The 2nd Grader and the Kindergartener are eighteen months apart and share their own unique bond being close in age. They fight like crazy, but when the stars align just right they also enjoy each other’s company as peers. The Toddler, though, is three and four years younger than the older two. So, she has not yet really achieved “playmate” status with either of them. But, for the past two years I’ve had both her and the middle one home with me most of the day.
Now that we’re a couple of weeks into the new school year, I feel like we’re settling into a routine. As I suspected, it’s been a big adjustment to have only the Toddler at home while both the other two are at school. It makes me reminisce about all the experiences the younger two shared together these past couple of years…
The Toddler routinely stole her crayons/markers:
She messed up her baby dolls and stuffed animals:
And, paid the price for doing so:
She rearranged her puzzle pieces:
She sat in the middle of her artwork:
She even did the unthinkable. She threw the Kindergartener’s picnic {which she had so carefully set up to surprise me} into her diaper changer:
That was major.
Yet, they had their tender moments here and there…
So, now, the Toddler hardly knows what to do with herself. She has no one to bother… except me, of course. And, I’m just not as fun because I don’t react as dramatically as the Kindergartener did to her antics. {By that I mean, I don’t typically growl or chase her}.
Yesterday while the 2nd Grader was at a tennis lesson, I took the other two to the park. And, it was just like old times. Only they actually enjoyed each other’s company. They laughed and played and swung…
It was fun to watch. Sometimes a little absence {during the school day} makes the heart grow fonder {during the afternoon hours}.
And, then we were all brought back to reality when this happened:
There are certain hazards associated with having wild hair. Like when strands get caught around the metal hook when you’re mid-swing. It puts a real damper on the whole experience.
Despite the abrupt end to the swinging, I was glad to see little glimmers of kinship between these two. It has been a few years in the making, and it still has many years to go for all three of the girls. Sometimes I just have to look back to see how far we’ve come so I can more fully appreciate where we are.
Maya Angelou said, “I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people brothers or sisters. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”
And, that’s where we are. We’re working at it.
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