thank you notes

Since I'm finally quasi-healthy after being sick half of August, the whole of September, and the beginning of October, I'm getting back into kick ass mode, Drunken Housewife style. I'm productive, dammit. Don't stand too close; you might get trampled.

Yesterday I finally got Lola to do her thank you notes from her fourth birthday party. This was not easy. Lola became obsessed with the first thank you note and did not wish to progress to any later ones. I wrote, and she kept dictating. After some language thanking her little friend for the present, Lola ordered me to write, "I like you, but Soandso is my best friend. I love her the most. I liked her first."

"I am NOT writing that, Lola. You're going to hurt your friend's feelings!"

"But it's truuuuuue."

She colored and stuck stickers on that one card for half an hour, until I ordered her to move on to the next card, which involved a few tears, but then, after we overcame that we became more businesslike. Finishing up the cards for her friends, we got to the grandparents. For Anton's mother's card, Lola dictated, "I hope you will give me another present for my fifth birthday. It will be really fun, and I will play with it all day." Although I knew this present-grubbing wasn't really the language of a great thank-you note, I wrote it down anyhow and sealed up the envelope. Job done.

Iris is old enough to write her own thank-you notes, and I didn't proofread the last ones before mailing them out. This was a mistake, as I learned when my mother called me to read Iris's thank you note:

"Dear Grandma, Thank you for the present. I forgot what you gave me. Love, Iris."