Winning

YOU GUYS! THERE IS HOPE!

I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but Mila has never in her life worn jeans. She absolutely positively refused from the moment she was born. You might think that's impossible, but it's not. It is not an exaggeration to say that child does not do things she doesn't want to do. When she was very tiny and I once tried to put jeans on her, I was met with a hysterical fit that most people would reserve for some form of torture like having a tooth pulled out through their eye socket.

Not Mila, though. She is convinced fashion is worth fighting about.

It was fine, though. The kid has been so tiny for so long that it has been difficult to find jeans that would potentially fit her anyway. At 5 1/2 years of age, she still generally wears a size 4T, except that pants tend to be too short. Even leggings can be a challenge. Mila has several pair that appear to be cropped but really are just too short but fit her fine otherwise. It's not that she's tall, by the way. She just genuinely has oddly long legs considering how short she is.

I've tried to test the jeans water a few times. I've been met with a "ARE YOU KIDDING? HELL TO THE NO," each time. Mila wasn't just not willing to wear jeans; she wasn't willing to talk about wearing jeans.

Alexis fixed it.

It was about two weeks ago when we were wandering around the mall and Alexis found a pair of jeans with sequins and unicorns and all sorts of rainbow flash on them. Basically, they represented all of Mila's favorite things, but embroidered on her enemy. There was a discussion and some hilarious subliminal selling, but next thing I knew, Alexis had sucked Mila into thinking maybe she wanted said jeans.

They were $40. The best response I have for that is, "HELL TO THE NO." That's an awful lot of money for something that history says will sit in a drawer forever.

Me saying "No" is what sold Mila. That kid LOVES a challenge so being told she couldn't have something was an effective way to get her to want it REAL bad. I still didn't cave, but Mila focused her efforts on trying to convince me.

She cleaned the playroom in exchange for a pair of jeans. I didn't even buy THOSE jeans. I found a cheap pair at Target and Mila was all in.

AND SHE WORE THEM.

Once.

I mean, she may never wear them again, but does it matter? I got a clean playroom out of the deal so I'm pretty sure I already won.

She's Smart and Stuff

Whatever the question, I'm beginning to think Mila has the answer. The way she views the world is stunningly accurate, maybe because there's no noise in her head? She's laser focused on exactly one thing - doing what makes her happy.

She's like a miniature Marie Kondo, but doesn't just apply joy to material things. She throws away every minute of every day that isn't bringing her joy. If she doesn't want to do something, she just ... doesn't.

It's admirable. Truly.

Even better, though, is that she talks sense into me at times. There's a *cough* few Christmas trees at our house and while most of them have been put away for over a week, there's one that lingers. It's the shining beacon of light filling the family room with warmth and joy. It's the one tree that takes a lot of work to dismantle, so I keep procrastinating getting started with taking it down. If I start, the happy will fall away. I can't finish it in a short amount of time, so it will turn into that thing that steals happiness from me for at least a few days.

Really, there's nothing sadder than a half-dressed Christmas tree.

Alexis and I were talking about when we could tag-team to take down the tree in its entirety when Mila crashed into the conversation with her usual dose of blunt truthiness.

"Why would take down the tree? It's really pretty and I want to look at it for a long time."

YEAH, MILA. She's right. Why take it down when it's still making us happy? Go ahead and look in my windows and judge, neighbors, I'm over here keeping my joy going. Because Mila told me to.

Agreement Amongst the Ladies

I TAKE IT BACK. ALL OF IT. PLEEEEEEEASE.

Ahem.

From the moment she was born, Mila has made it apparent that she fully intends to be the exact opposite human her sister is. There are a million examples of things she does differently, but really at the core, they are just REALLY different people. They're both good people, but the way they get there is that one heads west and the other east and it's a good thing the earth is round because otherwise they'd fall off the edge of the earth trying to be different.

Foods? Totally different favorites.

Books? Not a single agreement.

Clothes? I kept some of Alexis' old clothes because ... why? Mila won't wear them.

Perspective towards shenanigans? Opposites.

School? I pity the teacher who ends up having them both because that teacher will be SO confused.

Hobbies? Pshaw. They can't share hobbies.

Or so I thought.

Last week was the little kid cheer camp that leads to performing at half-time of a varsity basketball game. Alexis has participated in said camp for like 7 years now, first as a little kid wallowing in the glory of doing something she loved with older kids and then as an older kid sharing her love of cheer with a new group of tiny kids.

Mila's best friend wanted to be one of the tiny kids at the camp. Whatever that friend does, Mila asks to do. And that is why Mila ended up picking up pom-poms last week. She learned a couple of cheers and a half-time dance and UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH. WHY ARE THERE TWO OF THEM?

Suffice to say, Mila loved it. She is continuing to do her dance whenever she has a free minute and has been endlessly complaining that she's sad "cheer camp" is already over. She has fully committed herself to the idea of participating in cheer as a real activity.

Which means the girls agree on one topic.

They both like cheer.

OF ALL TIMES TO HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON. WHYYYYYY? I take it all back. There is no need for them to agree on anything ever.