A few of you have asked how the kids are doing since Parker’s arrival. Well, I’m going to answer you. In one word? Great. There have been little to no jealousy issues and he has, quite simply, become part of the family. Sometimes, they’ll come home and their first words are, “Where’s Parker? Can I hold him?” William loves to change his diaper. If Parker is in the swing while I’m cooking dinner and starts to get sick of it, William will happily sit on the floor in front of him and coo at him which is just the ticket to getting him to chill out just long enough for me to finish making the meal. Parker responds to happy faces with an equally happy smile and, thus far, is totally content having someone, anyone, hold him (this is usually me, but I’m getting better at letting other people hold him since, at twelve months, a kicking, screaming baby begging for his Mom when someone else picks him up isn’t the cutest thing). Lindsey is probably a little less interested in Parker, but not in a passive-aggressive way. She’s just not majorly into babies, any babies. William has always been more of the sensitive, snuggler type. She still loves to read to him and, last night while I read to her before bed, she asked to hold Parker on her lap. She will exclaim, “He’s the cutest thing ever!” and, “I love him so much!” so she’s definitely doting in her own way. I know you don’t see much of Jordan on the blog and I worry that some of you think, “Evil stepmom! Doesn’t she love Jordan?!” Yes, I do love Jordan. But when I try to take a picture of him, getting him to smile for it is like pulling teeth. I told him the other day, “You’re going to look back and be like, ‘Where are the pictures of me when I was fifteen through eighteen?'” And I’ll tell him, “You didn’t smile for them and you tried to hide your face, so it’s like three years of your life didn’t exist… in pictures, anyway.” So, you’ll just have to take my word for it: Jordan is great with Parker too. He’s definitely into computer games (Damn those computer games. Damn them!) and television more than he is into anything, but he does like the little guy and says so. And Nathaniel! Well, he’s in college now, but we still see him from time to time and, like Jordan, he’s got other things on his mind: school, sleep, food, sleep, food. But he’s nothing but sweet to him when they do interact (I mean, how else can one be with a little babe anyway?!). A newborn has a way of chilling out the house a bit. There’s no better reason for them to stop fighting with each other than saying, “Not around Parker. He shouldn’t have to listen to this.” It almost always works (for how long?! Yet to be determined.). So anyway, I speak for Steve when I say we’re really thrilled with how easily this transition has gone. With virtually no trouble at all, Parker’s life has shifted into ours and we are all pretty happy to have him.
If you were to ask how the kids get along with each other? Well, that’s a different story altogether. This morning I sat on the stairs and listened to William and Lindsey’s conversations before they left for school. I was about to go down but stopped halfway when I heard the energy I’d be walking into.
W: “Your name is dumb.”
L: “That’s like saying our parents are dumb for naming me that.”
L: “I feel bad for you that you have to wear that jacket.”
W: “I feel bad for you that you have that face.”
W, takes L’s Halloween candy: “I’m putting this away because you didn’t ask Mom and Dad.”
L: “Give it back to me!”
W: “You’re annoying.”
So on and so forth. Tell me mine aren’t the only ones that are evil to each other???
And Jordan most definitely tangles with them too… he had just already left for school this morning.
