We went to a graduation party today for (hoping this doesn’t sound too much like a six degrees of separation thing) my sister’s boyfriend’s sister. It was a very nice party, even though we didn’t know most of the people there. One of the main events for the kids was swimming in the pool. Our daughter has a compulsive need to enter any body of water larger than (and including) a puddle, so my sister generously offered to go in with her.

Afterwards, we took the baby inside to change her in one of the bedrooms and my sister was doing the same in the adjacent bathroom. She came out and joined us and was brushing her hair.

When I saw her hairbrush, my jaw just about dropped.

Every other time I’ve had a chance to see her brush her hair, she’s used one of those plastic, blow-dry-through type hairbrushes. The brush she had today was, in my considered opinion, primarily intended for something other than brushing hair. It was rectangular, about 4 inches by 5 inches, and made of a lovely dark wood. I considered asking her where she got it, but that’s just not the sort of question a brother asks his sister.

After we left, I asked Sparkle if she’d noticed the hairbrush, and she laughed and said “What was that?!?” I think we’re both again contemplating the degree of genetic predisposition in this kink of ours.

a-serious-encounter-with-a-hairbrush

The only other item of interest is that Sparkle got spanked last night, and since it was a punishment, she’s recounted it on Punishment Book. I won’t rehash the details here, but did want to add an observation or two.

Failing to get the laundry wasn’t a serious “offense” by any means, and under most conditions, I’d not give it a second thought. As I told Sparkle afterwards, however, the reason I spanked her for it was because she’d specifically asked me to remind her to get it, which I had, and she’d still ignored/forgotten it. Her work is quite stressful right now, and will continue to be so (and even more so) for the next few weeks. I know from past experience that the more stressed and focused she gets with work, the more upset she gets when she, in her mind, neglects the routines of life. I’m perfectly willing to do more of the household chores and such when she’s busy, but she still feels a need to do certain things, to prove to herself that she’s not totally absorbed with her job.

She could have just as easily asked me to get the laundry in the first place, and I would have. Instead, she decided it was something she needed to do. Had I left the laundry for her to find in the morning, she’d likely have become even more upset at herself and then been fussy for a good portion of today (particularly if anything else had “gone wrong” today). Thus, spanking her for the laundry last night diffused the situation and prevented a minor issue from becoming anything more than that.