Thus, according to conventional wisdom, I'm likely a misfit recluse with trust issues and no sense of belonging. Truth be told, I never much suffered from feelings of inadequacy as a child due to my birth placement....not that I wouldn't use my status as 'forgotten middle child' to my advantage when the situation warranted (sorry, mom and dad).
But, as a middle child-turned-parent, I try to focus at least a modicum of thought towards how my attention gets pulled in one direction over another. In my home life, I think we've struck a good balance.
But I sometimes wonder if that plays itself out in this blog. Travis, being the oldest, has the most "stuff" going on, with school and sports and whatnot. Sophie, as a newly-established two-year-old, has a lot of personality and character development going on these days. They tend to each find themselves featured in their respective endeavors throughout the blog.
Which is not to say that Noah's not interesting. In fact, I would dare say he has one of the most dynamic personalities I've ever seen. So, Noah, this one's for you.
I decided to give him one of those kid-surveys -- I saw one of those on a blog recently, and thought that would be a perfect way to capture some of Noah's essence.
1. What is something Mom always says to you?
A. She loves me.
(Good answer. I promise there were no bribes or re-takes involved on that one.)
2. What makes mom happy?
A. Giving her a bo-bo.
(Noah often plays this game with me, where he comes up and asks me if I'm sad because I don't have a bo-bo, or I don't have anyone to cuddle with me, or something else along those lines. I answer yes and pretend to be sad. Then he saves the day by giving me his bo-bo, or cuddling with me, or whatever.)
3. What makes mom sad?
A. Being mean.
(I'm not sure if he means when he's being mean or when I'm being mean. I'll give it to him, though, both of those make me a little sad.)
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
A. Doing silly things.
(Okay. That's a pretty generic answer. So I pressed a little further. Like what kind of silly things, Noah? Ummmm......telling me I'm Travis?? Oftentimes, at bedtime, I'll pretend like I can't tell which one is which, and order Noah up to Travis's bunk and vice versa. And I'll get all confused when Noah is still in Noah's bed, and I have to ask him how old he is, or whether he sleeps with a bo-bo or a moose, in order to figure out which one he really is. He gets a real kick out of it.)
5. What did your mom like to do when she was a child?
A. Play on the iPad.
(If only, Noah. If only.)
6. How old is your mom?
A. Ummmm. Fifteen?
(Yikes. Not that I mind having my age understated, but that's quite a stretch.)
7. How tall is your mom?
A. THIIIIIIIS big!
(I'm not sure what possible answer could be expected from this type of a question to anyone under the age of ten. I'll take that one.)
8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
A. Grown-up TV.
(This comes from my explanation to him when he sneaks down the stairs after he's in bed, and I pause the TV and explain to him that no, he cannot cuddle with me and watch TV with me because it's grown-up TV. Enough said.)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
A. Leaves me alone.
(Not sure what to think about this one. I suppose when he's not around me, it stands to reason that I'm leaving him alone. Not LEAVING him ALONE, mind you. You know what I mean.)
10. What is your mom really good at?
A. Making me laugh.
(Good one. I'll take it.)
11. What is your mom not very good at?
A. Taking care of the dog.
(It took a while to get to this one. His first response was that I wasn't very good at silly things, but when I pressed him further, this was what he said. He's probably right, but only because this dog is impossible to take care of.)
12. What does your mom do for her job?
A. I'm not sure.
(No problem, Noah. I'm not sure Ben even really knows.)
13. What is your mom's favorite food?
A. Peanut butter and jelly.
(Not true. If the question was what kind of food I made the most, however, he'd be dead on.)
(For the record, the answer is probably cheese.)
14. What do you and your mom do together?
A. Play.
(Um... naturally.)
15. How are you and your mom the same?
A. Sometimes, our shirts are the same color.
(If that happens, it's totally coincidental.)
16. How are you and your mom different?
A. I like Backyardigans.
(Well, truthfully, I kind of like the Backyardigans in the grand scheme of animated characters for my three-year-old to watch on TV. But he's right that I don't care about them nearly as much as he does.)
17. What does your mom like most about your dad?
A. Playing catch.
(We'll just leave that as it is.)
18. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
A. Work.
(Well, from his perspective, I sure do go there an awful lot, so I guess that makes sense.)
There you have it.
No comments:
Post a Comment