Last Wednesday I took Petra to the eye doctor to see if we can get to the bottom of the headaches she’s been having for the past few months. Her vision isn’t so bad, but apparently it’s bad enough to warrant giving glasses a try, so we came home with a prescription This afternoon Olof and I took her to the optician where she picked out a pair of pink-and-purple frames that look so adorable you won’t be able to stand it. It’ll be a week or two before they’re ready, though, and I didn’t take a picture when she was trying them on, so for now you’ll just have to trust me on the cuteness.

That sorted, we headed over to the grocery-store-turned-madhouse and filled a basket with some essentials to last us through the weekend, then came home. After dinner Petra packed a bag and walked a few doors down to her friend’s house, where she’s attending her very first sleep-over. I’m hoping she makes it through the night, but if she doesn’t, at least it’s not a big trip to fetch her home.

It’s amazing how much quieter everything is when she’s not here. For whatever reason, she seems to be at the center of nearly all the fighting that goes on between the kids. On her own, she’s rarely any trouble at all, but in combination with any (or, heaven forbid, all) of her siblings, she can be a handful. Not so many years ago, Olof and I would commiserate that Lydia was more of a challenge than all of the other kids combined. That hasn’t been the case for a while now, but it seems that Petra has decided to pick up the torch.