Naoto's off for two weeks to Japan today. I already screamed at Mia at bathtime, so it's not looking good for the girls' long-term survival. Naoto told me I was only allowed to kill one of them.

When I go to the library, I make a mad dash through the speculative fiction section, trying to keep maika from pulling books off the shelf, running away, or hanging on the stair-rail like a monkey. (I've overheard other patrons saying 'where's your mother, dear?' a couple times, but what is a single bookaphile to do?)

Afterwards, we spend a more leisurely time in the children's book section trying to keep maika from pulling videos off the shelves, saying 'no' to playing the computer, etc. etc.

Today, after all that, I went to the self-check out computer and began scanning our selections. Maika came up and gave me her children's book selection, which I scanned and tried to hand back to her. She ran off, so I said "maika, take your book" in Japanese. She said "okay" and disappeared into the mystery stacks.

She returned with a mystery book and handed it to me to scan. I laughed, scanned it, and handed it back. It actually looks interesting, I'll probably read it.

Who needs Amazon recommendations when you have a two year old?