Quiet

Tracey is at an age where I can usually tell by the sounds from the other room whether she is getting into trouble or not.  If the sounds are chatter-y and playful with just a few crashes here and there, she is not in trouble.  If HUGE crashes occur, something is wrong, and if an eerie quiet hangs in the air, she has, either accidentally or on purpose, found some mischief.

Such a quiet occurred a few days ago when I was watching both twins, and Tracey and her older cousin Zivah.  The girls were playing relatively well and Zivah wanted to play with my purse.  Now, the purse is about the size of a paperback book, and I never use it accept for going out without any children -- which happens only once or twice while we're on vacation, so I knew not much, if anything was in this purse.  I made sure I grabbed my wallet out, and I knew there was a chapstick and a few frequent shopping punch cards in there, but I figured if they found it, they could have it.

Ten minutes later, I couldn't believe how well they were playing together.  I couldn't hear anything.  Were they even still downstairs with me?  Usually I at least hear them talking to each other.  

Well, they were downstairs with me... and they had found gold in my purse -- not one, but two lipstick containers.