kids are unique

anyone who has more than one child will tell you that parenting one child is not the same as parenting every child...
some who only have one child will agree with this, but many without children, have not seen the light.

we are parenting 3 t h r e e children. they are not the same sex, but they are not all different sexes, so that is not the main thing different in parenting... some with only one, or one of each gender may think that the differences come in the genders

we have been discussing how to best parent these children, because we lost our owners manual, and evidently the office that issues these manuals has been permanently vacated...probably too little pay and too much work if you ask me

while eating their afternoon snack today, the children were worried about who had more crackers, and who had more popcorn and who was not sharing... actually the oldest and the youngest were worried and sitting beside one another and quite concerned with their current situation. the oldest is on the verge of 10 and the youngest is fast approaching 3....

as they sat fussing back and forth, I threw a few m & m candies from a partially eaten bag onto their popcorn.... the bag of candy formerly belonged to the middle child, who was quielty eating his popcorn. I did not count the m & m's just opened the package and tossed a few on the popcorn to clean up a bag... the oldest counts hers first----4, she says" I only got 4 "and quickly counts her youngest brothers-4 "he got 4 too, how many did Wes get, I bet Wes (middle boy) only has 4 too, right?"

I explain that the candy belonged to the middle child and the oldest tells him thank you for sharing, and he, quietly eating his snack, says, 'that's what friends are for"

and you wonder why parents don't treat every kid the same......do you know have any idea where they moved the office where you get those manuals I mentioned earlier?

October

We have not fallen off the planet, but we have been running around it.
Jaylee started school and this AR reading is gonna be the end of us... really she is better and things are starting to settle down (knock on wood)
She will be getting glasses, so we will have to get some photos when they come in
The boys are doing well... Wes had a birthday, his golden one he turned 5 on the 5th. He is getting so independent and he is so congenial. He is really easy and we are thankful for that. He can buckle himself in and get himself out of the car seat which is a GREAT help.
Kolin is ending his terrible twos but don't shout a victory cry for us yet, he is entering his troublesome or is it trying threes. All I know is we are fastly approaching....
I have several stories to tell, but I just wanted to document where we have been... and in case anyone ever checks, we are still alive.