Children. We have three of them. The first two are only 26 months apart. The last one? He's five years younger than the middlest. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on children, although I am a pediatric nurse [ha!]; but I can tell you, the third child is without a doubt the luckiest of the bunch.
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| Giant Panda. Meet Kellen. |
Of course, kids come with no handbook. So the firstborn is sorta the 'test' child. He's the one I utilize the most for figuring out this mom gig. Mistakes, successes, trials and errors? Most of them get hammered out with him. Especially when it came to babies. Oh, I loved being a first-time mom. But it was definitely the most difficult of times. I
was positive that every-single-little-tiny-decision-was-important. He was
breakable.
The second? Well, she's the one I was able to "fix" all the mistakes I made with the first. You know, having figured out the baby thing with the first one, I could focus on making it 'right' with the second.
Gawd.
By the time the third one came along, I was really just exhausted. And I knew from Kid One and Kid Two experiences that there's surprisingly very few mistakes to really be made.
So Kid Three? He's just super chill and easy going. Headstrong, always laughing and having a good time, and downright loving. He's really kinda the tag-a-long kid, since his big brother and big sister are so much older than he is. But they love him and they tolerate him always trying to hang with the big kids. At least mostly.
And now it's summer. Owen is 12, Abby is 10, and Kellen, the 'baby,' is four years old. With the fab hubby off in Iraq, I was concerned about the two oldest once school let out for the summer. Kellen is in daycare -- so he's not really an issue. But what to do with the big kids to keep them out of trouble, not bored, and not desperately missing their Dad? I shipped them off to SoCal for a month to hang with some of their besties they'd met in Cairo. Yeppers. Two days after school finished for the summer, I herded those two off to Dulles and they flew to SoCal. Off for an adventure of surfing and sailing.
Awesome mom points, I know!
But this ingenious plan left the tag-a-long kid with no one other kids to tag-a-long with.
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| Those devious eyes. |
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Dang! It's been a long time since I had just one kid in my radius. Usually, I just say "kids go play" and well, they do. But Kellen? He's really never been on his own, especially for such a long period of time. He's never been an only child. Until this summer.
And oh, did he fall into the groove quickly. All the Mom attention he can handle! The Xbox (and Owen's room --- shhh!) at his mercy! All the popsicles he could ever want...all to himself. Kids' movies, the zoo, the pool, playgrounds galore, and a newly decorated bedroom, just for him!
Truthfully, I've loved this time. It's not that I don't miss the big kids (because I totally do), but having Kellen all to myself has been an interesting adventure. I love looking at the world through his four-year-old eyes. Of course, with no big kids around, he's had the chance to really do things that are geared toward four-year-olds. And with his daredevil-I-can-do-and-be-anything easy nature? He's exhausting, but so totally awesome at the same time.
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| A picnic at the park! |
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| Ham and cheesy. |
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| Kellen took this pic for us! FS friends...and one is off to Nepal this month! |
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| New big boy bed! |
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| He picked the bedding out himself. |
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| We were there to see Minions, but he loves PacMan, too! |
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| After the Minions movie, I got a major haircut... |
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| And Kellen got ice cream as a reward for being so good! |
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| On the Metro, headed to the National Zoo. |
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| Elephants in the background! |
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| Hanging with me and checking out the bear. |
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| The stingrays were surprisingly his favorite of the day. |
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| Sippy faces! |
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| Again. Those.Eyes. He owns me because of those baby blues! |
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| TWO stuffed pandas?! Mom is such a sucker. |
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| Pretty much a perfect ending to an amazing adventure. |
