kids
our girl is sleeping right now. yay. poor kid, somehow she came down with hives today. how??? no idea, she didn't seem to have eaten anything unusual and we were at friends' house, they have a dog but she's been there many many times with no consequence. aaron's allergic to dogs so he thinks that maybe she's developing a pet allergy, i don't know....hope she's better in the morning.
kieran's well, he's at this great four-year-old-boy stage where he plays and entertains himself, talking softly to himself most of the time. playing with cars, trains, airplanes, pretending to be a superhero or a Ghostbuster. we've been so fortunate too that the kids get along and play so well with one another. i feel like kids have such distinct personalities and it's hard to know or predict what will happen when you give them a sibling. i've known sweet, caring little ones who have such a hard time adapting to a new baby (or more often, a baby who grows into a toddler who takes older kids' toys, books, etc). we felt to some extent we were crossing our fingers that he would handle andie well, never resent her, never hurt her, never wish she wasn't there. and he's wonderful with her. he's sweet and gentle and there are brief frustrating moments where she takes a car he's playing with (the girl loves the cars and trains) and he'll cry out, but it's like it's not a thought in his head to be truly mad at her. recently at an evening meeting at his school i left both of them in the childcare room (even though it was a meeting it was heavenly to be without them for almost 2 hours!) at the end of the meeting one of the women asked if the girl in the pigtails was mine. she said that the other women wanted her to come and see the two kids, andie had had a moment where she was asking for her mommy and was crying, but that her brother was so sweet with her, leading her around by the hand, giving her toys to play with. this woman telling me how great kieran was with his sister just made me so proud, though i can't take credit for my boy's sweet nature.
i remember having a conversation with friends once about what we wanted to teach our children. i believe that empathy is one of the greatest lessons i can help my kids to learn. i want them to always be able to put themselves in someone else's place, to never be so self-focused that they can't see how different we all are and how varied our perspectives are. of course i want them to also be proud, secure, intelligent, well-rounded, and on and on and on. but sometimes in this world of rushing, convenience over quality, me me me, i want it now attitudes compassion is a commodity. maybe it's just dumb luck that our son is so nurturing and caring with his sister but it makes me hopeful just the same.
and with friends having new babies (congrats on #3 mike and becki) and others announcing pregnancies (yay lisa and amanda) it's made me think about it lately. aaron and i couldn't be happier about our kids and how they get along.
anyway, i should wrap this up, this is what happens when i get custody of the laptop for too long.
kieran's well, he's at this great four-year-old-boy stage where he plays and entertains himself, talking softly to himself most of the time. playing with cars, trains, airplanes, pretending to be a superhero or a Ghostbuster. we've been so fortunate too that the kids get along and play so well with one another. i feel like kids have such distinct personalities and it's hard to know or predict what will happen when you give them a sibling. i've known sweet, caring little ones who have such a hard time adapting to a new baby (or more often, a baby who grows into a toddler who takes older kids' toys, books, etc). we felt to some extent we were crossing our fingers that he would handle andie well, never resent her, never hurt her, never wish she wasn't there. and he's wonderful with her. he's sweet and gentle and there are brief frustrating moments where she takes a car he's playing with (the girl loves the cars and trains) and he'll cry out, but it's like it's not a thought in his head to be truly mad at her. recently at an evening meeting at his school i left both of them in the childcare room (even though it was a meeting it was heavenly to be without them for almost 2 hours!) at the end of the meeting one of the women asked if the girl in the pigtails was mine. she said that the other women wanted her to come and see the two kids, andie had had a moment where she was asking for her mommy and was crying, but that her brother was so sweet with her, leading her around by the hand, giving her toys to play with. this woman telling me how great kieran was with his sister just made me so proud, though i can't take credit for my boy's sweet nature.
i remember having a conversation with friends once about what we wanted to teach our children. i believe that empathy is one of the greatest lessons i can help my kids to learn. i want them to always be able to put themselves in someone else's place, to never be so self-focused that they can't see how different we all are and how varied our perspectives are. of course i want them to also be proud, secure, intelligent, well-rounded, and on and on and on. but sometimes in this world of rushing, convenience over quality, me me me, i want it now attitudes compassion is a commodity. maybe it's just dumb luck that our son is so nurturing and caring with his sister but it makes me hopeful just the same.
and with friends having new babies (congrats on #3 mike and becki) and others announcing pregnancies (yay lisa and amanda) it's made me think about it lately. aaron and i couldn't be happier about our kids and how they get along.
anyway, i should wrap this up, this is what happens when i get custody of the laptop for too long.
posted by joanna at 8:30 PM
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