Siblings

I'd be lying if I said that I -never- wonder what life would be like with just one kid. Bill Cosby asked an audience once to raise their hands if they were parents. Then he told all the people with just one child to put down their hands because they weren't really parents...they didn't have to deal with the WILLYOUSTOPTOUCHINGME and if something is broken you know who broke it, etc etc. I don't know if I agree with him...parenting is parenting. BUT...having more than one certainly changes the rules a bit.

Like playing music in the car. So far, we only have to take 2 turns for favorite CD's to be played (my music NEVER gets played...except as a way to get the fighting to stop in the back of the car...it's a very effective threat..."If you don't stop screaming, I'm turning on my music."). Soon there will be 3 fighting over the next song...and the next song...ugh. And of course the toys. What one child is playing with becomes unimaginably interesting to the other children. Which is why I rarely hear from Lily when Andrew is at school and Michael is napping...she is blissfully alone with the toys and she enjoys every second of it. And then there are the guilt trips..."Sometimes I feel like you don't love me as much..." And the screaming...dear God, the screaming. And the wrestling...which almost always ends in screaming. And the hiding of precious items...with the inevitable losing of precious items because they can't remember where they hid them (Lily has yet to learn this one...although I'm sure it will come soon). And the bossing around (Andrew is my biggest helper when it involves scolding Lily) and the competition (good job beating Lily in every race, Andrew...very impressive) and did I mention the screaming?

But I wouldn't have it any other way. Because as much as they drive each other (and me!) crazy, my kids have a relationship that cannot be duplicated in any other form. And I'm really really happy they have one another.

Enjoying the silly kiddie pool...Andrew and Lily had a BLAST together...no input from me needed at all. I could have been reading a magazine except for the 14 month old that refused to play along with them. ;)

Before the water became clogged with grass. Lily was amazingly patient about getting shot in the head with Andrew's water gun. She just needs to learn to run away as fast as Shadow does from him ...he tired of that game very quickly.

The family menace.

I don't do swim diapers in the backyard. Why bother? Apparently they serve more of a function than just feces collection...they hold up baby swim trunks. This photo was taken just moments before the "pooptastrophe"...you can read more below.

Michael hated the pool...thank God. Lily loved it, but not when Andrew was jumping in. So she spent a fair amount of time on the sidelines watching him hurtle his body into the ground.

A Pantene commercial if I ever saw one.

Watching, watching...

This was the first day I braved the kiddie pool. Monday, we did our usual "play in buckets of water on the front porch". It is shadier on the front porch in the afternoon, and I don't worry so much about Michael drowning in a bucket. Plus, there is a rocking chair there. But by the time Jeff got home, Andrew was dancing in the front yard in his Spidy underpants, soaking wet. Lily was running after him in a water-logged size 5 diaper that hung to her ankles. And Michael was covered in wet chalk...and eating a big blue piece. (my favorite was when Lily shoved Mike and then denied it...except for the undeniable yellow hand print smack dab in the middle of Michael's face). We had delved a bit too deeply into the WT mentality, and I decided it was time to get civilized and put on swimsuits and get out the pool before we were evicted by our HOA.

Michael preferred to look for chalk to eat in our storage containers...he is seriously addicted to the stuff. While I turned to film the older two, he dropped a deuce on the patio. That's right. Grunted one out. But with no diaper on, it just slid down his leg and made a big doggie-do pile. Oh. My. Lord. It was gross. And it was my worst nightmare...I can't leave the other kids alone with the pool out. They had JUST gotten in, so I didn't want to drag them back inside while I cleaned up the mess. So I made them sit on the glider while I ran inside to get wipes and a diaper and a new suit for Mike. It took only a minute, and they were thankfully agreeable to this arrangement. Then I pinned Michael down on the concrete and used about 1,000 wipes while he screamed in fury. There was chalk to be eaten! Grossest thing ever.

And on that note...I'll leave you to go enjoy your own summer day!