We’ve been getting ready — getting the Boy’s room ready for the reality that he’s a little boy and deserves a little boy’s room (as opposed to a hand-me-down toddler’s room, which he had), getting the Girl’s desk (and room, but mainly the desk) ready for the new school year and all the work that comes with being in middle school.

The room took 200% longer than we thought it would: instead of three days, it took ten. Through it all, the Girl helped like a real adult — very little fussing, very little complaining.

“L, come on — it’s time to work,” I would say, and she would simply reply, “Okay.”

Her desk looks as new as E’s room. She’d created a real mess of it — fingernail polish from playing, magic marker from art endeavors, and mysterious stains from who knows what. With the help of a paint scraper and a lot of muscle, she got it looking almost new.

“I had a couple of accidents,” she began explaining, and I thought she’d perhaps cut herself with the paint scraper, but in fact, she had simply removed a bit of the finish from the desk.

As should be the case, not all the work was work — some of it was quite fun.