we still have children

Before we left on our trip to Burma, I was worried about how the girls would handle it. I cautously prepared E by telling her we were going away but would come back after a few days and she would have a great time without us. 

She looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Are you going to Disneyland Hong Kong?" 

I quickly answered, "No! Of course not. We wouldn't go there without you and Vi." 

"OK, Mom. Me going to have lots of fun at Maggie's house." And that was that. 

Last week she made a Book of Mormon at school. She proudly brought it home and showed me, telling me it was for Rocky and me. She wrote out 'book' using the number 8 as she is just that cool.

In contrast, yesterday at church she loudly and persistently moaned, "This is too long! Church is too long" "When is this going to be over!" This happened so loudly and so continuously I had to take her out. We went to an empty classroom and I told her she had to sit on my lap until the meeting was over. 

I'm really trying harder to only make threats I can keep and being diligent in my punishments but I failed to take into account that, though it was already after 10 and therefore the meeting should be over any minute, it was fast Sunday, and in our ward that means 'Wild Card Sunday.' We don't need to go into details but she head butted me a few times and I woke up this morning with a fat lip--it was a long 15 minutes for both of us.

Vi continues to be a doll.
She's walking, running, climbing up stairs and face planting on a regular basis.
She has put herself on a strict diet of frozen blueberries and cheese. (They say blueberries are a super food.)
She loves baby dolls, the tags on her blankie, anything that can be used as a phone, and whatever Eliot has put up on the play table to keep away from her.
The only the she hates more than baby food and car seats, is swimming. So naturally, I have her signed up for swimming lessons. No surprise, I'm a total monster. She didn't cry throughout the entire lesson this time. Only a brief spattering of tears and repeated attempts to climb out of the pool. That's an improvement, right?
I'm considering cutting her bangs as her hair always ends up looking like this. If she sees me with the hair brush, she runs and hides, though not very well. What do you think? Bangs?