quiet ..."
P: "Oh, yeah! I heard it!"
(More giggles.)
P: "But can you armpit fart?"
M: "No."
(Assorted body part farting ensues.)
. . .

The conversation took a turn toward armpit hygiene and armpit depth, and then took a welcome turn onto another subject. During this time, I had to try hard not to laugh too loudly as I got a brief peek into their not-so-little-girl world. And, just when I was about to get melancholy about these little girls growing up so fast, I noticed that they spent the rest of their time drawing on an empty box -- a favorite pastime of truly little girls.

Thank goodness for cardboard and markers, sugar and spice, and armpit farts.

Today was a good day.