Sometimes Tessa just astounds me.

“Mama, I got a problem”

“Really, baby? What is wrong?”

“My juice container is square and my cup holder is a circle, Mama. It doesn’t fit.”

I am briefly stunned. She is 3 and somehow can express her self so matter-of-factly that I am sometimes jealous. Given the same scenario, despite the 25+ years I have on her, I would probably be gesturing wildly searching for words while I foamed at the mouth. “It no fit… arghhhh! Damn juice box, stupid.. cup holder” mutter mutter.

Mira on the other hand does her best expression through art. The small nuances of interaction and the words that sometimes fail her all fall perfectly into her master pieces. Though I can understand how it all tumbles out in that way, she still shocks me with the intricacies that lace through each piece. There are things that she can not verbally express and thus I have often assumed she just didn’t get or pay attention too. That is simply not the case; she just doesn’t know how to otherwise talk about it.

What is so amazing in the differences between these girls is the basics of how they view life.

For Mira, everything is black or white. It simply is or is not. Right or wrong there is NO maybe- maybe just simply means yes or no to her, depending on who utters it. Her drawings may be full of color but her view of truth is stark.

Tessa, straight shooter that she is, see the world in shades and tones. She reads your face, body, and voice. No, said without emphasis, really could mean yes. Why not try?