The "Only Child"

Last Monday Aunt Sarah called and asked if Rachel and Lilly wanted to come spend a couple of days with her and the cousins in Fruitland. I am sure her motivation was to give her very pregnant little sister a break. When she asked I thought "that is really nice of her, even though I am doing fine." We decided to plan the sleepover for Wednesday. By the time Wednesday rolled around I was thinking "I CAN'T WAIT!!!". So for two days it was just Carson and me. Boy did he eat it up. That boy has no memory of being one-on-one with a parent for more than an hour or two, and he was loving it! I loved it too, but one thing I have taken for granted up until now is how much my kids entertain each other. With no sisters, I was his sole source of entertainment. I have never had to spend so much time entertaining a two-year-old, and was not entirely sure how. I learned this. When in doubt, chase him around and wrestle him to the ground.

Rachel and Lilly had a great time with their cousins, but Rachel came home with a couple of interesting personality changes. As I have said before, Rachel looks up to her cousin Brady with a great deal of admiration. Prior to her trip to Fruitland she could eat both sour cream and ketchup by the spoonful. These are two condiments that Brady will have nothing to do with. We had nachos on Saturday and she refused the mountain of sour cream she usually eats on hers. Then on her corn dog yesterday she said "ketchup is too sour." This from the girl we usually have to monitor when it comes to ketchup consumption. Also, she is all of the sudden "too big for PBS kids" because Brady doesn't watch PBS kids. It all could be worse. If she is going to model her behavior after someone, Brady is a really good example.

Shelby was trying to get Rachel to cuddle with him on Sunday, but Rachel just wanted to tease him. Finally he gave up and went upstairs. When he left I explained to Rachel that even though dads are a lot of fun to play with, sometimes they need hugs just like moms. Lilly was listening intently and when I was finished she announced "I am going to go cuddle with daddy." I know Lilly, and I know she was worried about Shelby's feelings being hurt. So in an attempt to make him feel better, she was his best buddy the rest of the day. A couple of weeks ago, one of our baby-sitters mentioned to me in passing that they slaughtered one of their cows. The next time we had this particular baby-sitter (usually a big favorite at our house) I told Lilly "Guess what, Kayleen is coming over!" She seemed unusually serious when I told her this. After a few seconds she said "Can you tell her not to kill any more of her cows?" Lilly is just so tender-hearted.

Rachel and Lilly like to tell me things. If one starts on a story, all of the sudden the other one has something very urgent to share. It has caused many a fight at our house. Carson jumped in on this while we were eating breakfast this morning. The girls were fighting over telling me about Toy Story, when all of the sudden Carson shouted "Mom!" When I looked at him he paused for a moment trying to think of what to say, then held up his little fingers and shouted "Two!" Since he cannot really speak in sentences yet, this is the extent of his contribution to conversations.