Mr. Cutie could be described as my most difficult child, although that wouldn’t be entirely true (each one is difficult in their own way, and wonderful in their own way).  Suffice it to say that he can be a real challenge for me.  He’s the 3rd child, the baby, and he lives life large and to the extremes.  He also thrives in multiple-input situations.  We knew that it would be good for it to just be the 3 of us for the week, but that we’d need to keep him busy – and that wouldn’t be easy.

Thankfully he’s had places to go and things to do all week, in addition to his regular home stuff to do, so he’s been doing OK.

My son is happiest when he’s listening to The Chronicles of Narnia, dramatized by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, on the iPod while playing a Wii game and talking to me about his day – all at once!  Having many things going on at once is where he thrives.

Having 1 child instead of 3 is quite a different kind of dynamic.  It feels WAY different only having 2 lines of communication going (me to him, and him to me) rather than 12 between the 3 kiddos and myself.  We realized this week that Mr Cutie talks a LOT – he jabbers, babbles, rattles on and on nonstop about either what he’s been imagining in his head in full detail or the tv show that he just watched or the level of the wii game he’s in the middle of trying to win and all the strategies he’s working with and secrets he’s discovered or the legos he’s building or he’s spouting lines from the latest audio program he’s listened to or reciting whole sections of movie dialogue or singing his most recent parody of perfectly good songs or…. yah, just chattering!  It is a bit easier to handle when it’s just him, but when it’s just him he has free reign and he runs at the mouth almost constantly!  It’s been a bit nutty at times (I have to be careful not to completely tune him out – but that’s for another post).

Another thing about being down to 1 kiddo is that I think I let more things happen when it’s just him than when all 3 are here.  

For instance, Mr Cutie and I went out Tuesday night, drove out of town to the north, at about 11:30pm, to sit and watch for the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights.  It was just me and him.  I’m NOT sure how likely I would have been to take all of them to do that.  If he was up late, I knew he’d sleep in, and if he didn’t it would just be me and him dealing with each other and maybe a little grumpy, but we could get through it, just the 2 of us.  If it had been all 3 of them up late, I wouldn’t be sure if they would all sleep in, and they would likely not get along between the 3 of them or with me if they were grumpy, making a very unhappy situation for the next day.

As another example, Mr Cutie wanted to be able to pick his own lunch 2 days in a row, from whatever he could come up with in the fridge.  This was completely fine by me!  Go right ahead – make your own lunch – good job!  However, if all 3 of them were home, I would have been making lunch, for a couple of reasons – 1) there wouldn’t have been enough for them to just pick and choose to share between the 3 of them, and 2) there would have been huge disagreements about who got what out of the fridge.  Mr Cutie on his own was given more freedom than I would have been sane to give all 3 of them together.

Is this making any sense?

I am a bit more lenient with just the 1 than I would be with the 3 altogether.  I let 1 do things I would likely not be comfortable doing with 3.  I admit that I feel a bit more relaxed with 1 than I usually do with 3.  Does he have to do less work, or have fewer responsibilities?  No – in fact he’s had to chip in and help where the other 2’s jobs have been left undone.  But he’s also had a bit less structure and a bit more space.  I guess that’s just natural – it’s easier to herd 1 than 3!

I can understand why siblings get the idea that the baby is spoiled.  I wish it weren’t so…

Mama Hen & Her Chicks by TicklyMoo

Going back up to 3 kiddos later today will be interesting.  This is the first time 2 of them have been away together – usually it’s just one at a time.  So getting back into our groove will take some time.  But having had a break from each other will likely help with that, too.  It will be Mr Cutie, I think, who may have the biggest adjustment.  But he will probably be glad to have someone other than Mummy to hang out with again.  So, it will all work out, and it will be great to have them home again.

Having 3 kiddos again will be different than the last week has been with just 1.  But different can be good!  I’ll feel like all my chicks are under my wings again!  Can’t wait to see my big kiddos and hear about their adventures.

Hopefully Mr Cutie will stop talking long enough for us to hear their stories!