Maggie Monday: The Kid's Edition

This is my niece Lala when she was about five with her constant companion, Baby Kate. Lala brought Baby Kate everywhere with her: to the store, to the Franklin Institute, to the movies, in the car. As you no doubt will suspect, Baby Kate got left a number of places. My cousin used to complain about having to, oh say, drive to the grocery store at 9 o'clock at night to get a doll so someone would go to bed.

At one Sunday dinner, I asked for a Maggie story. Lala wanted you to know this one. When Lala was carrying Baby Kate everywhere, Maggie used to (pretend to) try to tear it out of Lala's little hands and then threaten to take Kate home with her. My family is a group of teasers. You have to develop a thick skin to survive.

And yet...once when Maggie came to Pennsylvania with Grammy to take care of Lala and Yay-oh I watched her read a story to the girls. The children in the story were jumping, the next thing you know, Maggie has the kids jumping around. The kids in the book are screaming, the girls are screaming at Maggie's command. The kids in the book are running, the girls are running. She really got them going. It was adorable, but I don't know who that woman was and what she did with my grandmother.

We're just back home after a delayed flight. (Hey, it's Philly, what do you expect?) Stella is sacked out on the couch, and I'd like to join her. Full trip report soon.