Taking Pause

My children are growing up so fast. Too fast. Each observation I make about each child (of which there are many during the course of a day) could become an entire blog post in itself. I just can’t keep up. So I am forcing myself to take pause right now and record some observations.

Sophie:

I can’t believe that the Sophie I see now was once my tiny six pound baby. She is a big kid now. She is smart, mature, funny, caring, and helpful. If either Lilah or Jude (or both) is home with me, I prefer Sophie to stay home too. She can entertain and sooth Jude almost as well as a non-parent adult. In some ways she is like a third parent to him. He recognizes her. His face lights up when he sees or hears her, which, in turn, makes my face light up. She recently walked herself to a friend’s house. She had to cross one street that rarely sees a car and then walk a ways down. I could see her the whole time. I watched with a mixture of pride and disbelief as she proudly walked farther and farther away, until she skipped up her friend’s driveway. And my heart skipped a beat.

Lilah:

Lilah has always had a wonderful personality. She has always been sweet, smart, and easy-going. Her vocabulary has always blown listeners away. Her smile has always been contagious. Recently I have observed another quality: self assurance. When she walks into a crowd of people she throws her arms open and exclaims, “Lilah is here!” She knows she is well-liked. She lays on the charm- and it works. Sophie has picked up on this too, and often sends Lilah as an emissary to the parents when one is needed on behalf of the kids. She enjoys playing with both her sister and brother. She gets along with everyone. People often worry about “middle child syndrome” when there are three siblings, but I am not worried. The middle child in our family is laid-back, self-assured, and high-achieving.

Judah:

When people ask me what kind of a baby Jude is, I often say, “he doesn’t know he’s the third child.” I had expected my third child to follow in the footsteps of my second child, who seamlessly fit in with our existing family upon birth. I had hoped for a happy, quiet, and low-maintenance baby. He had other plans. I say he doesn’t know he is the third child, but maybe he does know. Maybe it is precisely because he is my third that he feels he needs to make himself heard. He doesn’t want to sit on the sidelines. He wants to be nursed, held, cuddled, and talked to. And why shouldn’t he be? Firstborn children get the benefit of undivided attention from their parents and research proves that it leads to higher IQ scores, greater success, and other advantages in life. Although Jude’s high demands often inconvenience me, I am proud of his determination and ambition. And I am grateful for the extra one-on-one time I am forced to have with him.