poor oldest child she's the test rat,
poor third child looks at old family photos and says "you went to one of those places with live animals?" by the
4th child they think the park is the playland at Smiths Marketplace. I found myself telling Anna today that you kids may all be in the same family but don't expect the same rules and levels of expectation.
No child has ever received as much attention and time from adults as my Morgan did. Cousin Evelyn told me one time that she's sure Morgan will forgive us at some point for having Anna. Luckily Anna loved experiencing life through Morgan's eyes. Morgan is brave and tries everything. Anna can watch, listen and learn and then try the things she decides to try. Anna, Morgan and I played and played for the first 5-6 years of my being a Mom.
The sad thing is that they don't remember all too much. I keep telling myself that it's the total experience and time not the specific activity so it's ok they don't really remember "doing" everything.
Taylor got lots and lots of my time but we didn't do all of the fun kids things. I still tried to do it
all and actually felt like I could do at least
most of IT. Anna loves mothering Tay and I enjoy watching it. They are so good together (except when they are being sensitive girls and don't want to be together). One day Taylor looked at an old photo of us at the zoo and was so excited that we have actually been to one of those places that has live animals. Boy, did I feel guilty, we went to the
zoo the next day.
One day when Taylor was in Kindergarten she looked at me in horror ... "who will take care of Alec when I go to first grade?" Who knew that I had passed on so many mothering responsibilities. I assured her that I would be ok watching him while she was away for the entire day. She is the best friend. She is sensitive to his feelings and very diligent in "watching" out for him. She does the same with the dog, Pyper. Anna, you taught her well.
Alec is a joy too. He hasn't found much need to talk with 3 older sisters and an overbearing mother. He mostly likes to RUN FAST and play baseball. Since he isn't talking up to par he gets to go to the district pre-school class early (and for free!). He loves it. The other day Todd picked him up from school and asked what they did today. Alec looked at him and said "I talked a lot today!" Alec believes that everyone loves him - especially girls from 8 to adult given his attention at home. At church one Sunday he walked up to Nancy Baird and expected them to love him too. Nancy said to me that he must be loved lots at home and truly feel loved since he expected that love and attention from everyone around. Hopefully she wasn't finding a nice way to say "YOUR CHILD IS SPOILED" I choose to believe that Alec has the constant love of all of the family.
Todd is the ultimate dad/husband. He puts up with me even when I can't put up with me. When the girls need a strong parent to help them work through their girl hormones and difficult times he is there. He is there with good listening ears and a huge dad heart. We love you
