.the all-knowing safety pin.

So apparently, I'm out of the loop. Tonight, my sister-in-law, Jenny,  asked if I had ever done "the paperclip trick" to determine how many kids I would have and what their genders would be.  I answered her question with another question: "Uh... what is the paperclip trick?" Jenny looked slightly shocked and told me to find a paperclip and a string... post-haste.

Evidently, if you tie a paperclip to the end of a piece of string and then have someone hold it perfectly still over your hand, it will magically begin to spin in circles. After "thinking" for a moment or two, it will either swing from right to left across your hand (meaning "girl") or back and forth (meaning "boy"). It will then begin to spin in circles again. Supposedly, it will repeat this cycle of circling and then "predicting" all the children in your future. When all your future offspring have been predicted, it will come to a stop.

It sounded a bit odd to me, but Jenny assured me that it was surprisingly accurate in her experience. She and her co-workers had spent time that day performing this "test" on each other and it seemed to spooky how well it worked. They had even done the test on several women who are done having children and it indicated correctly the children they already have. She also tested my other sister-in-law, who has a daughter already, but doesn't want more kids. The paperclip indicated a girl and then stopped abruptly.

Jenny said that she had two different people at work use this magical device to determine her procreative future and that both times the results were: girl, boy, girl. Seeing as she already has a little girl, the paperclip is already roughly 33% correct.
I was eager to see what the paperclip had to say on my behalf, but unfortunately... we had no paperclips or string in the house. I know, I know. Who doesn't have paperclips or, more shockingly, string in their house. Well, we don't, I guess. Ha, ha! I did, however, find a safety pin and some dental floss.  "Make it work!" as Tim Gunn would say (yes, I have been known to watch the occasional episode of Project Runway, much to my husbands dismay).

After putting the makeshift divination contraption together, Jenny held the string so the safety pin dangled perfectly still over my hand. Suddenly, it began to spin. After a couple minutes, it started to swing from side-to-side, meaning I would have a girl first... which, of course, is true (my sweet Livi). The safety pin began to circle again and then started to swing gently back and forth: a boy. It resumed its circling movements once more and then the safety pin began to swing back and forth with a surprising amount of energy. Apparently, the safety pin was quite sure about this one: another boy. Then, the safety pin just stopped, coming to a standstill over my palm.

As a control, we tested Jenny again and she got the same result as she had with her co-workers: a girl, a boy, and then another girl.

We laughed about how weird it was, and then my hubby asked if it worked for guys, too. Jenny wasn't sure, but we decided to give it a shot. I told him jokingly, but emphatically, that his result had better be the same as mine. 

What did the safety pin predict for Ben? A girl, a boy, and another boy! The funniest thing was that the first two results were with a gentle swaying motion, but when it came to the second "boy" result, that safety pin began swinging again with tremendous zeal, just like it had for me.

Granted, our results may not be entirely accurate seeing as there was a lack of proper construction, but it was an interesting experiment nonetheless. Even though I'm not sure if I put much stock into this old wives tale, I figured I should document the predictions of the all-knowing safety pin. It will be interesting to look back and see if the safety pin had it right all along...