Last year when the kids were fighting a lot I made them write apologies to each other several times. I had mostly forgotten about that (though I should probably do it more often!), until today. This morning I was in the shower and they started at it. When I was brushing my teething I heard Eve shrieking and telling Lex to go away. I couldn’t do much about it since I had a toothbrush in my mouth so I just ignored them. When I got done and came down stairs they had separated and were quiet. Eve was in the living drawing and Lex was at the table working on origami. I went to get dressed. When I came out of my bedroom Lex says to me, “Mom, I made Eve an apology penguin!” He was so proud and happy. I asked what Eve thought and he said it made her smile and he was pretty sure she was in the living room drawing something for him. I thought of last summer’s forced apologies and wondered if the kids had been thinking of that too. Whatever they were thinking, they made up and we had a beautiful day together.