Night and Day

**Until the little girls are officially adopted, I will be referring to them here as Blondie and Little Bit. After that, it’s full disclosure time…**

Our little girls, Blondie and Little Bit, aka The Hobbits, are as different as night and day. This is true for their physical appearances as well as their personalities. One thing that is the same about both of them is that they are loving, caring little girls who are very attached to their family and can’t wait to have the last name of Blanchard.

The girls are 11 months apart: Blondie will be turning 6 in a few weeks; Little Bit just turned 5 a few weeks ago. Both started Kindergarten this year and absolutely love it! They thoroughly enjoyed pre-school and are even happier now that they get to go to their “new school” for Kindergarten and back to their pre-school for after school care. They have made some really great friends at both places and have developed a sense of independence and accomplishment because of all they have learned and are able to do now.

Physically, our beautiful Blondie is a very pale, blonde (surprise!) little girl. She has some of the most beautiful grey eyes you’ll ever see. She is always smiling and we hear so many comments about how happy she is and how her smile just lights up the room. She has hit a bit of a growth spurt lately and has added several inches to her height. New pants were in order for the first cool day of the year, that’s for sure! She prefers her long hair to be in a ponytail or bun and is always ready for school with a coordinating ponytail holder each morning. Everything about her outfit has to be just so, or her whole day is ruined.

Little Bit, being part Greek, has beautiful olive skin, dark eyes and dark hair. She definitely stands out in our pale family. She hasn’t quite hit her growth spurt, so she’s now a bit shorter than her sister. For a long time, they were exactly the same height and weight, but she now has quite a bit of catching up to do! She is known for wearing every color of the rainbow at the same time. She does not like it when her shoes match, but prefers to wear a different one on each foot. Her ponytails must always have two different colors of holders and they must not match her shirt. If you’re old enough to remember Punky Brewster, you know what I’m talking about. If not, Google it. J

Unless Daddy is outside, Blondie prefers to stay inside and play quietly or work on her toy computer. Little Bit would live outside if we let her. Blondie is definitely the quieter of the two; Little Bit is loud and boisterous and you don’t want to stand too close when she’s telling a story-her hands and arms never stop moving. They both love to play dress up and pretend they are mommies. Little Bit will frequently select a new baby doll as her favorite baby to mother; Blondie’s baby is always her stuffed rabbit, which wears a very pretty pink dress.

Blondie is convinced that Daddy hung the moon and can be found in the dictionary under “Daddy’s girl.” It’s physically painful for her to be away from him when he is home and she follows him everywhere. I call her his shadow and truly believe that if I could sew her on to his feet the way Wendy sewed Peter Pan’s shadow onto him, she would be the happiest girl on the planet. I tell everyone she LOVES her Daddy and tolerates the rest of us…it’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but it really does describe how she feels about him.

Little Bit is completely attached to Sissy; she’s kind of like her Mini-Me, and the feeling is mutual. One of the questions we still hear on occasion is, “Why can’t Sissy be my mommy?” I’ve never been jealous of their relationship; I know that their bond is one of the things that got them through some of the tough times in the past. I have noticed lately that I’m moving up in importance to her, though. Eventually we may get to where Mommy is number 1 and Sissy is number 1.01. (She’ll never move to the number two spot, but I *may* inch past her at some future date.)

Blondie very much needs structure and rules. Her day-to-day happiness depends on how well her predetermined schedule of events is being followed. She thrives on routine. Rules are there to be followed and are for the good of society. Little Bit is a carefree spirit who rebels at the thought of having to follow the rules. She wants to make her own decisions and choices and cannot stand that someone else gets to tell her what to do. She has no problems telling me just how mean and evil I am when I make her follow the rules and behave. While this may one day make her a great leader, it gets her little behind into a lot of trouble now.

They are polar opposites in so many ways, but they compliment each other and our family nicely. I feel so lucky to get to watch them grow up and learn new things about the world each day. There’s also nothing in the world quite like having them rush into my arms at the end of the day to give me hugs and kisses; I wouldn’t trade that for anything.