Tidbits

I like the order that God gave my children to me. H is super active, gregarious, giggly and wiggly. K is loud and whiney, generous, and reserved. But without her sister to lead her into play, Kassy is shy and quiet. If K had come first, H would make me exhausted. This week K was too sick for childcare during my Bible study. She sat next to me in my small group, colored and listened. She didn't make a peep except when she needed to go to the bathroom. I regularly take her to my book clubs, meetings, sessions with my tutee. I can always count on her to stick close and to be quiet. It is lovely. I used to wonder how some moms had such calm kids. Was I failing to discipline enough? Now I know some kids are just born like that.

H is affectionate. She showers people with kisses and hugs and if they express a desire for her to stop, she thinks a game has started, like when she says, "Don't you tickle me" and then squeals in delight as her pursuer does it anyway. Most of the spring, she has been taunting Jack, the third grader we car pool with. She will say as we pull into the driveway, " I don't even want to kiss you." Then they both leap out of the car and she chases, but never catches. The two of them act like brother and sister: taunting, teasing, and bickering. Now I hear she was kissing the little boy Chase on the way to the field trip on Thursday and his mom said he loved it! Teasingly, I related these stories to T and Cody at the dinner table, boy was she mad at me. Oh and she wrote Jack a love note the other day. I asked Jack the next morning if he got H's note, "She spelled my name wrong on the inside, her J was backward and it was lowercase" was his reply.

I have a love/hate relationship with children's medicine. I appreciate the sweet flavorings so it isn't such a fight to get them down. But my girls like the flavors so much they feel jealous if one is getting medicine and not the other. H, I'm suspect, has been faking some pain lately to get medicine. So I've been giving her special medicine for her specific ailment: food colored water with a drop of orange liquid sweetner. She always feels better. Now what do I do about it? Is she really faking, or does the very thought of medicine act as a healer? Any thoughts?