Here’s a “duh” moment for you: it’s loads easier to take care of one kid than three.
I had this “duh” moment somewhere in the wilds of NJ today. Also a surprise to me: NJ has “wilds.”
Katie had Girl Scouts sleep away camp this weekend. She’s a Brownie and camp lasts two nights – two nights! I’ve been a nervous wreck about it all weekend. She had a “practice” sleepover for Girl Scouts at the church fellowship hall a couple of months ago and all went well. Still, I’ve readied myself for the “come pick her up” phone call all week. It didn’t come. I felt a little better about this when I ran into another mom this weekend who confessed that she had already called camp this morning to make sure that her daughter was okay.
With this, Amy’s godparents decided to give her a special day to commemorate her birthday (coming up) and her Pre-K graduation (just last week). Yes, Pre-K graduation. I don’t know how it happened but suddenly my baby has finished Pre-K and is starting Kindergarten in the fall. I don’t remember giving permission for this to happen.
But back to Amy. She’s a little odd, that one, in a totally charming sort of way. Lucky for her that she carries off quirky so well… Her fun-filled weekend included tea at a fancy tea shop, a visit to a museum to see movie set dresses and a stay overnight at the Abraham Lincoln hotel. She is obsessed with Abraham Lincoln. I blame the Union League – and her godmother who bought her a Presidents book.
This, of course, left Charlie. Charlie would have been a stellar only child. Amy, she needs people. And Katie could do without anyone – including us. But Charlie? He just shines when in the spotlight and today was his day.
We made plans to visit a state park in NJ (don’t ask me why Chris was in a NJ mood, we’re never in a NJ mood) where we convinced Charlie we would “look for snakes.” Lucky for him, we found one. Or more accurately, I found one. Shrieking was involved. Charlie was in snake heaven. Chris looked it up in his book: it was a Northern Water Snake. I refer to it as the “snake waaaay over there.”
We also ran into beetles, odd bugs, ducks, an extremely large swan and a number of birds including the red winged blackbird. That’s right – in New Jersey. Who knew?
We stopped off at 5th near Girard for some authentic tacos (and some local color) and headed home for cookies and latte. Well, Charlie just looked at the latte. A lot. He insisted that I take off the top so that he could check out the bubbles.
There was live music at the cafe. Charlie sat down to eat his giant cookie while Chris waited for his ice cream. Charlie felt the need to scream “Daddy, I don’t like this music!” across the cafe. I was embarrassed but in his defense, it was Oasis’ “Wonderwalls” on the acoustic guitar.
It was late when we rolled back to the house. After a quick bubble bath, Charlie settled in to the Phillies’ game. He was ridiculously cute, giving hugs and kisses, and asking when his sisters would be home.
Is this what it’s like having an only child? If so, I wonder if it’s too late to decide that’s a good idea…
