it's just not a party...

Saturday was a birthday party for a friend of the twins. Charlotte (our youngest) was invited, too. So we all went over to the family's house for pizza and cake and assorted kid merriment.

I mentioned Charlotte because she's such a stinker. All of the girls are individuals, and she's no exception. She's gregarious and very affectionate. Everyone is a friend. When we take the big girls to kindergarten, ChaCha always gives her sisters hugs and kisses -- and she bestows the same to her sisters' classmates, the teacher, and assorted other parents. (Her favorite is the father of one little boy who has the same name as my husband -- Archie -- and who returns her attentions fully. She calls him "my second favorite Owchie" which is very amusing.) Cha also has a fondness for being naked. She will take her clothes off at the drop of a hat. She's preferred nakedness since she was an infant. Most babies hate to be naked -- when they have to be nude for weigh-ins at the doctor, they scream and fuss. ChaCha has always loved it -- our doctor even mentioned how odd it was that Cha was perfectly content to be bare-assed from her first checkup. (She also doesn't cry when she gets vaccines. It's quite possible she's an alien.)

So, at the birthday party, Charlotte was having so much fun. She was chatting up everyone, eating pizza, lobbying to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey about 20 times. (She even spun herself around and then laughed the loudest when she put the tail on the wrong wall.) The big girls were being very well-behaved and we were all having a nice time. So, all the adults ended up talking in the living room. Then the magic ended.

"Charlotte has her clothes off!" I went into the dining room to see Ms. Party Animal stripped down to her Pull-Up. She was doing a little dance and singing, "I'm nake-y! I'm nake-y!" I told her she needed to get dressed. She refused. So I told her there would be no cake if she didn't get dressed. That did the trick. All the other parents thought my daughter's aversion to clothing was funny.

"Well, it's just not a party until Charlotte takes her clothes off, " I said. "And I really hope that I never hear teenagers saying that in about 12 years!"