middle child

it seems like not too many years ago when i used to laugh when parents (mine and others' alike) said stuff like, "you didn't come with instructions, you know." i think that in my own naive mind i thought they were just making excuses for not knowing stuff they were really supposed to know (how dare they!). i humbly take back any sarcastic or sneering comment i may have made about those parents who i thought didn't have a clue. here i am with three bambinos of my own... and more times than not, no clue about how to handle stuff that comes up.

like my middle child.

abraham was born just 19 months after our first son. he has always lived in ammon's shadow. not only has he always worn all of ammon's hand-me-downs, but if ammon does somersaults, abraham does somersaults. if ammon talks like a cowboy, abraham talks like a cowboy. his friends have always been ammon's friends (a few times he's gotten really lucky and got the younger sibling as his own friend). most recently, if ammon gets to go off to school every day, then abraham wants to do the same (but can't).

enter princess ziya. at the tender age of three, abraham found that he was not only a little brother, but a big brother, too! all of a sudden, mom is busier than ever and abraham is expected to do chores, to eat all of his dinner without whining, to independently don hat, gloves, boots and jacket (don't forget to zip it, too!), to go to the bathroom by himself, etc. (all things that ammon was not expected to do until he was a bit older).

to summarize, abraham is not the big kindergartener who has new and exciting news to tell every single day... nor is he the adorable baby girl who wraps anybody she encounters around her little finger. he's the middle child.

in the past couple of weeks, abraham has put his little size 12 foot down. and boy has he put it down! it's hard to pinpoint examples, but to put it mildly, he has become A BIT DIFFICULT. he hits, he yells, he name calls, he poops in the closet... he also loves to cuddle, to be called a "handsome gentleman," to be listened to (with undivided attention), to pretend to continue sleeping while i softly tickle him at the end of his nap, and so much more.

i finally did something right today. i ignored the fact that in order to have a happy evening, dinner should be served at 5 pm (which means it needs to be prepared before picking ammon up from school). the five loads of laundry did not get done. ziya's blowout diaper mess got wrapped up and put aside instead of completely cleaned up (gross, i know!), and the pile on top of the computer desk did not get sorted.

instead, i did play dough with abraham... for a really long time while ziya napped. we both smacked bubblicious bursts sour cherry storm bubblegum and i actually let him pop my bubbles. i made him a buzz light year teddy bear. abraham was "buzz 1" and i was "buzz 2." we had a war, and we had to dodge bombs that the bad guys threw at us. we then had to make our own mega-bombs to throw back. we also made a little dog cause there's a dog in the movie (ours is the good dog... not to be confused with sid's bad, scary dog). we had a great time. several times, i found myself laughing - the guffaw type.

our late dinner caused a few problems and there were a few disastrous moments when ammon tried to recreate the buzz light year game (he wasn't doing it just right). but the play dough date i had with my abraham was a real treasure and worth it all.

i'm learning. i'm thankful to have an observant husband who has noted some little things about abraham. i'll probably enroll him in swim lessons this winter (something to call his own). jacob and i are both going to try to spend more quality one-on-one time with him. and for sure, i'll schedule another play dough date. maybe we'll make woody this time.

i love my middle child.